Business Dynamics Models

This book introduces optimal control methods, formulated as optimization problems, applied to business dynamics problems. Business dynamics refers to a combination of business management and financial objectives embedded in a dynamical system model. The model is subject to a control that optimizes a performance index and takes both management and financial aspects into account.

Business Dynamics Models: Optimization-Based One Step Ahead Optimal Control includes solutions that provide a rationale for the use of optimal control and guidelines for further investigation into more complex models, as well as formulations that can also be used in a so-called flight simulator mode to investigate different complex scenarios. The text offers a modern programming environment (Jupyter notebooks in JuMP/Julia) for modeling, simulation, and optimization, and Julia code and notebooks are provided on a website for readers to experiment with their own examples.

This book is intended for students majoring in applied mathematics, business, and engineering. The authors use a formulation-algorithm-example approach, rather than the classical definition-theorem-proof, making the material understandable to senior undergraduates and beginning graduates.