Systems Thinking Research in the Twenty-First Century: A SWOT Analysis

In this opinion article, the author aims to depict the state of systems thinking research through the lens of my own personal experience. His point of view is that of a relatively young scholar who has the privilege to be involved in the international systems thinking community in many ways. Indeed, in 2012 he established, with other colleagues, an academic society named Business Systems Laboratory (BSLab), which has rapidly become an important society for research into the application of systems thinking to society, business and organizations. Through his activity of organization of conferences and his editorial activity at the journals associated with BSLab (and recently as Editor-in-Chief of one of the older leading scientific journals on systems thinking and cybernetics, Kybernetes), the author has a privileged point of observation over the path of systems thinking in recent years. With this premise this opinion article aims to point out through a SWOT analysis the strength, the weaknesses, the opportunities and the threats of and for Systems Thinking.