Schaum's Outline Series in BusinessTheory and Problems of Business Statistics by Leonard J. Kazmier; Theory and Problems ofQuantitative Methods in Management by John E. UllmanReview by: Graham K. RandThe Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 29, No. 12 (Dec., 1978), pp. 1246-1247Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals on behalf of the Operational Research SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3009595 .

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Journal of the Operational Research Society Vol. 29, No. 12

Managing the Manufacture of Complex Products:- Co-ordinating Multi-Component Assembly

C. C. NEW

Business Books (Alden Press), London, 1977. 379 pp. ?12.00

Colin New deserves much praise for the lucid and comprehensive treatment of this topic which is relevant to the needs of a wide spectrum of manufacturing industries. I am convinced that both practitioners and students will find the material presented in the book a useful source of applicable concepts, which is the distinguishing feature of this text in contrast to many others in the field of operations management. It is worth noting that the use of the term "complex" in the title is used only in the sense that a finished product is an assembly of many components: a common situation which invariably engenders logistical and managerial complexity. The fifteen chapters present all the relevant technical considerations and include many concepts of recent origin (e.g.: Material Requirements Planning, Production Flow Analysis, Group Technology and Reliability). The coverage of behavioural aspects, Capital Investment Appraisal, Manufacturing Policy and Performance Assessment in separate chapters provides a com- prehensive treatment which one hopes will prove to be exemplary for future authors in this field. The O.R. practitioner involved in the design of manufacturing control systems could regard this text as a useful reference for many of the practical aspects of this functional area. Whilst the author deserves every credit for the content, the publisher has to be strongly criticized for having been singularly lacking in professional presentation-the paper used resembles a blotting pad, many diagrams have not been type-set and are faint and, for the price, does not compare in publishing quality with professional text-books from other publishers. Perhaps Colin New should consider a better publisher for the next printing, which the content of this text certainly deserves.

UNNY MENON

SCHAUM'S OUTLINE SERIES IN BUSINESS

Theory and Problems of Business Statistics

LEONARD J. KAZMIER

McGraw-Hill, New York, 1976. 375 pp. ?3.70

Theory and Problems of Quantitative Methods in Management

JOHN E. ULLMAN

McGraw-Hill, New York, 1976. 357 pp. ?4.45

It is possible that many readers will be familiar, from their undergraduate days, with Schaum's Outline Series. These two texts are recent additions to this established and extensive collection (now over 100 titles) in which the basic theory of a subject is pres- ented, together with several hundred solved problems, at a reasonable price.

An earlier (1961) volume in this series was Spiegel's Statistics. Business Statistics con- tains much of the same material, as one might expect, but also includes three chapters on Bayesian decision analysis and one, brief, chapter on analysis of variance. Generally, the 683 solved problems are concerned with applications in business and economics. An interesting feature is the discussion of output from the SPSS package in the chapter on "Multiple Regression and Correlation Analysis", although, unfortunately, in this case the data used is "hypothetical".

Quantitative Methods in Management also covers many of the topics in Business Stat- istics. Simple regression and correlation, for instance, are dealt with in the "Forecasting" chapter and much of the basic theory of probability and statistical distributions, estima- tion and hypothesis testing and analysis of variance is also included. The emphasis

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Book Selection

of this text, though, is just as much on the mathematical techniques of O.R. as it is on the statistical techniques (despite a chapter on "Quality Control and Acceptance Sampling"). There are, for instance, two chapters on Inventory Models (Deterministic and Probabilistic), two chapters on LP (covering Assignment, Transportation, Graphical Method and the Simplex Algorithm) and chapters on Network Analysis, Reliability and Waiting Lines. On the other hand, Dynamic Programming receives only a passing reference and Simulation is not mentioned at all.

In the opening chapter a description of fixed and variable costs leads into a discussion on breakeven analysis. It ends with a section on the learning curve, although only the simple relationship y = ax-b (where y. is the average time per unit for the first x units and a is the time required for the first unit) is discussed and no indication given that any other formulae may be more appropriate. However, it is good that such a practical topic is drawn to readers' attention.

Prominence is also given to the classical O.R. analysis of the "newsboy" problem in the chapters somewhat confusingly called "Decision Theory without Sampling" and "Decision Theory: Partial Expectation Methods". In the latter chapter statistical distri- butions provide speedier solutions to the problems presented in the former chapter which are there solved by enumerative methods using "payoff tables".

Both of these texts follow the standard Schaum Outline pattern and are clear in their exposition. Since only the basic theory is included and little or no derivation of results provided, full benefit will be obtained if they are used in conjunction with other texts. With this proviso they can be recommended to those O.R. departments who wish to have a relatively inexpensive text which would be suitable for new recruits to use in their training programme and which also provides a quick "refresher" course for more seasoned analysts.

GRAHAM K. RAND

Network Analysis for Planning and Scheduling (3rd Edition)

ALBERT BATTERSBY

Macmillan, U.K., 1978. 332 pp. ?4.95

That Macmillan's have decided upon a reprint in paperback of the 1970 third edition is something of a posthumous tribute to the author. At the same time it is a recognition that the technique of Network Analysis is now sufficiently accepted to attempt to give this potted edition a wider circulation. The publishers see the book being of use to "the practising manager, or engineer engaged in large construction projects..." as well as to the "Student of Management".

I concur. Its unlikely that any "practising manager" will have about him anyone who will be completely familiar with all the material covered, and as a source of practical advice the treatment is commendable. From "Arrow Diagrams" (Chapters 2 and 4) through to "Installing Network Analysis" (Chapter 14) I found much of interest, though "electrical Analogues" (in Chapter 10) are remote from my experience and "Computers" (Chapter 7) are treated in cavalier fashion which betrays, the passage of time.

Any book aimed at the manager and the student must contain case studies and exercises for solution. With three case studies, six appendices, a comprehensive bibliogra- phy (up to 1969) and solutions to the exercises taking up nearly one third of the space these objectives have been adequately met. The same cannot be said of the proofing and printing. Networks are essentially pictures conveying more than the proverbial thousand words. The indifferent quality of reproduction reaches illegibility in the "plan- ning network" of the first case study; the "original" and "revised" networks are inter- changed and wrongly captioned in the second: the novel third has an idiosyncratic labelling acceptable only in the interests of saving paper.

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