Course Number:

Credit Hours:

1

Course Title:

Systems Thinking in Business

Course Description:

Looks at the business environment from a systems approach where all market components are closely linked but also coevolving. Today’s business managers face a world that is more dynamic and more uncertain than ever before. Utilizes the “Beer Game,” a management flight simulator that focuses on the dynamics of the supply chain and the managerial decisions that affect the overall supplier-manufacturer-customer relationship, so that managers may experience the long-term consequences of their actions. Also focuses on complexity theory based on the recent explorations in adaptive and emergent systems as an offshoot of chaos theory. Covers the effects of social networks on the marketplace, the concept of increasing returns (as opposed to diminishing returns), and the role of network externalities in the diffusion of new products.