Business is very dynamic. The first low-cost airline failed dramatically. Supply chains in many industries (e.g. real estate, beer distribution) face booms and busts: fluctuations in sales, inventory volumes and earnings. Many successful businesses lose their leading market position. Many promising new products cause enormous losses or even fail to reach the market. Why do many business strategies fail? Why is the success rate of most organisational change programmes low, and why do many mergers fail to bring about the expected synergies? Why do some businesses fail while others succeed? One can ask many similar questions.This course will introduce you to system dynamics methodology as a way of analysing fundamental business problems and create dynamic business models. You will learn to model the structure of businesses from a stock-flow perspective, analyse the dynamic behaviour of business operations and design policies. This will help you to identify delayed or undesired consequences of company decisions and arrive at better decisions. The principal purpose of system dynamics is to improve your understanding of how an organisation's performance is related to its internal structure, the policies it implements and its external environment (i.e. customers, competitors, and suppliers), which is called the %E2%80%98strategic architecture%E2%80%99.During the course, you will build various models to explore strategic issues such as diffusion of technologies or products, market growth, fluctuating inventory levels and production. You will also work with a simulation game in which you will have the opportunity to manage a company, experience long-term side effects of the decisions you implement and try to sustain the company. Proposed policies can be tested under a range of scenarios, allowing you to choose a business model that is robust to changes in the market and society.
Course leaderDr. A. (Andreas) Grler, Associate Professor Dr. E.A.J.A. (Etinne) Rouwette, Associate Professor Methodology Department, Nijmegen School of Management Radboud University
Target groupBachelor's students (or beyond if without pre-knowledge about system dynamics) Professionals with an interest to learn a new method of modelling and simulation Entry levelBachelor's Advanced Bachelor's Professionals
Course aimAfter this course you will be able to:Understand the basics of dynamic business models Design simple dynamics models Interpret and use intermediate-level dynamic models
Credits info2 ECTS European Credits
Fee infoEUR 695: For students.The course fee includes the registration fee, course materials, access to library and IT facilities, coffee/tea, lunch, and a number of social activities.Discounts10% discount for early bird applicants. The early bird deadline is 1 April 2015 15% discount for students and PhD candidates from Radboud University and partner universities EUR 2495: For professionals.The course fee includes the registration fee, course materials, access to library and IT facilities, coffee/tea, lunch, and a number of social activities.Discounts10% discount for early bird applicants. The early bird deadline is 1 April 2015 15% discount for students and PhD candidates from Radboud University and partner universities
Radboud UniversityAddress: P.O Box 9102 Nijmegen
Postal code: 6500 HC
City: Nijmegen
Country: Netherlands
Website: http://www.ru.nl/radboudsummerschool/
E-mail: radboudsummerschool@ru.nl
Phone: +31 (0)24 8187706