Business analytics represents a massive opportunity for business leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs in modern globalised economies. In today’s technology-led business world, the nature of data has moved from static spreadsheets to highly interactive dynamic representations from multiple sources, which provide rich insights on markets, firms, competitors, consumers, and networks. Sophisticated analytical tools can run advanced and rigorous analyses on static or dynamic data and provide much deeper insights about the world.
The module aims to provide the students with the following:
- appreciation of how business analytics can equip decision-makers with critical tools and technologies, enabling them to use freely available information for their benefit.
- awareness of what tools and technologies exist which can be used to harness the power of analytics on data sets of varying sizes and content.
- essential analytical skills in handling, analysing and manipulating data to generate insights about businesses, markets, consumers and competitors.
Indicative Programme
Lecture (2.5 hours) | Content |
1 | Introduction to Business Analytics |
2 | Descriptive Analytics - Data Management |
3 | Data Visualization Tools |
4 | Predictive Analytics - Statistical Inference and Regression |
5 | Regression Analysis |
6 | Forecasting Techniques |
7 | Prescriptive Analysis – Linear Optimization |
8 | Linear Optimization and sensitivity analysis |
9 | Non-linear Optimization |
10 | Artificial Intelligence, Analytics and the Future Ahead |
Teaching team
Dr Debabrata Ghosh is a Reader in the Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship Group (SOE) and the Director of Executive Education at Essex Business School. Dr Ghosh’s research interests lie in the areas of supply chain analytics, sustainable operations, supply contracts, emerging economies, game-theoretic applications in operations and OM-Marketing interface models.
Dr Sahar Validi is a Senior Lecturer in Business Analytics. Her research interests, teaching and research experience, and publications lie in an interdisciplinary and overlapped area between Operational Research (OR) and Supply Chain and Logistics Management and are heavily influenced by Digital Transformation.
*Please note that the the delivery of this module is dependent on a minimum of 10 students.