Friday, September 20, 2013

Going from Decisions to Numbers or Numbers to Decisions??

Well, after discussing the Delphi case, Luis showed us how, numbers get cooked, when the people making decisions have already made the decision, and just need numbers to support this decision.

Considering same costs for a factory in Spain and in Poland, considering same transportation cost from Spain to Germany and from Poland to Germany, considering sunk costs to advantage -  so many ways to cook numbers and make them speak the way your decision is supposed to be.

Not to mention, eventually, this decision had to be corrected in real life as well - so, the lesson of the day, crunch numbers to help you decide better, don't decide first and then cook numbers only to support those decisions :-)

Although, I had skipped the IMBA cocktail last night, partly because of my health, and partly because I feared ending up asleep this morning for long enough to miss classes [:-)], I could still catch up with the IMBA team this morning, thanks to the 'drop-in for coffee' session hosted by the IMBA team :-)

Being Friday today, plans are already being discussed about tonight - and trade-offs will be needed between a movie, a drinking session or a Peruvian dinner. By the way, today is the day when I started my career nine years ago, so whatever the decision is, it would be enjoyed and we will make it worth it !!

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