The Fifth Column: On Becoming an Elephant

A number of years ago I was teaching in the executive program of the second largest industrial group in a nameless westernized country. My part of the program was a combination of operations research and information systems well laced with what were perceived to be cynical comments on playing company politics for blood. The format was a series of case studies that are guaranteed to trap any unwary believer in quantitative rationality into blowing himself out of the water. I have, over a period of years, collected and used these cases in such programs around the world.