Teaching objectives: The value of using cases in teaching operational research

This paper describes our experience with a case study that was intended to provide business students with a straightforward exercise in operational research/management science (OR/MS) but which consistently produces a learning experience for students that is quite different from that envisaged when the case was originally written. An effort is made to explain the surprising results in the classroom. This example demonstrates the fact that building OR/MS models often reveals important dimensions of a problem that otherwise might remain unexplored. The richness of this case also demonstrates the value of exposing OR/MS students to real problems through the use of cases.