The authors use the term, “Group Model Building” (Richardson and Andersen 1995; Vennix 1996; 1999) to refer to a bundle of techniques used to construct system dynamics models working directly with client groups on key strategic decisions. We use facilitated face-to-face meetings to elicit model structure and to engage client teams directly in the process of model conceptualization, formulation,...

In this chapter, we discuss how lack of coordination leads to a degradation of responsiveness and an increase in cost within a supply chain. We describe various obstacles that lead to this lack of coordination and exacerbate variability through the supply chain. We then identify appropriate managerial levers that can help overcome the obstacles and achieve coordination. In this context, we also...

This paper describes collaborative commerce (c-commerce); it essentially combines ecommerce, knowledge management and collaboration to carry out transactions and other activities within and across organizations. We first discuss the building blocks for c-commerce. Then, we describe models and federated architectures for c-commerce. Next we analyze the strategic role of knowledge management for ...

Building on the work of Nash, Harsanyi, and Shapley, we define a cooperative solution for strategic games that takes account of both the competitive and the cooperative aspects of such games. We prove existence in the general (NTU) case and uniqueness in the TU case. Our main result is an extension of the definition and the existence and uniqueness theorems to stochastic games discounted or und...

This paper reports on the results of an empirical study into the integration of strategic information systems planning and business-IT alignment, IT evaluation, and the proactive management of business benefits in large organisations, and to consider the linkages achieved between these processes. An argument is developed which suggests that at the heart of good IT governance practice is an inte...

A model is built when the complexity of something we are building exceeds our ability to internalize it. Most commercial software products fit that definition. A number of modeling languages have emerged to support software development methods that are guided mainly by models of the product being built. In this issue of Strategic Software Engineering I will consider some of these languages, but...

RIS is a New Delhi-based autonomous policy think-tank supported by the Government of India and devoted to trade and development issues. Its work programme focuses on policy research and capacity building on multilateral trade and financial negotiations, regional economic cooperation in Asia, South-South cooperation, new technologies and development, and strategic policy responses of developing ...

Evolutionary understanding of behaviour of firms is gradually becoming more accepted in a variety of disciplines such as economics, management and organization. Contributing to a multidisciplinary understanding of strategic behaviour, this paper analyzes foreign direct investment strategies of US firms in Europe since the second world war. Taking routinized investment behaviour, satisficing str...