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Analytics for Cross‐functional Excellence
Name of the Faculty: Ananth Krishnamurthy
Designation: Professor
Teaching Area: Decision Sciences
(such as Finance & Accounting; Marketing;
Production & Operations Management; Strategy)
This course may be offered to:
(PG Programmes / Doctoral Programme)
http://www.iimb.ernet.in/programmes Open to PGPEM
Credits (No. of hours):
(3 credits=30 classroom hours; 1.5 credits‐15 3 credits
classroom hours; session=90 minutes)
Term / Quarter: October
(Starting April /June /September/December) PGPEM (Quarter 7)
Course Type:
(Core or Elective) Elective Course
Offered as:
(Regular Course: staggered across the term or Regular Course
Workshop1 Course: 3‐5
continuous days)
Are there any financial None
implications to this course, apart
from the allocated budget?
Please mention the no. of sessions allocated to each faculty, if multiple
faculty are teaching in this course.
Additional information required Please provide one‐page profiles of all external faculty members teaching
in this course, along with their address and contact numbers.
1
Workshop course: Please provide reasons as to why the course is being offered in workshop mode and why it cannot be offered
as a regular course (that is spread over 10 weeks). As an institution, IIMB prefers courses offered in the regular mode, since it
results in better learning experience for the students and avoids overlapping of courses.
Degree Granting Programmes: Template for proposing new course outlines_v2019_Internal
Course Summary
There main objective of the course is to understand the application of analytics tools for cross functional
decision problems in business. Often, key problems in business, involve decisions that cut across
functional boundaries (finance, sales, marketing, operations, procurement, etc). Effective decision making
and efficient execution of solutions can be challenging in these settings. The goal of this course is to
empower you with analytics tools that can serve as the orchestrator of cross functional excellence.
Analytics can provide managers the ability to cut through biases and prejudices that might exist within
functions and provide clarity of problem and solutions to drive true business excellence.
The course will build on the basic principles underlying operations management, marketing, strategy, and
finance, acquired through core courses in the curriculum. It will illustrate how decisions science
methodologies can be used to break down barriers to cross‐functional excellence. The course is divided
into multiple modules that each illustrate an application of analytics in cross functional decision making.
The choice of analytics tools would depend on the business problem, but the goal of providing clarity in
problem and solution remain pervasive. By providing some depth into each application, as well as a
breadth of applications, the course will attempt to equip you with the knowledge as well as the confidence
to apply analytics in your professional environment.
Pre‐requisites
Introductory knowledge of decision sciences (core courses in the PGPEM, EPGP and PGP curriculum)
Learning Objectives / Outcomes
The course is designed with the following specific objectives and learning outcomes:
1. Equip students with analytics tools necessary for driving cross functional excellence
2. Apply analytics tools to obtain solutions to cross functional decision problems in business
Pedagogy
Each module within the course will emphasize the application of analytics in solving business problems
that have cross functional impact. Case studies and industry implementations will be a key component of
each module. Within each module, we will use the case studies and industry implementations to:
Identify when the use of analytics will be effective and essential
Evaluate the choice of appropriate analytics relevant to the business problem
Discuss the details of the analytics techniques and their implementation
Explore their applications in other business settings
Textbook
Instructor supplied course packet with cases and slides
Readings for Reference
Business Analytics: The Science of Data ‐ Driven Decision Making by U Dinesh Kumar, Wiley, 2017.
Principles of Pricing: An Analytical Approach by Rakesh V. Vohra, Lakshman Krishnamurthi, Cambridge
University Press, 2012.
Degree Granting Programmes: Template for proposing new course outlines_v2019_Internal
Course Evaluation & Grading Pattern
Assessment will have an individual and team component. Team component will involve a project that
involves application of concepts covered in class. Individual component will comprise of two in‐class
quizzes, and a final exam. The final exam will be open notes. Class participation is based on my evaluation
of a student’s contribution to class discussions.
Team Assignments (12%, 13%): 25%
Quizzes (3x25%): 75%
Session‐wise plan
Analytics for Cross‐functional Excellence
Session No. Module Topic Readings
1 Optimizing Sales and Operations Plans American Automobiles Limited: Production
2 (Linear and Goal Programming) Planning (Case)
Module 1
3 Mathematical Programming Based Sales and
4 Operations Planning at Vestel Electronics (case)
5 Chris Lee's Investment Plan (Case); Portfolio
Risk and Return in Financial Portfolios
6 Module 2 Optimization at Merill Lynch (case)
(Nonlinear optimization and Regression)
7
8 Strategy Decisions and Financial Risks Licensing at Merck (Case); Investment Decisions
9 Module 3 (Decision analysis and simulation) at Guidance Software (Case)
10
11 Collaborative Development of New Protein Purification Inc (Case); Samsung's
12 Products (Probabilistic models and European Innovation Team (Case)
Module 4
13 Reinforcement learning)
14
15 Customer Service vs Efficiency in Amazon.com: Conquering Grocery's Last Mile;
16 Module 5 Staffing (Queuing models and Pricing) Design of a “Last Mile” Transportation System
17
18 Aligning Procurement and Marketing Outsourcing, Near‐sourcing, and Supply Chain
19 Module 6 Campaigns (Regression and Simulation) Flexibility in the Apparel Industry (Case); Strategic
20 Sourcing at Whirlpool China (Case)
Profile(s) of adjunct faculty teaching in the course, if any:
Not applicable
Degree Granting Programmes: Template for proposing new course outlines_v2019_Internal