Overview of OR practice in Taiwan companies

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey of Operational Research (OR) practice in business organizations in Taiwan, Republic of China—a newly industrialized country. Questions concerning the number of OR professionals, specific OR techniques being used, common OR users, reasons for not using OR, and the supporting factors and difficulties encountered in practice were posed to the top 1000 manufacturing firms and top 1000 service organizations. Replies from 249 respondents provide some insight into the use of OR in Taiwan's business organizations. The results are very informative for companies wishing to extend their use of OR and for educational institutions to design better OR curriculum to fit industries' needs.