Goal Programming for Decision Making in Closely Held Businesses

There are few analytical and managerial tools available to assist the small business decision maker. This paper presents a practical goal Programming model which can be easily generalized to fit the planning needs of most small businesses. Specifically the model explicitly considers the multiple goals and priorities of the owner-manager and determines if these goals can be accomplished under various demand Projections. An illustrative example of the use of this model with a small fast-food business is given.