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Risk And Decision Analysis Essay

Decent Essays

1. “First, it neglects the fact that those who benefit may not be the same as those who pay the costs.
2. Secondly, it is very difficult to measure the utility of things other than money.
3. Finally, it does not take into account ethical issues.”
(1992)
As a solution they have suggested to modify the utility function in a way of adding further variables.
The problem of two or more decision makers
Applying the utility theory seems a rational choice as it can reflect the decision maker’s attitude toward risk. Still problems arise when the decision is made by more than one person. Based on their experiences within General Motors, Michael W. Kusnic and Daniel Owen have found that when there were more than one decision makers, it was less …show more content…

Even if it doesn’t necessarily lead to success, it provides an insight into the problem, helps communication and facilitates decision making.
Fields of life where it has proven to be successful
Decision analysis has been used in almost every industry. In some areas with more success than in the others but generally we can claim that there is hardly any field of life which has not made use of it. Some areas where these techniques worked well are petroleum, pharmaceuticals and electric power industries (Howard 2007).
When people argue with decision analysis and its achievements they usually mention the story of DuPont, an American chemical company. It managed to successfully integrate risk and decision analysis functions to both operational and strategic levels. The company claimed that Desciison and Risk Analysis not only brought tangible benefits to the company, but also intangible, such as increased attention and commitment to actions (Krumm et Roll, 1992).
One area in which the application of decision analysis appeared to be successful is in the oil industry. The decision environment within which an oil company has to operate is characterized by limited information and complexity. Also, these decisions require intensive capital expenditures thus they are related to substantial risk (Hosseini, 1986). The case of Tomco Oil Corporation is a good example for this type of decisions made under uncertainty.

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