A survey of OR utilization in Greece

Abstract

A recent survey concerning OR utilization in firms and public organizations in Greece showed a rather poor profile. The survey covered 20 big organizations including the National Defense General Staff, national enterprises of public utilities, banks and firms from the textile, cement, oil, construction and other industries. Only a few of these organizations are using OR to a significant degree. The rest reported ‘poor’ or ‘no’ use of OR. Research/implementation problems most frequently appearing in public sector organizations include lack of data, insufficient qualified personnel and unfavorable attitude towards cooperation by affected parties. In private firms, the need for quick solutions and the use of OR analysts in line functions quite often imply the use of a ‘rule of thumb’ rather than a mathematical OR technique. In addition, OR study results quite often do not get implemented. One of the reasons is resistance by the affected parties, considering any proposal for reorganization put forward by other parties as a threat. The use of OR has proven beneficial for the using firm or organization. These benefits, however, are not as great as one might expect, due to the problems mentioned above. The future growth of OR utilization in Greece will depend on developments concerning the education of managers in OR methods, creation of OR groups in firms that will seek solutions to real-world, worth-while problems, publicizing successful OR applications, active support by top management, reforms in the educational system etc. The real push for OR utilization in Greece will come from drastic changes in administrative practices, which are directly related to the socioeconomic developments in the country.