Sample Answer

We can define quantitative techniques like mathematical and statistical models which are describing a diverse array of variables relationship, and they are designed to assist managers with management problem-solving and decision making. There are many of mathematical and statistical techniques which can be used to help decision making by managers of all types of business organization: large or small, private sector, public sector, profit-oriented, manufacturing, or service sector. Statistics is defined as the process of collecting a sample, organizing, analyzing and interpreting data. The numeric values which represent the characteristics analyzed in this process are also referred to as statistics. However, in statistics we are applying numerical way of exploration, and method of analysis and synthesis population of numerical data depend on their nature and extrapolation purpose. [2, pg.1] When information related to a particular group is desired, and it is impossible or impractical to obtain this information, a sample or subset of the group is obtained and the information of interest is determined. Collected data are the row material which by treatment should transform into useful quantitative measures. [2, pg. 19] The quantitative models

The transformation of data into information, also called information analysis, was supported by management information system processes. Adequate models help develop quantitative techniques in a business context. Models are simplified depictions of reality and often take the form of an equation or set of equations that describe some economic setting. In economic theory models are deterministic.[3, pg.36] Models come in a variety of forms in business: they are not just quantitative. A scale model might be constructed of a new office development, a financial model may be developed to asses the impact of budget changes on product/service delivery; the marketing department may develop a model in terms of assessing customer response to product changes. However, any model, no matter what its form or purpose, has one distinctive feature: it is an attempt to represent a situation in a simplified form. Which model will be adequate depends on purpose of investigation and analysis. [5, pg. 104] Many operational problems and decision making have been based on research that deals with application of model or quantitative techniques. There are fundamentally four reasons why quantitative techniques are used by managers:

1. Models force managers to be explicit about objectives.