Nersesian, Roy L. (R.L. Nersesian, Roy Nersesian)

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Nersesian, Roy L. (R.L. Nersesian, Roy Nersesian)

PERSONAL:

Education: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, B.S.; Harvard Business School, M.B.A.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, 420 W. 118th St., New York, NY 10027. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and educator. Columbia University, New York, NY, School of International and Public Affairs, Center for Energy, Marine Transportation, and Public Policy, adjunct associate professor of international and public affairs. Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ, associate professor of management. Has worked for a shipping company, a bank specializing in shipping finance, and a consultant in a ship brokerage firm. Military service: U.S. Navy; served as chief engineer on a Polaris submarine.

WRITINGS:

Ships and Shipping: A Comprehensive Guide, PennWell Publishing (Tulsa, OK), 1981.

Computer Simulation in Business Decision Making: A Guide for Managers, Planners, and MIS Professionals, Quorum Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Corporate Planning, Human Behavior, and Computer Simulation: Forecasting Business Cycles, Quorum Books (New York, NY), 1990.

Should Oil Companies Own Tankers?, Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (New York, NY), 1991.

Computer Simulation in Financial Risk Management: A Guide for Business Planners and Strategists, Quorum Books (New York, NY), 1991.

(With James A. Helly) Global Management Accounting: A Guide for Executives of International Corporations, Quorum Books (Westport, CT), 1993.

(With G. Boyd Swartz) Computer Simulation in Logistics: With Visual Basic Application, Quorum Books (Westport, CT), 1996.

Trends and Tools for Operations Management: An Updated Guide for Executives and Managers, Quorum Books (Westport, CT), 2000.

Corporate Financial Risk Management: A Computer-based Guide for Nonspecialists, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2004.

Energy for the 21st Century: A Comprehensive Guide to Conventional and Alternative Sources, M.E. Sharpe (Armonk, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Roy L. Nersesian is a writer and educator based at Columbia University, where he is an adjunct associate professor of international and public affairs. He is the author of several books on subjects such as marine transportation, energy policy, risk management, and business management. Several of his works have explored computer simulation in business management, risk management, and logistics. A military veteran, Nersesian spent eight years in the U.S. Navy, where he was an engineer officer on a Polaris nuclear submarine.

Trends and Tools for Operations Management: An Updated Guide for Executives and Managers provides an overview of the concepts of operations management combined with evaluations of important computer software tools that businesspeople might use or consider purchasing for their companies. The author also considers how the Japanese approach to business changed operations management for businesses throughout the world.

The book is arranged in ten chapters. Topics include historical material, including the economic theories of Adam Smith; the engineering of Eli Whitney; similarities and differences in feedback mechanisms of the United States, Soviet Union, and Japan; and considerations of concepts of quality under definitions crafted by theorists Frederick Taylor and W. Edwards Deming. Nersesian introduces the concept and use of quantitative models and how to select the best model to use for a given business situation. He discusses and evaluates software tolls such as Evolver, RISK Optimizer, and What's Best. He provides guidance on business forecasting, establishing inventory and purchasing practices, creating useful production schedules, and applying concepts of quality and continuous improvement to business and manufacturing processes.

Nersesian's work "will be useful for beginning executives and managers involved in operations management or who are eager to learn about up-to-date computer programs in relation to production," commented Hollie Marie Easterling in the International Journal of Commerce and Management. In addition, Easterling noted, "The book also help managers and executives better understand quantitative models, work teams, forecasting, inventory classification systems, purchasing practices, and continuous improvement."

Energy for the 21st Century: A Comprehensive Guide to Conventional and Alternative Sources covers the need for creating new and sustainable sources of energy for the world of the new century. Nersesian notes the grim but often overlooked fact that running out of a natural resource does not mean that demand will drop or that alternates can be found. He discusses the tremendous technological demands of energy production, and how many improvements and advances will be necessary to meet the global need for energy. He recounts the California energy scandal, looks at the use of biomass energy sources worldwide, considers alternative energy sources, and describes the ongoing quest for a truly sustainable energy source. He also explores how a hydrogen-based energy economy would function and what it would mean to the world's troubled environment.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

International Journal of Commerce and Management, summer, 2002, Hollie Marie Easterling, "Nersesian Highlights on Japanese Production Techniques for Operations Managers and Executives," review of Trends and Tools for Operations Management: An Updated Guide for Executives and Managers, p. 129.

Reference & Research Book News, October, 1991, review of Computer Simulation in Financial Risk Management: A Guide for Business Planners and Strategists, p. 14; December, 1996, review of Computer Simulation in Logistics: With Visual Basic Application, p. 27; May, 2004, review of Corporate Financial Risk Management: A Computer-based Guide for Nonspecialists, p. 122.

SciTech Book News, June, 2000, review of Trends and Tools for Operations Management, p. 150; March, 2007, review of Energy for the 21st Century: A Comprehensive Guide to Conventional and Alternative Sources.