Abstract for: Asset Stock Coordination and Long-Term Dynamics in Love and Commerce

A fundamental idea in system dynamics is that interdependencies in business and society pre-determine the performance over time of firms and industries. This idea is often summarised in the phrase ‘feedback structure gives rise to dynamic behaviour’. To illustrate I use a selection of well-known system dynamics models, spanning a range from Romeo and Juliet to People Express. I review the feedback structure of the models and the dynamics that arise from different ways of coordinating ‘operations’ and asset stocks. Using a variety of learning support materials I analyse asset stock coordination dynamics. The style of model analysis combines visualisation, and simulation with non-technical narrative interpretation of simulations to yield intuitively appealing insight into performance paradoxes. This approach, which belongs in the tradition of case-based system dynamics, helps modellers and executives to identify influential policy levers and to implement practical policy changes that improve functional coordination and firm performance.