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SYSEN 5220 System Dynamics

Assignment 6

System Archetypes

For each of the following examples, identify the system archetype observed, and accompany it with a CLD that best captures the structure.  Hints for some key variables are given, however, feel free to come up with your own.

1. America-On-Line experienced initial success on a fee-per-minute business model. Their competition offered a flat rate for connecting and accessing the internet. In an effort to both recapture their eroding market share and grow subscribers, AOL began an aggressive marketing campaign, flooding the market with CDs designed to make subscribing and connecting easy and attractive.

The campaign was an enormous success, so much so that the demand completely overwhelmed their technical capacity to deliver service.    Not only were new subscribers alienated, so too were existing subscribers who left in significant numbers.

Hints for some key variables:

Heavy Promotion, Sales, Demand Exceeding Capacity, Capacity

2. IT resources are typically organized into a “commons” department, with each part of the organization seeking their support on an as-needed basis. Since separate parts of the organization typically do not keep track of the IT problems in other parts of the organization, it is fairly common for each part of the organization to see the IT department as “its own”.  When the IT department is crushed under the weight of all the demands placed upon it, its performance for every department begins to erode or fail.

Hints for some key variables:

Total Demands, Admin’s Demands, Net Gains for Admin, Medicine’s Demands, Net Gains for Medicine, Gain per individual Demand, IT Resources & Skills

3. In private practice, shareholders historically treat the business firm as a wealth generator for their families. There is typically a tension between the desire to remove profits from the practice and the need to invest in infrastructure, especially technology. Over time, performance slips so far, that patients find it increasingly difficult to receive care at the practice, mostly for operational reasons (though clinical equipment and technology could likewise be affected.)

Hints for some key variables:

Word of Mouth, Patient Visits, Patient Satisfaction & Health Status, Perceived Need to Invest, Investment in Plant, People & Tech, Capacity, Demand for Shareholder Dividends, Cash on Hand, Performance Standard

4. Two call centers are established in different parts of the country. Some rationale for resource allocation results in one of them experiencing better performance than the other. Not only is the lesser performer looked down upon, but its lack luster performance is cited as a sound rationale not to put any more resources into it.

Hints for some key variables:

Growth Funding to A instead of B, Success of Call Center A, Success of Call Center B, Resources to Call Center A, Resources to Call Center B.

5. For years the tobacco industry steadfastly denied that there were any ill health effects from smoking, pouring vast amounts of money into advertising and a pattern of denials. The tactic served the industry well. However, each time it denied that smoking caused health problems, it stiffened the resolve of scientists, and research into the effects of smoking on health steadily grew. Ultimately, the amount of evidence grew so large that no amount of PR or advertising could overcome the industry’s claims.

Hints for some key variables:

Number of Tobacco Lawsuits, Public Denial of Problem, Scientific Research

6. A manufacturing facility experiences periodic problems reaching production targets as a result of difficulties making adjustments to changing production requirements. Each time the R&D people, who know the product very well, are called upon to fix the problem. When the problem symptoms disappear, the incentive to fix the underlying problem likewise disappears. Additionally, since the production staff has received no training to improve their ability to respond to the problems, they feel disaffected and leave.

Hints for some key variables:

Pressure to Deliver Product, Local Capacity, Reliance on R&D Staff

7. In the health care industry, especially in a geographically defined market, it is not uncommon for competitors to engage in a campaign of erecting buildings as a tactic for securing market share. Each facility is seen as a threat by the competitor, who after some delay, will respond in kind. This can continue for some time until the cost of doing so becomes prohibitive and the escalation stops.

This may result in one competitor’s eventual market dominance (if it had the resources to support the construction boom) or in one competitor collapse due to overextending itself financially.

8. For over 75 years, Jewish people and Muslim people living in the Middle East have experienced ongoing conflicts that have even led to five wars in the region. The recent Palestine-Israel war resulted in thousands of deaths on both sides, including civilians, women and children.