IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orinte/v27y1997i1p7-28.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Guns or Butter: Decision Support for Determining the Size and Shape of the South African National Defense Force

Author

Listed:
  • Ivan Gryffenberg

    (Operations Division, Defense Headquarters, Private Bag X161, Pretoria 0001, South Africa)

  • Jean L. Lausberg

    (Operations Division, Defense Headquarters, Private Bag X161, Pretoria 0001, South Africa)

  • Willem J. Smit

    (Operations Division, Defense Headquarters, Private Bag X161, Pretoria 0001, South Africa)

  • Stephanus Uys

    (Operations Division, Defense Headquarters, Private Bag X161, Pretoria 0001, South Africa)

  • Sally Botha

    (Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group, PO Box 11007, Pretoria 0028, South Africa)

  • F. Rauten Hofmeyr

    (Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group, PO Box 11007, Pretoria 0028, South Africa)

  • Ruppert P. Nicolay

    (Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group, PO Box 11007, Pretoria 0028, South Africa)

  • Willie L. van der Merwe

    (Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group, PO Box 11007, Pretoria 0028, South Africa)

  • Gysbert J. Wessels

    (Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group, PO Box 11007, Pretoria 0028, South Africa)

Abstract

In January of 1994, the chief of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) asked the question: “In the absence of a conventional military threat, what should the size and shape of the SANDF be?” A joint SANDF and Deloitte and Touche team supported the joint strategic management process (JSMP) with OR/MS based decision support models. The team created the following models: a risk model of the probability and potential impact of various defense contingencies, a growth model of growth potential of force structure elements, a cost model (zero based), a mixed-integer-programming model of all the relationships, and a manual model allowing the user to select different tasks and strategies. The project resulted in a saving on the approved force design (size and shape) of more than 22 percent. The results indicate clear opportunities for major additional savings.

Suggested Citation

  • Ivan Gryffenberg & Jean L. Lausberg & Willem J. Smit & Stephanus Uys & Sally Botha & F. Rauten Hofmeyr & Ruppert P. Nicolay & Willie L. van der Merwe & Gysbert J. Wessels, 1997. "Guns or Butter: Decision Support for Determining the Size and Shape of the South African National Defense Force," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 7-28, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:27:y:1997:i:1:p:7-28
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.27.1.7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/inte.27.1.7
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/inte.27.1.7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kangaspunta, Jussi & Liesiö, Juuso & Salo, Ahti, 2012. "Cost-efficiency analysis of weapon system portfolios," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 223(1), pages 264-275.
    2. Ellis L. Johnson & George L. Nemhauser & Martin W.P. Savelsbergh, 2000. "Progress in Linear Programming-Based Algorithms for Integer Programming: An Exposition," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 2-23, February.
    3. S Eom & E Kim, 2006. "A survey of decision support system applications (1995–2001)," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 57(11), pages 1264-1278, November.
    4. Robert Fildes & John Ranyard, 2000. "Internal OR Consulting: Effective Practice in a Changing Environment," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 30(5), pages 34-50, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:27:y:1997:i:1:p:7-28. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.