Abstract for: Combining Qualitative Models and System Dynamics to design the Strategy of a Region

The design of strategies for social systems requires the use of qualitative information owing to the fact that quantitative information can be insufficient to solve the problems involved. The information that the specialists and the decision makers often obtain is incomplete and unsure. Nevertheless, leaders have to make strategic decisions despite these deficiencies. The author has been working in the design of tools to help these decision makers to improve their decisions. In this paper, a methodology elaborated to design the strategy for the city of Santa Cruz (of Canary Islands) is presented. It combines the elaboration of a qualitative model and the application of System Dynamics and permits an understanding of the structure of the region that allows decision makers to improve their decisions. These results have been obtained working with scarce quantitative information. Key words: Qualitative models, System Dynamics, Social Strategies