For the past 10 years, if not 20, the prophets of management science have been forecasting the arrival of the quantitative era. This millennium is to be achieved through the use of mathematical models and statistical techniques as programed into computers. For example, in 1961 one of the foremost management scientist predicted, Management education and practice are, I believe, on the verge of a major breakthrough in understanding quantitatively how industrial company success depends on the interaction between the flows of information, orders, materials, money, personnel and capital equipment
