Strategic Modelling and Business Dynamics: A feedback systems approach, + Website, 2nd Edition

Preface to the Second Edition

In the second edition of Strategic Modelling and Business Dynamics I have refreshed the book while building on its strengths. The original 2007 book was well received. So I retained the pre-existing ten-chapter architecture and within this architecture I made numerous chapter-by-chapter revisions. For example chapters 1 and 9, on the fishing industry and World Dynamics refer to new research and web-based simulators about sustainability and climate change. The background to the oil industry in Chapter 8 reports changes to industry structure and the advent of shale oil. The references at the end of each chapter have been carefully reviewed and updated to include selected journal articles and books that point the way to important ongoing developments in the field such as group model building and computationally intensive analytical methods.

But there is more too. I want the book to be an enduring bridge from traditional to contemporary system dynamics, and so I have created two accompanying websites – the Learners' website and the Instructors' website.¹ Traditional system dynamics involves a distinctive ‘style’ of modelling and analysis. It lays strong emphasis on clear visualisation and documentation of real-world feedback structure backed-up by rigorous yet easy-to-read equation formulations. Understanding of dynamics comes from careful narrative interpretation of simulations. I use these style guidelines for modelling and analysis throughout the ...