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ASP, The Art and Science of Practice: Elements of a Theory of the Practice of Operations Research: Practice as a Business

Author

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  • Frederic H. Murphy

    (Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122)

Abstract

In the previous two articles in this series (Murphy 2005a, b), I looked at practice from the perspective of doing operations research (OR). Because OR practitioners have careers and often found businesses, we need to understand practice as a business. Operations research/management science (OR/MS) businesses face many of the same issues as other technology and consulting businesses. However, the product is intangible, creating marketing problems. The businesses operate in a complex ecology with different levels of competition and cooperation among OR and software firms, depending on their different areas of expertise. Social networks play an important role in the way individuals and companies market and develop new strands of practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Frederic H. Murphy, 2005. "ASP, The Art and Science of Practice: Elements of a Theory of the Practice of Operations Research: Practice as a Business," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 35(6), pages 524-530, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:35:y:2005:i:6:p:524-530
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.1050.0147
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hugh J. Miser, 1998. "The Easy Chair: Judging Effectiveness of Work in OR/MS Practice and Claiming Credit for Its Consequences," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 28(4), pages 31-37, August.
    2. Charles J. Corbett & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 1993. "The Natural Drift: What Happened to Operations Research?," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 41(4), pages 625-640, August.
    3. Frederic H. Murphy, 2005. "ASP, The Art and Science of Practice: Elements of a Theory of the Practice of Operations Research: Expertise in Practice," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 35(4), pages 313-322, August.
    4. R J Ormerod, 2002. "On the nature of OR: taking stock," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 53(5), pages 475-491, May.
    5. Linda V. Green & Peter J. Kolesar, 2004. "ANNIVERSARY ARTICLE: Improving Emergency Responsiveness with Management Science," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(8), pages 1001-1014, August.
    6. A. Dale Flowers, 2004. "ASP, The Art and Science of Practice: Getting the R in Contact," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 34(5), pages 377-382, October.
    7. Corbett, Charles J. & Overmeer, Willem J. A. M. & Van Wassenhove, Luk N., 1995. "Strands of practice in OR (the practitioner's dilemma)," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 484-499, December.
    8. Frederic H. Murphy, 2005. "ASP, The Art and Science of Practice: Elements of a Theory of the Practice of Operations Research: A Framework," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 35(2), pages 154-163, April.
    9. Carrie Beam, 2004. "ASP, The Art and Science of Practice: How I Started an OR/MS Consulting Practice with a Laptop, a Phone, and a PhD," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 265-271, August.
    10. Hugh J. Miser, 1992. "Craft in Operations Research," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 40(4), pages 633-639, August.
    11. Robert E. D. Woolsey, 1998. "The Fifth Column: On Doing Well by Doing Good and an Offer of Free Education," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 28(2), pages 99-103, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Matthew J. Drake, 2019. "Teaching OR/MS with Cases: A Review and New Suggestions," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 19(2), pages 57-66, January.
    2. Patrick Hew, 2007. "ASP, The Art and Science of Practice: Direct Advisors vs. Tool Developers---Implications for Practice," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 37(3), pages 279-284, June.
    3. V J Mabin & J Davies & S Kim, 2009. "Rethinking tradeoffs and OR/MS methodology," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(10), pages 1384-1395, October.
    4. Franco, L. Alberto & Greiffenhagen, Christian, 2018. "Making OR practice visible: Using ethnomethodology to analyse facilitated modelling workshops," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(2), pages 673-684.
    5. S Robinson, 2007. "PSMs: looking in from the outside," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 58(5), pages 689-691, May.
    6. Merrick, James H. & Weyant, John P., 2019. "On choosing the resolution of normative models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 279(2), pages 511-523.

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