Letter from the invited editor, special issue on DEA and MCDA

Marcos P. Estellita Lins
2002 Pesquisa Operacional  
If we turn back to the origins of Operations Research, we will promptly recognize its major mission: to help Britain and USA in defeating fascism during the Second World War. Nowadays, OR's mission is not so distinguishable, even though we face challenges comparable to a war, like food scarcity, health service deficiencies, lack of education and provision for other basic needs, corruption, urban violence, drug traffic and so on. At first glance, OR is much more appropriate for industrial
more » ... tions than for social and public matters. This is probably due to the complex and multidisciplinary nature of the latter, but these are still characteristics of the real world, and we should always remember that one of the main barriers to OR success (given its quantitative nature) is an inaccurate adherence to real world problems.
doi:10.1590/s0101-74382002000200001 fatcat:khqwb2qmwratfevdgo2k32lhzm