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Two approaches to qualitative modelling of a nation's drugs trade
Author(s) -
Coyle R. G.,
Alexander M. D. W.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
system dynamics review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.491
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1099-1727
pISSN - 0883-7066
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1727(199723)13:3<205::aid-sdr126>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - management science , politics , computer science , operations research , qualitative analysis , system dynamics , qualitative research , data science , sociology , engineering , political science , artificial intelligence , social science , law
The changing political and military scene means that military planners may have to deal with problems with which they are not familiar. There is, therefore, a necessity for rapid analysis tools to help them to come to grips with a given problem quickly. This article shows how qualitative system dynamics has the potential to fill the role, using the drugs trade in a hypothetical country as an illustration. The technique is to draw influence diagrams at different levels of aggregation but it is also argued that such diagrams have limitations and may need to be supplemented by other tools of system enquiry. The Soft System Methodology is, therefore, used to support the influence diagrams. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.