Models and model value in stochastic programming

Finding optimal decisions often involves the consideration of certain random or unknown parameters. A standard approach is to replace the random parameters by the expectations and to solve a deterministic mathematical program. A second approach is to consider possible future scenarios and the decision that would be best under each of these scenarios. The question then becomes how to choose among these alternatives. Both approaches may produce solutions that are far from optimal in the stochastic programming model that explicitly includes the random parameters. The paper illustrates this advantage of a stochastic program model through two examples that are representative of the range of problems considered in stochastic programming. It focuses on the relative value of the stochastic program solution over a deterministic problem solution.