THE DOLLARS AND SENSE OF SIMULATION

This paper deals with the economics of computer simulation applied to problems in the operations management/industrial engineering area. First, the material in the literature dealing with the economics of simulation is summarized. However, the amount of information available on the economics of simulation is very small. A number of hypotheses are presented for this paucity of material. Since many managers operate in an environment in which costs and benefits are relevant to their decision-making process, the lack of data on the economics of simulation may be a barrier to the utilization of the technique. In an attempt to improve this situation, a framework for the collection and specification of the economics of simulation modeling projects is proposed as a method of urging management scientists to begin to collect and publish data on the economics of simulation projects.