Computer-Based Management of Complex Systems

Especially during the last decade, the systems approach gained wide spread attention and increased influence in the world of academics and business. The holistic view of how individual elements interact with ea~h other to form an entity -not a collection of isolated parts -becomes more and more important. Whether it is called "integration" as in Computer Integrated Manufacturing, "organism" in ecological studies, or "network" like the communication network, it is the system's idea which opens neVI' dimensions for insights, applications and development. System Dynamics -or Industrial Dynamics as it was called during its early years by its founder and mentor, M.I.T.'s now Professor Emeritus Jay W. Forrester, -pioneered the use of system concepts and computer simulation for the analysis of complex problems in business and management. It was applied to study the dynamics of corporations, cities, national economies and, finally, the global problems of man and in his limited and fragile environment. The field has reached a stage of self sustained development and momentum. A few years ago the System Dynamics Society was founded, a high quality academic journal is now published in its fifth volume, and the annual International Conferences of the Society were institutionalized and took place in America, Europe and Asia. The organization of international meet· ings for this scientific community, however, is older than the System Dynamics Society itself. The first conventions were held as special sections of conferences devoted to simulation or cybernetics.

List of Contents.- Plenary Sessions.- The System Dynamics National Model: Macrobehavior from Microstructure.- The Structured Systems Approach for the Design of Optimisation and Simulation Models.- Misperceptions of Feedback in Dynamic Decision Making.- Synergetics and Social Science.- Corporate Strategic Thinking: The Role of System Dynamics.- A System Dynamics Model and Policy Analysis for National Education and Economy Development.- Parallel Sessions.- Business policy and strategy.- Development and Use of System Dynamics Models as Tools for Strategic Planning of Flexible Assembly Systems.- A System Dynamics Model for Automation.- Planned Organizational Change: Theory, Model, Data und Simulation.- Accounting Measurement and Methodological Characteristics of Accounting Dynamics.- Flexible Manufacturing and it’s Benefits for the Financial Situation of an Enterprise.- Modelling Business Strategies for Verification of Planning.- Market Analysis and Forecasting as a Strategic Business Tool.- Loop-Based Strategic Decision Support Systems ― Theory and Application.- Modelling a Biotechnology Startup Firm.- Computerbased Decision Support of Strategic Planning and Strategic Management with System Dynamics Models ― Illustrated by the Example of the German Federal Railway.- Teaching and Training.- Feedback Delays and Control in Complex Dynamic Systems.- A Successful Management Training Institution Must Interact Intensively with its Environment.- A Study on Human Control in Stock-Adjustment Tasks.- A Metalanguage for Communication, Confidence and Commitment: A New Perspective on Influence Diagrams.- A Training Game and Behavioral Decision Making Research Tool: An Alternative Use of System Dynamics Simulation.- Organizational Learning: A New Challenge for System Dynamics.- Methodology and theory/optimization.- Generic Qualitative Behavior of Elementary System Dynamics Structures.- Tests of Model Behavior that Can Detect Structural Flaws: Demonstration with Simulation Experiments.- Modeling Control of DNA-Replication in Bacterial Cells.- Designing a Manufacturing Policy Using the Reference Approach and Alternative System Dynamics Support Methods.- Fuzzy Evaluation on the Validity of System Dynamics Models.- Aggregate Dynamics of a Population of Commodity Cycle Models.- System Formalitation and Models Building.- Tomorrow, Today: System Dynamics Models or Expert Systems?.- A Study of Sensitive Test.- Gaming & decision theory/computer-based learning.- Learning in Dynamic Simulation Games; Using Performance as a Measure.- Computer-Based Case Studies in Management Education and Research.- Learning Laboratories: Designing a Reflective Learning Environment.- Modelling the Process of Complex System Control.- Eliciting Group Knowledge for Model-Building.- A Dynex-Based Learning Laboratory for Economic Development Planning.- Macro economics policy.- A Critique of Roemer’s Conception of Exploitation.- A System Dynamics Approach to the Function of the Economic Leverages in China’s Economy.- A Socio-Economy Development Strategy Study of a Typical Underdeveloped Coastal Open City.- Quantitative Analysis of Inflation Issue in China.- Government policy and planning.- Elements for Periurban Dynamics.- Energy Supply Modelling: The Case of Cyclades.- A System-Dynamics Examination of the Effects of the Mahaweli-Project in Sri Lanka.- A System Dynamics Model for National Energy Policy Planning.- Schedule Delays and New Financing for the Argentine Electricity Sector Growth.- Corporate and Statewide Perspectives on the Liability Insurance Crisis.- System Dynamics Applications in the Sector of Electricity.- A Study of Shanghai’s Industrial Structure.- An Application of System Dynamics to the Research on the Strategy of Rural Development in Heilongjiang Province.- The Dynamic Relationship Between Transportation and Other Industries in China.- A S.D. Model for Rational Exploitation and Utilization of Water Resources in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas.- Modelling technology.- System Dynamics as a Tool for Historians: The Role of Software.- Non-Linear Dynamic Phenomena in Electron Transfer Devices.- Rössler Bands in Economic and Biological Systems.- Creating System Dynamics Models Hierarchically Using SADT.- Knowledge-Based Modelling.- System Dynamics Simulation of Spatial Character.- Chaos Study in System Dynamics.- Improving Insight and Understanding by Optimising System Dynamics Models.- Technology & project management.- A Study on the Coordinated Development of the R&D and Socio-Economy for a Typical Large City in China Using System Dynamics Approach.- The Coordinative Development Between R&D and Tech-Acquisition in China.- Dynamic Modelling and Policy Analysis on Technological Progress and the Change of Industrial Structure.- War, peace & conflict management.- The Planning and Controlling of Infantry and Artillery Joint Combat Operation.- System Dynamics and Defence Analysis.- System Dynamics Modeling of Air Warfare.- The Origins of Mass Warfare: A System Dynamics Approach.- Government’s Ability to Manage Political Conflict over the Course of Economic Development.- Additional Papers.- Gaming to Implement System Dynamics Models.- Water Resources Development Planning.