Operations Research was cited by Business Week as one of the leading management journals in its bi-yearly MBA edition, last published in October, 2000. In its December, 2001 issue, Business 2.0 recognized the journal as the leader in operations management.
The journal dates back to 1952, the year that organized operations research was born in the United States. On May 26, 1952, the Operations Research Society of America – known as ORSA – formed at Columbia University’s Harriman House in Arden, New York. The professional association began publishing Operations Research in November, 1952.
In 1995, the society merged with The Institute for Management Sciences (TIMS), founded in 1953, to form the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, which is known as INFORMS.
To commemorate the anniversary, the journal is publishing a collection of articles about the history of the profession, which was dubbed rocket science for its incendiary influence on Wall Street and a stealth profession that changed the face of the aviation business with its introduction of revenue management and Super Saver Fares.
The 34 authors include Nobel Prize winners Kenneth Arrow and Harry Markowitz; George B. Dantzig, one of the leading mathematical gurus of the 20th Century; and Leonard Kleinrock, considered a Father of the Internet.
The editor-in-chief of Operations Research is Dr. Lawrence Wein, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The journal publishes operations research studies about optimization; financial engineering; manufacturing, service and supply chain operations; computer and decision technology; decision analysis; the environment, energy, and natural resources; the military; policy modeling and public sector analysis; simulation; telecommunications; and transportation.
Born in War
Operations research is the application of scientific methods to aid decision-making, management, and operations. It is employed in fields as diverse as airlines, government, health care, law enforcement, the military, the stock market, and telecommunications.
The field predates the society’s birth and goes back to the years before World War II, when British scientists working with the newly invented radar coordinated with the Royal Air Force to position radar stations and fighter planes that could repel a Nazi air attack based on probable Luftwaffe attack routes. The planning contributed to England’s winning the Battle of Britain.
The United States military adopted operations research soon afterward, employing its mathematical and scientific methods, among other things, to configure American convoys for maximum protection from U-Boats and identify technical modifications, like a slight change in the delivery of depth charges, that proved devastating to the Nazi naval effort.
After World War II, operations researchers turned to civilian uses and the creation of new techniques. The advent of computers allowed operations researchers to make complex calculations more rapidly and explore new business endeavors. Among the current beneficiaries of operations research techniques are:
- Dynamic Pricing,
also known as revenue management, which earned the airlines billions of dollars and is now being used by hotels, cruise lines, car rentals, and marketers.
- Optimization,
with applications ranging from blending oil at refineries to blending ingredients for hot dogs.
- Supply Chain Management,
which relies on complex math modeling techniques.
- Investment.
Wall Street’s application of operations research’s "rocket science" to sophisticated balancing of potential risk vs. profit led to sounder, more innovative portfolios and mutual funds.
- The Internet,
whose technology was born in part due to the operations research discipline of queueing. E-commerce analysts today use operations research to improve sales.
- Transportation and routing,
with applications in trucking and rail, as well as highway traffic and mass transit.
- Scheduling,
notably the simultaneous scheduling of large numbers of airline crews and other workers.
- The Military,
which has used operations research in logistics, strategy, and other areas.
- Management,
which turns to operations research for help in decision-making.
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®) is an international scientific society with over 10,000 members dedicated to applying scientific methods to aid decision-making, management, and operations. Members of INFORMS work in business, government, and academia. They are represented in fields as diverse as airlines, health care, law enforcement, the military, the stock market, and telecommunications. 2002 is the 50th anniversary of organized operations research in the United States. 1952 was the year that the journal Operations Research and the Operations Research Society of America, one of the founding societies of INFORMS, were born. The INFORMS website is at http://www.informs.org.