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The purpose of this paper is to explore the ancient, 2,500 years old The Art of War by Sun Tzu from a system of systems engineering perspectives. The aim is to show that even for an emerging discipline in engineering the underlying concepts may be much more deeply rooted.

The author approaches the subject by an in‐depth analysis of recent conceptualizations of system of systems engineering. The author relates by analysis these concepts back to business strategy. He illustrates from his own empirical work how corporate strategy is but an equivalent to “system” of systems. From original writings of Sun Tzu in The Art of War he then develops a generic model of system of systems.

Ideas in system of systems engineering, an emerging multi‐discipline are far more deeply rooted in history, at least 2,500 years or even more. Using the cockpit of as an illustrative metaphor, the author argues for a research agenda to design an The Art of War boardroom information system.

In this paper, the author argues why in the design of information system, it is useful to take a system of systems perspective. He draws upon the example of cockpit design of aircraft as inspirational design in modeling a futuristic The Art of War boardroom.

In this paper, the author illustrates how cross disciplinary researches between engineering, business and history may be so enriching. That in designing information systems for an The Art of War boardroom it is useful to use metaphorical equivalences. In this case, it is from the informational design of cockpits in fighter aircraft.

The future battlespace will consist of sensors, decision‐makers and weapons systems interoperating within a framework of command systems. These command systems should be adaptable to meet the requirements of a specific operational environment and to take advantage of new technology. The barriers to achieving flexibility and interoperability within the military domain are analogous to those that complicate business‐system integration within the commercial sector. Component software technology could play an important role in achieving the required level of flexibility and interoperability. Therefore describes a generalised framework for assessing the impact of component technology on a system of systems.

The purpose of this paper is to draw a metaphorical parallel between a pilot in the cockpit of the latest, ultra‐modern US fighter F22 and that of a chief executive officer (CEO) managing his corporation in responding to global competitive challenges.

This paper is inspired by the embedded, “system of systems (SoS) thinking” in the text of the very ancient Chinese Art of War by Sun Tzu. The approach here is to illustrate how such a 2,500‐year‐old thinking may be applied through the emerging discipline of SoS. For designing a CEO‐responsive, informative system, the innovations in designing the cockpit for a pilot in the latest US fighter jet, F22, is utilized.

Today's corporate world management has, in the past, drawn heavily from the military (for example, operations research). Whilst there is a vast difference between the pilot's cockpit in an F22 and the lap‐top of the CEO, the need for deadly accurate, often reflexive decisions is the same. It is becoming a fact of business life that speed of deadly accurate responses is necessary to ensure the survival of corporations, especially for firms operating in rapidly changing technologies, or top executives who have to cope effectively with informatively intensive yet fast changing environments, such as in the financial markets.

This paper illustrates how it is still possible for managers to draw inspirations in designing corporate systems through examples taken from the military. Sun Tzu drew inspirations on organizing for flexibility by observing and thus grasping the essential nature of water. Similarly, it may be useful to draw parallels in innovative design of an F22 pilot's cockpit for the CEO or managers having to make fast yet deadly responses.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic method for practitioners (owners, operators, designers, and performers) to identify pathologies (aberrations from healthy system function) in complex systems.

A range of published works, which aim to provide practical and theoretical underpinnings on pathologies, were critiqued with respect to method development. A systematic method with five phases was then developed to help identify and assess existence of pathologies as conditions that negatively impact system performance.

There is a range of pathological conditions and factors that affect organizational (system) performance. However, there is a lack of supporting methods that can guide practitioners in identification of pathologies that exist in systems under their purview.

The developed method is based on functional aspects of system viability as established in management cybernetics. Management cybernetics articulates functions that must be performed for continued viability of complex organizations. Therefore, the developed method supports practitioners in their responsibilities to effectively identify pathologies and develop corresponding remedies.

The proposed approach articulates a repeatable approach by which an analyst can interact with a system of interest in order to identify, assess existence of, and prioritize pathologies. This research introduces an opportunity to develop sets of feasible and purposeful responses to pathologies.

This paper fulfills an identified need to provide practitioners with an advanced systems thinking-based approach to identify deep systemic issues (pathologies) as an essential step in improving performance of an organization (system).

Discusses quality and environmental management systems integration. Concepts of a system and a “system of systems” are addressed, followed by a description of different management systems, and their interrelations and integration. Subsequently, strategies for integration of the quality system based on the ISO 9001 standard and the ISO 14001 environmental management system are presented. The harmonization of related audit sub‐systems, namely ISO 10011 and ISO 14010/11/12 is also addressed. Finally, a discussion on the development of a generic performance management system is provided.

The purpose of the study presented in this paper is to assess determinants of financial innovations in infrastructure using a system‐of‐systems approach, and to demonstrate this approach in the context of the US highway transportation sector.

A system‐of‐systems approach is adopted for systemic assessment. Data obtained from a case‐based research approach and a survey deployed to the state Departments of Transportation in the US is utilized in parallel with a network analysis to explore the status quo, key players and interactions, and the drivers of financial innovations for infrastructure.

The findings include constructs regarding the players, practices, and activities and also a conceptual model relating to the drivers of financial innovations.

The model along with the constructs provides an analytical tool for understanding the dynamics of financial innovations. Such understanding would lead to expansion of the creation and diffusion of financial innovation practices in the highway transportation infrastructure globally.

The study presented in this paper is the first of its kind to identify the determinants of financial innovations in infrastructure based on a systemic approach.

City is an artificial dynamic open giant complex system, whose multifunctional and interdisciplinary characteristics leads to significant complexity. While challenges arising from individual urban functions have been the focus of urban studies, major urban challenges such as traffic congestion and inefficiency of resource usages may originate from the “interface” where different urban functions interact. Previous research has revealed the potential that regarding city as a system-of-systems (SoS) may shed light on solutions to various urban challenges. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

To examine this research potential, this paper begins with an overview of challenges in urbanization and current approaches which lack systematic solutions. The idea of applying SoS approach is then inspired by existing studies on urban metabolism where city is regarded as an entire system. This idea is followed by definition and characteristics of SoS, as well as comprehensive overview of the state of the art on SoS-based solutions to urban challenges. This paper then discusses the merits and limitations of current studies on SoS for urbanization, followed by a case study which precedes research visions.

The paper finds that regarding city as SoS is a potentially effective approach for urban studies. This is highlighted by original research visions on how to advance this line of research. These research visions point out a few ideas for future research. It particularly highlights the role of human and information in the establishment, management and evolution of various urban functions.

The originality of this paper lies in the use of the conception of “SoS” to emphasize the importance of properly modeling human and information in an urban system so as to better reveal the intra-SoS mechanism.

This paper aims to explore how manufacturing organisations’ performance measurement and management (PMM) systems are evolving when digital technologies (DTs) are deployed. It focusses on the operational level, asking whether DTs are used to promote command-and-control or empowerment-oriented performance management.

The findings are based on a single case study from a department of a Norwegian electrochemical plant. The department recently implemented a performance measurement system (PMS) supported by DTs to capture, analyse and visualise close-to-real-time performance data on individuals and teams. The authors analysed both the management practices associated with the new PMS and how those related to other PMM-subsystems in the organisation.

When seen in isolation, the new PMS was used to promote empowerment and operators reported a significant increase in perceived psychological empowerment. However, other parts of the organisation’s PMM system remained control-oriented, so that the overall balance between control and empowerment remained stable.

New PMSs might be added to support local needs and create arenas for empowerment without disturbing the overall balance in the PMM system.

Building on the insights from the case study, the authors propose that DTs may be deployed to promote both command-and-control and empowerment within different PMM subsystems in the same organisation. Hence, the deployment of DTs is likely to have contradictory effects, which are best understood through a “system of systems” perspective on PMMs.