Agribusiness Operations Analysis
Ag Business 421
Instructor: / Dr. Sean HurleyOffice: / 22-208
Phone: / 756-5050
e-mail: /
Web Page: / http://agb.calpoly.edu/shurley/
Class Meeting Time: / WF 2:10 – 4:00 in 10-215
Office Hours: / TR 2:10 – 4:00, R 1:10 – 2:00, or by appointment
Furlough Days: / 3/30, 4/5, 4/19, 5/21, 5/28, and 6/1
Prerequisite: STAT 221 and AGB 313
Primary Textbook:
Statistics, Data Analysis, and Decision Modeling (4th edition) by Evans.
Course Objectives:
· Analyze and abstract the important components of agricultural business problem and turn them into spreadsheet models
· To understand different data types, analyze them, and present them
· To understand risk and uncertainty, and how to incorporate them into a spreadsheet business model
Grading:
Grading Components: / WeightActivities / 15%
Attendance Quizzes and Reading Quizzes / 15%
Class Participation and Effort / ε
Four Executive Summaries / 10%
Midterm (tentatively 5/5/10) / 25% or 35%[1]
Final (6/7/10; 1:10 – 4:00 p.m.) / 25% or 35%1
Activities
There will be approximately 10 to 14 activities. These activities will be assigned at the beginning of class and are meant to be challenging. You are allowed and encouraged to work on the activities in groups. If you work in groups on the activities, make sure that you personally know how to do each. These activities will primarily be computer activities that are applied problems that use spreadsheet modeling to solve. While time will be allocated in class to do these activities, you should expect that some activities might need to be finished outside of class. An activity is always due the next class period unless otherwise stated by the professor. An activity that is submitted late will receive a 0. An activity is defined as late if it is submitted after the activities submitted on the due date have been graded by the professor and returned to the students.
Attendance Quizzes, Reading Quiz Quizzes and Class Participation
Since the textbook is an integral part of this course, there is an expectation you will read the text. There will be very little lecturing in the course unless questions arise. To provide incentive for you to read the text, quizzes will be given for each chapter. Anything in the chapter is fair game for the quizzes. These quizzes may also ask questions from the previous two or three classes or related to the activities recently conducted.
The professor reserves the right to give attendance quizzes. If you have to miss a class, you need to send a business memo to the professor before class has begun. If the memo is deemed professional and an attendance quiz is given you will receive credit for the attendance quiz for that day. If you are unsure of the structure of a business memo, it is your responsibility to find out how to write one.
While this course is primarily activity oriented, class participation is strongly encouraged. It is a minimum expectation of the professor that you will ask questions when you are confused on a topic being covered in the course.[2] To motivate class participation, a value of ε is being used. The term ε in mathematics is often used to mean a small number. In the case of this course, ε is being used as the professor’s subjective measure that he will assign to each student for his/her participation and effort in the course. The value of ε will be nonnegative and worth no more than 3%, i.e., 3% ≥ ε ≥ 0, and will only be given a positive value for extraordinary class participation and/or effort. Please note that ε can take a student above 100% making this measure similar to extra credit. Also, you should expect the percentage of students getting a positive ε will be no larger than 20% of the class. Please note that ε is non-negotiable and any attempt to do so will guarantee that a zero for this value is assigned to the person that attempts to negotiate.
Exams
There will be two exams for the course; a midterm and a final. This final exam is comprehensive and will cover everything done in activities and lectures. Whichever exam you do better on, you will receive a 35% weighting, while your worse exam will be weighted 25% of your grade.
Executive Summaries
You will be required to write-up four executive summaries of the activities assigned in class. You get to choose which four activities you want to write-up, but I must receive a write-up on 4/23, 4/30, 5/7, and 5/14. You can turn the executive summaries in early. It is your responsibility to look-up information on how to write an executive summary. This summary should be written as if you were presenting it to the board of directors of a company. Please note that I prefer executive summaries that have mostly bullet point items rather than straight prose, although you should have some prose to introduce the bulleted points. You should include a statement regarding the objective of the analysis or the problem be researched, a brief description of the methodology, a highlight of the major results, and conclusions and recommendations. A late executive summary will only receive half credit. For each spelling and/or grammatical error, you will lose 1 point.
Final Grade
Your final grade will be based on the weighted average of the seven components of the course. Grades will be issued on the following scale:
· 90% of weighted average guarantees an A-,
· 80% of weighted average guarantees a B-,
· 70% of weighted average guarantees a C-,
· 60% of weighted average guarantees a D-,
· Below 60% of weighted average guarantees an F.
Professor’s Expectation
It is the expectation of the professor that you will spend at least 2 hours outside of class working activities and readings for every hour you are supposed to spend in class. These hours may not be equally distributed across the quarter. Please budget your time wisely.
Course Policies
Right to Syllabus Change Policy
The instructor reserves the right to make any changes to this syllabus at anytime during the course. If a change is made, a new syllabus will be handed out.
Students with Learning and/or Physical Disability Policy
Any student with a learning and/or physical disability who needs accommodations or assistance in this course should make an appointment to speak with the instructor as soon as possible.
Cheating Policy
Cheating/academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in the course. If you are discovered cheating or are an accomplice in helping someone cheat on an exam, quiz, or homework you will receive a zero on the respective item. You will also be reported to the dean’s office for disciplinary matters. For a description on Cal Poly’s cheating policy please go to the following web page: http://www.academicprograms.calpoly.edu/academicpolicies/Cheating.htm.
Cell Phone Policy
Cell phones are strictly prohibited on exam days. If you are caught with a cell phone, you will receive a zero on the exam. During class time cell phones must be turned to silent mode. If you have a call, you must take it outside the classroom. If the instructor hears your cell phone and is able to identify you in class, he has the option of deducting up to 5% off your final grade for each occurrence. If you do not wish to have the 5% deducted from your grade, you will need to purchase a slice of pizza or its equivalent for each student in the class for the next class meeting.
Make-Up or Early Exam Policy
No make-up exams will be given in the course except for the final. If you miss a midterm for a valid reason, then the weighting for that midterm will be placed on the final. If you miss a final for a valid reason, you will receive an Incomplete grade in the course and will be required to take a make-up exam within the first four weeks of the next quarter you attend. There are only two valid reasons for missing an exam: 1) a family member dies, or 2) you are unexpectedly sick or injured to the point that you need to see a medical doctor the day of the exam. If a family member passes away, you will need to bring to the make-up exam the death certificate to be able to take it. Please note that the family pet is not considered a family member under this policy. If you are unexpectedly sick or injure to the point that you need to see a medical doctor the day of the exam, you will need to bring a note from the doctor that explains that the illness or injury was so bad that there would have been no way you could have taken the exam the day it was scheduled. Family vacations or any other type of vacations are not an acceptable reason for obtaining a make-up exam. No early exams will be given.
Classroom Civility Policy
It is expected that you will be respectful to both the professor and other classmates. If you choose to be disrespectful, you will be asked to leave and your total grade will be affected by at least a 1% deduction in your weighted grade. Anything that is disruptive to the class is deemed disrespectful including the following behavior:
q Talking loudly during lecture that is not related to the course
q Packing your bag before class is finished
q Listening to your music player when lecture is in session
q Consistently arriving late to class without providing a valid reason to the professor
q Verbally attacking a person rather than attacking the person’s ideas
q Leaving early without telling the professor beforehand (The only exception to this is if you become ill during class.)
q Showing-up to class intoxicated
q Chewing tobacco
q Bringing your pet to class
q Text Messaging
q Inappropriate speech or actions not protected by the Constitution as interpreted by state or federal laws
FERPA Policies
The professor of this course respects your FERPA rights. As a policy, the professor will only discuss your grades to you in person. No grades will be given over the phone or through email. No student other than yourself will be allowed to pick up your homework or exams. To facilitate the class, the professor may call on you by name. If you would prefer your name not to be used in the course, it is your responsibility to notify the professor in writing by the end of the first week.
Dr. Hurley’s Key to Success:
Attend ALL classes!!!
Do all the homework and problem sets
Understand the homework and problem sets
Work in groups to do the homework and problem sets
Attend ALL classes!!!
Start all homework and problem sets on the day they are distributed
Utilize Dr. Hurley’s office hours
Ask questions in class
Attend ALL classes!!!
Topics for Ag Bus 421
Topic / Chapter(s) in Primary TextData and Business Decisions
/ Chapter 1Displaying and Summarizing Data / Chapter 2
Probability Distributions and Applications / Chapter 3
Sampling and Estimation / Chapter 4
Hypothesis Testing and Statistical Inference / Chapter 5
Regression Analysis / Chapter 6
Forecasting / Chapter 7
Building and Using Decision Modeling / Chapter 9
Risk Analysis and Monte Carlo Simulation / Chapter 10
Decision, Uncertainty, and Risk / Chapter 11
Linear Optimization / Chapter 13
Integer and Nonlinear Optimization / Chapters 14
Page 1 of 5
Revised 3/26/2010
[1] The exam you do better on will receive 35%, while the exam you do worse on you will receive 25%.
[2] It is highly likely that the question you have is the same as many other students in class. Please do not hesitate to ask questions.