Faculty Directory  |  Darden Home  

PHILLIP E PFEIFER
Quarter 3     Late Week
Room 120     2:45 to 4:10

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is designed for the student who wants to be optimally prepared to perform quantitative analysis at a level consistent with (and exceeding) expectations for MBA interns in positions where quantitative sophistication is required.  Its only prerequisite is the first-year Decision Analysis course; no additional quantitative experience or acumen is required.  The course will focus primarily on data analysis, used to both gain useful insights into relationships and make better, more useful forecasts.  In addition to more advanced treatment of regression analysis (the goal being for students to be able to build and apply sophisticated regression models), students will be familiarized with other common approaches to forecasting, such as rudimentary time series analysis.  Finally, the course will introduce students to the concepts of optimization using Excel’s Solver add-in, used to determine how to optimally allocate resources in situations involving complex trade-offs.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Develop enough familiarity with the basic tools of management science to be able to apply them effectively to help solve managerial problems.

• Develop a familiarity with the basic tools of data analysis, statistical inference, and regression.

• Develop a familiarity with rudimentary time-series analysis.

• Develop a working knowledge of optimization as implemented using Excel’s Solver tool.

RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER ELECTIVES
This course has no pre-requisites other than successful completion of the first year.

COURSE IMPLEMENTATION
The course will make heavy use of cases and exercises.  Most exercises involve quantitative analysis.

The daily assignments are found ONLY on the course website on the "assignments" page.

COURSE MATERIALS
Most of the content in the course book is also available in digital form in the course folder.

GRADING
  40% Class Participation
  60% Final Exam.

Attendance: Students are expected to attend all classes. Regular attendance will be rewarded in the following way: You class participation score will be multiplied by an attendance factor = to 1 - .05* number of absences in excess of two (you have two freebies).  The classroom assistant will take attendance, and students with more than two absences at the end of the year will be given the opportunity to tell me which, if any, should be excused due to illness and other unavoidable circumstances. 

Classroom Assistant: Taka Hori

Seating: Sit anywhere you want on the first two days.  We will conduct a lottery at the beginning of class three to determine seats for the remainder of the course.

Last updated: 08/17/09