Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis: A Practical Introduction to Management Science - Hardcover

Cliff Ragsdale is the Bank of America Professor, Department of Business Information Technology in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, where he has taught since 1990. He received his Ph.D. in Management Science and Information Technology from the University of Georgia. He also holds an M.B.A. in Finance and B.A. in Psychology from the University of Central Florida. Before pursuing his Ph.D., he was supervisor of Benefit Finance & Qualified Plans at the international headquarters of Red Lobster, Inc. He is a member consultant for Compass Modeling, Inc., and has served as an information systems and statistical consultant for the General Mills Restaurant Group and the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche. Dr. Ragsdale's primary areas of research interest include microcomputer systems and applications, artificial intelligence, mathematical programming, and applied statistics. His research has appeared in DECISION SCIENCES, NAVAL RESEARCH LOGISTICS, OMEGA: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, COMPUTERS & OPERATIONS RESEARCH, OPERATIONS RESEARCH LETTERS, PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING, and other publications. He has also received the Pamplin award for excellence in teaching from the Pamplin College of Business Administration at Virginia Tech. Dr. Ragsdale is an active member of DSI and INFORMS. He was proceedings coordinator for the 1995 National DSI Meeting and has served as vice president for Member Services and vice president of Publications for Southeast DSI. He has also served on the board of directors for the Southwest Virginia Chapter of APICS and as the faculty adviser for the student chapter of APICS at Virginia Tech.

In our opinion, Ragsdale has sufficient technical depth, including algebraic modeling, in all of the topics we teach (linear programming, decision analysis, queuing models, simulation, and forecasting). The text is well written with a wide range of problems (easy to very difficult) from a variety of applications.

[Ragsdale] has a very straightforward presentation of a difficult topic. It is readable for students and useful for professors.