Search results

Research has highlighted the cognitive nature of the business model intended as a cognitive representation describing a business’ value creation and value capture activities. Although the content of the business model has been extensively investigated from this perspective, less attention has been paid to the business model’s causal structure – that is the pattern of cause-effect relations that, in top managers’ or entrepreneurs’ understandings, link value creation and value capture activities. Building on the strategic cognition literature, this paper argues that conceptualizing and analysing business models as cognitive maps can shed light on four important properties of a business model’s causal structure: the levels of complexity, focus and clustering that characterize the causal structure and the mechanisms underlying the causal links featured in that structure. I use examples of business models drawn from the literature as illustrations to describe these four properties. Finally, I discuss the value of a cognitive mapping approach for augmenting extant theories and practices of business model design.

Business realities include delays, unintended downstream consequences, exponential versus linear relationships, “hidden demons,” and virtuous and viscous feedback cycles. Executives often respond to these realities by applying nearsighted short-term solutions that contribute to long-run business failure. We provide core propositions and a framework for causal mapping and testing “micro-worlds” of real-life marketing-buying realities. A microworld is a set of explicit assumptions about how things get done, that is, how each variable in a marketing-buying system relates to other variables in the system. The framework suggests applying eight steps linking systems-thinking cause mapping, policy mapping, and systems dynamics modeling. The chapter reviews case research studies that apply the eight steps. Modeling system dynamics of business relationships aims to run simulations of the resulting microworld model of a specific reality; the main aim goes beyond description and explanation to offer prescriptions that reduce the occurrence of viscous cycles and encourage decisions leading to virtuous cycles. Hopefully, this chapter serves to awareness and use of system dynamics tools among case study researchers and executives in business and industrial marketing.

The importance of physical assets has been increasingly recognized in recent decades. The significant returns on small improvements in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) justify investment in the management of physical assets, but the wide variation of OEE across firms raises a question: “Why do these differences persist despite a high return on investments to maximize OEE?”. To address this question the dynamic processes that control the evolution of OEE through time need to be better understood. This paper aims to answer this question.

Building on insights from system dynamics and strategy literature, the paper maps the reinforcing feedback loops governing the maintenance function and its interactions with various elements in a firm. Building on strategy literature it hypothesizes that these loops can explain wide variations in observed persistent variations in OEE among otherwise similar firms. The paper draws on previous literature, extensive case studies and consulting projects to provide such mapping using the qualitative mapping tools from system dynamics.

The research outlines several reinforcing loops; once active, any of them could lead a firm towards a problematic mode of operation where reactive maintenance, poor morale, and a culture of fire‐fighting dominate. Actions taken to fix problems in the short‐run often activate vicious cycles, erode the capability of the organization over the long run, and lead to a lower OEE.

Knowing the factors affecting the asset management function of a plant increases the plant's safety and limits its environmental hazards.

Some of the common dynamics of organizations' asset management practices are illustrated and modeled. The strategic importance of OEE and its effect on companies' market capitalization is demonstrated.

This article sets out to describe the benefits of systems thinking in overcoming short‐sighted decision making in business and industrial marketing.

The article illustrates specific tools and recent applications of systems thinking research.

The basic building‐blocks for creating microworlds are the claims made by stakeholders running and affected by real‐life systems.

Suggestions for future research includes transforming research designs from linear one‐way models to models expressly recognizing time delays, feedback loops among variables, and seemingly hidden, unimportant relationships.

All business exchanges involve systems and there is more complexity than is readily apparent; systems thinking helps decision makers to deeply understand what is really happening.

This article advises replacing the one‐direction thinking and research paradigm that dominates business and industrial marketing with systems thinking and system dynamics modeling; the article identifies examples and the literature necessary to embrace this alternative paradigm.

Islamic attributes and activities need to be developed in compliance with the halal concept to attract potential Muslim tourists and ensure the success of halal tourism. Although the literature shows that many factors can influence the success of halal tourism, a complete picture of the success factors of halal tourism in a city is still very limited. As such, this explorative study aims to examine stakeholders’ perspectives regarding the antecedents of halal tourism success and the benefits of halal tourism for the city.

Qualitative system dynamics modeling was used for this study, and Makassar (a successful halal tourism city) was considered as the basis for the study. A causal loop diagram (CLD) of halal tourism was developed using the group model building technique to elicit stakeholders’ knowledge and assumptions. Network analysis and feedback loop analysis were used to identify the driving factors of successful halal tourism.

Two factors need to be taken into account by halal tourism stakeholders in the city: support from the central and local government and improving and maintaining potential tourists’ perceptions of the city. There are four benefits of halal tourism success for the city: an increase in the number of micro-, small- and medium-sized halal businesses in the city, increased support from the central and local government to further develop halal tourism infrastructure in the city, increased word-of-mouth promotion of Makassar as a tourism destination and a decrease in the price of halal tourism components (e.g. food and accommodation).

The resulting CLD shows the interlinkage between political, societal and economical factors that could influence the success of halal tourism development. In particular, the findings show how governments and tourism stakeholders need to promote halal tourism socialization in the community and improve the public perception of this type of tourism. Therefore, the findings can help destination stakeholders and tourism developers in other cities develop halal tourism potential.

This paper aims to (1) identify the different performance drivers (lead indicators) and outcome measures (lag indicators) investigated in the literature concerning the four balanced scorecard (BSC) perspectives in operations management (OM) contexts and (2) understand how performance drivers and outcome measures (and substantiated perspectives) are related.

We undertake a systematic literature review of the BSC literature in OM journals. From the final sample of 40 articles, performance drivers and outcome measures have been identified, and the relationships amongst them have been synthesised according to the system dynamics approach.

Findings show (1) the most relevant performance drivers and outcome measures within each BSC perspective, (2) their relationships, (3) how the perspectives are linked through the performance drivers and outcome measures and (4) how the different measures relate systemically. Accordingly, four causal loops amongst identified measures have been built, which – jointly considered – allowed for the creation of a dynamic strategy map for OM.

This study is the first one that provides a comprehensive and holistic view of how the different performance drivers and outcome measures within and between the four BSC perspectives in OM relate systemically, increasing the knowledge and understanding of scholars and practitioners.

Change in the economic status of a low-income country is accompanied by an expected increase in investment and economic activities along with land degradation and biodiversity loss. This study aims to explore Ghana's transition from a low-income to a lower-middle income economy, and the impact of the accompanying rise in extractive activities on the upstream cocoa supply chain (CSC) and its supporting ecosystem.

The author conducted interviews and made critical observations on Ghana's upstream CSC. Grounded theory (GT) and system dynamics (SD) methodologies were employed to extract and analyze themes from the data gathered. Causal loop diagrams were derived from the analyzed data to provide insight into the possible long-term structural behavior of the upstream CSC due to the change in Ghana's economic status.

The findings suggest that continuous increase in land capture by open-cast mining and logging concessionaires, poor environmental law enforcement and farmer discontentment could cause a decline in cocoa production and biodiversity.

This research could stimulate the identification of a most effective alternative policy (such as agroecological farming) to improve the living standards of upstream CSC partners and reduce biodiversity loss. The models herein could serve as a learning/demonstration tool for researchers, academia and policymakers when brainstorming students, or during stakeholder (community/society) engagement/consultation sessions, to discuss policy decisions and their consequences. The model approach could also be helpful when designing strategic land-use policies. This could improve understanding of the complex interdependent relationships and the consequences of land degradation, loss of biodiversity and rural livelihood from a system thinking perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrated approach to understand and monitor those intangible assets (IAs) that are the key value drivers of an organization. With the help of three different examples, it attempts to examine the cause‐and‐effect relationship among different intangibles and map them to organizational success.

System thinking approach using examples from three different industries.

The paper finds that the success of any organization depends on a network of interrelated IAs that affect each other and the crux is to ensure that each of these is performing as desired. The use of a causal model clearly demonstrates the cause‐and‐effect relationships between key variables and ultimate objectives, and helps companies identify which intangibles need to be constantly monitored using suitable indicators to achieve the desired goals.

The models have not been verified in practice.

Useful for organizations to monitor and measure intangibles by linking them to their objective of maximizing shareholder value. The indicators illustrated can be used to track the performance of intangibles.

Three industry specific original generic models are presented that will be useful to managers and consultants as a basis for identifying and mapping key intangibles (value drivers) to their organization goals.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the leverage points in the Vietnamese coffee supply chain (SC) that would be used for increasing competitive advantages of the product.

A sequential approach by combining two established modelling techniques (causal loop diagram and Bayesian belief networks) was applied to identify the leverage points in the Vietnamese coffee SC for increasing the competitive advantages of the product. Data for the study were collected from a series of workshops and in-depth interviews with numerous relevant stakeholders of the coffee industry in the central highland of Vietnam.

The systems’ archetypes were developed and a sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify potential factors that can increase the competitive advantages of coffee production. The results indicate that higher investment in all elements of the coffee SC will lead to an enhanced competitive advantage.

Supply chain management (SCM) has become a potentially valuable method for improving competitive advantages, as competition is no longer only between organizations but also among SCs. Therefore, this research focus on enhancing the competitive advantages of production via SCM.

The life span of an aircraft is usually around 30 years in the commercial aviation industry. During this time span, aircraft needs maintenance to stay in service. The cost of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activities in its pure nature is a significant portion of operations, accounting around 10 percent of all cost drivers. The purpose of this paper is to design/develop and critically assess a comprehensive model of operations at Turkish Technic – the MRO department of Turkish Airlines.

A comprehensive systems dynamics model is designed and developed to holistically represent and critically assess the different facets of MRO operations to help in analyzing various decision scenarios at Turkish Airlines.

The developed system dynamics (SD) model presented unique opportunities to test various MRO operations’ work load and aircraft fleet expansion policy alternatives. The model can also be used as a “learning laboratory” by altering various system parameters and testing different policies. The case study results suggested that MRO operations have a direct impact on the available number of airworthy aircrafts and hence, the usable fleet seat capacity; to sustain a profitable airline fleet, the airline companies should take into account the unique characteristics/needs of MRO operations for both existing and new/prospective aircrafts.

There are several SD studies in the literature focusing on the airline industry, but the MRO operations are virtually neglected in them. Hence, the proposed SD model contributed to the extant literature. The value of the developed model stems from its potential use in the critical analysis of decision scenarios as well as being leveraged as a training/learning laboratory.