Abstract for: A System Dynamics Analysis of the Bottled Water Industry in the United States

The Bottled Water Industry has seen rapid growth since the early 1970’s until recently, where a plateau has been seen in the sales of Bottled Water in the US. The purpose of this study was to understand this Bottled Water Industry behaviour by determining its key leverage points. Leverage points being points within a system where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything. These ‘leverage points’ can be revealed by observation and study of the system in focus. They are then able to be used to create a System Dynamic model that replicates the real world behaviour of the system. This was the method followed in this paper, whilst focusing upon the Bottled Water industry in the United States. The model was also used to look at possible behaviour in the future of the Bottled Water Industry. Using these predictions it was hypothesized that that the Bottled Water Market will plateau with oscillation and then collapse.