Search results for "System Dynamics."

A System Dynamics Approach to Analysing the Effect of Clientelism on Public Organizations Performance in Italy

2010

This paper tries to analyse the effects of political clientelism on the performance of public utilities and organizations in Italy. Shortly, clientelism consists in a series of reciprocal convenience-based relationships between politicians and individuals, commanding unequal resources and involving mutually beneficial transactions in terms of economic, social and political consequences. The motivation of this research stems from the fact that analysing the effect of clientelism may contribute in (1) improving the quality of electoral strategies and the resulting public policies and (2) managing the performance of public organizations according to a sustainable perspective. Hence, the key is…

Applying System Dynamics Modelling to Strategic Management: A Literature Review

2016

System dynamics (SD) has been proved to be a useful methodology to support both understanding and learning processes of complex systems and phenomena. Since its origin, SD has been successfully applied to many different fields of studies (e.g. climate change, physics, engineering, environmental sciences, economics, management, etc.). Among these, strategic management (SM) has a particular relevance as testified by several streams of research that originate from the combination between SD modelling and SM. The aim of this paper is to explore and discuss the theoretical and empirical development of SD in the SM field through a systematic analysis of the literature in order to highlight the ma…

Exploring the Underground Economy through System Dynamics to support Public Decision Makers: a preliminary qualitative analysis

2008

To estimate and analyse the underground economy phenomenon, different methods and approaches have been provided in literature. However, such approaches are very often based on static and linear equilibrium models and seldom adopt simulation tools. This paper results from a research project conducted in the Sicily Region (Italy) aimed at investigating – through the System Dynamics methodology – main causes-and-effects relationships underlying the phenomenon of the “hidden workers” at both firm and self-employment level. By combining micro and macro-analysis, the authors present a preliminary causal loop diagram of the investigated phenomenon. Such feedback structure has been built through th…

Circular Business Models and Their Systemic Implications: The Too Good To Go Case Study

2021

A dynamic model to value the economic impact and the economic sustainability of tourism in a resort area

2007

The systemic approach in studying tourism is firmly accepted in literature because of the complexity of the topic both from the supply side (the heterogeneity of goods and services making the tourism product) and the demand side (not every operator in the tourism network chain has a direct contact with tourists). To face this complexity the Input-Output analysis, theorized by Wassily Leontief, is widely used in empirical studies of tourism. Yet, in spite of such a diffusion and importance in tourism literature, the Input-Output models have several limits. In order to overcome some of these limits, the static Input-Output analysis is translated into a dynamic one by making use of System Dyna…

Measuring the Impact of a State’s Legal and Organizational Framework on Social Capital through System Dynamics Modeling

2015

The scientific community recognizes the critical effect of social capital on economic development; social capital benefits society with lower transaction costs and less opportunistic behavior among institutions, thus representing a key factor contributing to the quality of a country’s global competitiveness. At a macro level of analysis, social capital arises through formalized institutional relationships, structures and public policies constituting a state’s organizational and legal framework. Good public management, services and transparency foster in individuals their social commitment, honesty and a solid trust toward public institutions – all proxies of social capital. In contrast, bad…

A dynamic business modelling approach to design and experiment new business venture strategies

2018

Abstract Business Modelling has evolved as a key activity to reflect new business venture strategy by framing the way a firm will operate and how it will function in achieving its goals (e.g., profitability, growth, innovation, social impact). However, scholars and practitioners have criticized the adoption of a too static perspective in the design and use of conventional Business Model representations. Such a static perspective prevents nascent entrepreneurs experimenting with their Business Models and, as a result, identifying the most effective strategies, especially in terms of business sustainability and profitability. In this paper, we argue that combining conventional Business Model …

Multiscale Granger causality

2017

In the study of complex physical and biological systems represented by multivariate stochastic processes, an issue of great relevance is the description of the system dynamics spanning multiple temporal scales. While methods to assess the dynamic complexity of individual processes at different time scales are well-established, multiscale analysis of directed interactions has never been formalized theoretically, and empirical evaluations are complicated by practical issues such as filtering and downsampling. Here we extend the very popular measure of Granger causality (GC), a prominent tool for assessing directed lagged interactions between joint processes, to quantify information transfer a…

Strategic Asset Building and Competitive Strategies for SMEs which Compete with Industry Giants

2014

This chapter studies companies which are arguably business super-heroes – the small firms which despite the apparent handicap of very limited resources are able to compete against much larger, multinational firms – the micro-giants Davids that take on Goliaths. Through a process of detailed case studies of actual firms, analysis of asset structure, and experiments with a simulation model, the relationships between key assets, critical success factors, and micro-giant competiveness are explored. The model produces six scenarios reflecting different strategies for developing tangible and intangible assets and, critically, the balance between them. A level of aggression is needed in asset buil…

Disabled People from Welfare to Jobs: A Decision Support Tool

2012

Despite repeated statements from successive governments in Norway, disabled people employment rate remains unchanged since 2000. A range of studies to describe and analyse the situation qualitatively and quantitatively have been performed, however we have not been able to find any study containing a decision support tool focusing on this issue. This paper presents a simulation model, built using the System Dynamics methodology. The model focuses on enabling disabled people to move from welfare to work, incorporating attitudes of disabled people and employers. The model is designed to cover selected factors that are believed to enable and encourage disabled people to take up jobs. It is inte…