A physicist, and engineer and a economist are all trapped on an island with a box of canned food that they cannot get open. The physicist says, “If I build a fire and then we heat up the cans eventually the cans will blow up from expanding gasses and then we will be able to eat the food.” The engineer then suggests, ” If I can make a three to one pulley system perhaps we can rig up a machine to open up the cans.” The economist then chimes in saying, ” You guys are making this far too hard let’s just assume we have a can opener.”
Besides the downgrade economists receive in this joke (always living in an imaginary world?: not really!), we can perceive the differences between all three on the methodologies involved in their state of mind. Mathematicians, as well as physicists, make further use of the theory; engineers are more practical, they make use of the theory to accomplish the practice; economists mix this and that due to complications of Social Sciences.
So, who’s the best?. None and all: everyone of us OR colleagues should be a little bit of everyone deppending on the job…
Further questions I’ll answer. The debate is open!
Sometimes not that little, we can find them when analysing an investment, trying to sum up the figures, or pricing an item; they are the hidden costs. For cost accountants they will be those little enemies the technical department can be misinforming about, or just forgetting, like for example forgotten processes not accounted for or unweighted ones. However, even worse than them are the bigger enemies: the opportunity costs!.
“Opportunity Costs”, I can remember, was the first lesson I had in faculty (well, in fact the first lesson was what “Economics” was, but that doesn’t count as a lesson!). Summarising: they are the best alternative use of the resources you’re going to employ in the analysed whatever. So, for example, if you are pricing a product, your opportunity cost is the best price you could get by producing other most valuable product (i.e. you’re producing butter and you could be producing cheese). So what?, take it into account, because the introduction of this variable into the analysis can make a difference; moreover, be careful, because real life, brick and mortar, is not pen and paper. Be aware!.
“To be or not to be, that is the question.”
To study an MBA for increasing my understanding of business management,
or to study an MSc on OR for increasing my understanding of business management.
Which one will be better for my career?,
which one will have better ROI?,
which one will be more entertaining?.
“To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life,”
becoming a student from a wrong chosen path.
