Quantitative Analysis - Essay Example

Question Operations need to take advantage of waiting line models in waiting line cost management so that they can ensure they serve their clientele in a way that ensures customer satisfaction through fast service, smooth flow operations and reduce waiting line costs. At the arrival points in all businesses, customers are constantly arriving at a business, and before they are served, they have to wait in a queue so that they can be served when their turn comes. A waiting line analysis provides measures for establishing the relationship between customers’ arrival time, the time they will be served and the costs incurred due to the queue in the waiting line.

Hence, it provides a balance between the costs incurred while providing services to a customer and the costs of congestion. Businesses and retail environments need to reduce the time they incur while serving customers by managing congestion using waiting line models to enable them serve many customers, and this increases their profitability levels. Question 2 Simulation modeling software are used by many businesses to conduct risk analysis and environmental analyses. The first popular modeling software is called Vensim software, which runs on the popular Monte Carlo simulation model (Ventana Systems, 2011).

The software is used to develop and analyze feedback models using the simulation application, and from an analysis of the cost and training factors, the software is reliable. The software is provided in many parts, including some personal learning starter packs to professional editions. The prices of the different types of this software range from $1995 per user to $50 per user. The training required is also minimal, indicating that the software is reliable. The other simulating and modeling software available on the market is called @Risk, and also runs on the popular Monte Carlo simulation model (Palisade, 2011).

An analysis of the prices indicates that this software application is more expensive that Vensim, though it offers more options for use. From the website of the software providers, it is evident that the software is divided into many applications, where a user can buy the components individually or as a package. The downside is that the training required is more compared to the training required for Vensim software. Question 3 The most practical and easily applied lesson I learnt is marketing research.

Marketing research will involve gathering information from the market and customers so that the management can know the needs of customers and the developments in the market. It is easy to learn and apply because it will involve collecting information from people and analyzing it in order to know the products that they want ands strategizing ways of ensuring that a business meets the needs of its targeted market. The hardest lesson to grasp was introduction to linear programming models. I found it challenging to form linear inequalities and then relate them to a real situation .

The calculations involved in linear programming proved hard for me to grasp and I found it hard to plot and interpret the graphs involved in the simulation. References Palisade. (2011). @Risk: A New Standard in Risk Analysis. Retrieved on January 18, 2012 from: Ventana Systems. (2011). Vensim Software. Retrieved on January 18, 2012 from: