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Case Article—Creating a Brick Empire Through Data Visualization and Analytics

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew J. Drake

    (Palumbo-Donahue School of Business, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15282)

Abstract

This case study provides a comprehensive decision-making scenario that takes students through all three types of analytics—descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive—to provide recommendations to a decision maker. The scenario focuses on an individual investor who is purchasing LEGO sets from retailers with the goal of selling them for a higher price on the aftermarket in a few years once they retire from shelves. Students must create visualizations to generate insights from the data and develop a regression model to identify sets that represent value investment opportunities. In the extension case they must take their estimated values and optimize the decisions of which sets to purchase to meet the decision maker’s investment goals using an integer program. Students also have the opportunity to develop soft skills in problem solving and communicating results and dealing with missing data points in a data set that is larger than standard textbook data sets but is still a manageable size for introductory students. The open-ended instructions make the case appropriate for a wide range of students from the introductory undergraduate level to the advanced graduate level.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew J. Drake, 2024. "Case Article—Creating a Brick Empire Through Data Visualization and Analytics," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 271-277, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orited:v:24:y:2024:i:3:p:271-277
    DOI: 10.1287/ited.2023.0288ca
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael F. Gorman, 2023. "Case Article—Louisiana Branch Lines," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 139-143, May.
    2. Matthew J. Drake, 2019. "Teaching OR/MS with Cases: A Review and New Suggestions," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 19(2), pages 57-66, January.
    3. Dessislava A. Pachamanova, 2015. "Case Article—Mapping Business Problems to Analytics Solutions: Surrogate Experiential Learning in an MBA Introductory Data Science and Business Analytics Course," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 15-22, September.
    4. Robert A. Shumsky, 2009. "Case Article ---Introductory Integrative Cases on Airline Revenue Management," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 135-139, May.
    5. Murat Köksalan & Sakine Batun, 2009. "Case Article ---Assigning Regions to Sales Representatives at Pfizer Turkey," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 9(2), pages 70-71, January.
    6. Janice K. Winch & Jack Yurkiewicz, 2014. "Case Article—Class Scheduling with Linear Programming," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 143-147, September.
    7. Coleen R. Wilder & Ceyhun O. Ozgur, 2015. "Business Analytics Curriculum for Undergraduate Majors," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 15(2), pages 180-187, January.
    8. Sean L. Barnes & Margrét V. Bjarnadóttir, 2019. "Case Article—Baseball Analytics: Advancing to Prescriptive Analytics in the Major League Baseball Front Office," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 143-145, May.
    9. Sean L. Barnes & Margrét V. Bjarnadóttir, 2019. "Case—Baseball Analytics: Advancing to Prescriptive Analytics in the Major League Baseball Front Office," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 146-151, May.
    10. David Kopcso & Dessislava Pachamanova, 2018. "Case Article—Business Value in Integrating Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics Models," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 36-42, September.
    11. Stacey Vaziri & Baback Vaziri & Luis J. Novoa & Elham Torabi, 2022. "Academic Motivation in Introductory Business Analytics Courses: A Bayesian Approach," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 121-129, January.
    12. B. Madhu Rao & Jeroen Beliën, 2014. "Case Article—Production Scheduling at Falcon Die Casting: A Comprehensive Example on the Application of Linear Programming and Its Extensions," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 150-153, September.
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