The one overwhelming advantage of spreadsheets is that they are everywhere in business. Students once resisted learning specialized programs for management science because they believed these programs were not used in their firms. But not only is student resistance to spreadsheets low, many students actually want to improve their spreadsheet skills. If they learn a little management science along the way, so much the better. The high level of interest in spreadsheets throughout business gives all of us who teach management science a unique opportunity.
Spreadsheets have other advantages beyond wide acceptance.
Business people recognize spreadsheets as important, but most think of the spreadsheet as simply a powerful calculator. 27, No. 3, May-June 1997, pp. By this I mean that the properly educated business analyst can use the spreadsheet to build simple but flexible and powerful models for making important business decisions. This possibility simply never existed before the advent of the spreadsheet and the development of complementary management science tools for optimization and simulation. So the spreadsheet revolution in business offers the teacher of management science two opportunities.