Jay W Forrester Prize Award 2005

Awarded to Kim Warren for his book, "Competitive Strategy Dynamics"

At the International System Dynamics Conference held in Boston, MA, 17-21 July 2005, Kim Warren was awarded the Jay W. Forrester Prize for his book "Competitive Strategy Dynamics". The prize is awarded for the best contribution to the field of system dynamics published in the preceding five years.

See links on the right for a presentation based on Kim's acceptance speech

From a nomination for the award:
"Kim Warren's book is a major piece of work – a unique synthesis of concepts from strategy and system dynamics interpreted through the lens of personal industry experience....  Kim Warren's work is not principally about system dynamics or its application. The book certainly makes extensive use of asset stock accumulation and simulation, but it also contains a heavy dose of strategy interwoven with an array of well-grounded case material and business anecdotes. In a sense Kim's book challenges the established view of what system dynamics is and how it should be brought to bear on strategy problems…. He is saying there is a great deal we in system dynamics can contribute to practical strategy-making by helping people think clearly and factually about the dynamics of asset stock accumulation."

Kim's acceptance presentation had the following main messages:

• Management has one over-riding concern - improving future performance ... 
• ... and performance depends on the resources available [customers, staff, etc.].
• These resources build up and decline over time...
• ... so management's key challenge is to control this process
• ... which is not easy, because of the interdependencies involved

The talk explains some of the challenges that arise for management, especially understanding 'what causes what, and why'. It demonstrates how, when these principles are put together, management can put together a 'performance panel' for their business - a diagram that shows how changes in key parts of the business combine to drive performance. From this foundation, the management team can sketch out strategic options evaluate alternatives.

Kim's presentation, in Macromedia Flash format, slides (PDF) and mystrategy models have been made available and can be accessed from the links in the box on the right. The mystrategy Reader software is also provided to enable viewing of the models. 

Contact Kim on kim@strategydynamics.com.

For more information about materials available on Strategy Dynamics, or chapter summaries of "Competitive Strategy Dynamics" visit www.strategydynamics.com/system