Opportunities to use operations research methods to develop economic performance: a case study of a sample of companies listed in the Iraq Stock Exchange

Abstract

The productive and banking institutions seek to exert all possible efforts to develop their competitive capabilities by meeting the basic needs of their customers in a way that achieves the best possible allocation of their available resources and maximizes the present value of their future profit flows.  The research aims to achieve the foregoing by strengthening all the elements related to developing the capabilities of decision-makers and the skills of the workforce, developing and stabilizing the organization's relations with suppliers, and consolidating its position within the added value chains locally and internationally.  In view of the continuous interest in employing operations research methods in decision-making and enhancing the performance of business sectors in the world, the scientific addition to this research was characterized by clarifying the need to present the most prominent opportunities and challenges associated with the use of these methods in productive and banking institutions in Iraq.  The theoretical side of the study included the presentation of concepts related to evaluating the economic performance of companies and some models of operations research and the historical development of their use in decision-making.  The applied side included evaluating the economic performance of Iraqi companies and diagnosing its development opportunities using some operations research models through the use of some performance indicators for a sample of six companies listed within the Iraq Stock Exchange divided into two companies from each of three sectors, which are banks, services and industry to diagnose the reality of its performance with the presentation of some applicable models in it, , in addition to a statement  the most prominent challenges that may face the efforts of those who seek to implement it in order to determine the requirements necessary to employ it in practice and in a manner that achieves the interests of all relevant parties such as, including shareholders, lenders, banking institutions, consumers, workers and suppliers. The results of the study showed the possibility of developing capabilities to use operations research models in evaluating the performance of Iraqi companies and enhancing the requirements of sustainable development in the knowledge economy.