The Combination of Alternative Research Techniques in Logistics Systems Analysis

A multiplicity of techniques must be used in systems analysis in order to answer the variety of questions that arise in research on management systems. A research organization devoted to solving management science problems will inevitably use mixtures of these techniques. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of systems analysis, and past experiences with it, to help develop a strategy for selecting appropriate techniques. To facilitate the development of this strategy, several categorizations are developed: (1) of the characteristics of the kinds of systems studied by systems analysts; (2) of the many purposes of systems analysis; and (3) of the attributes of many systems analysis techniques. Then the simulation category is examined further with a more detailed breakdown presented on the spectrum of simulation techniques. Finally, an illustration is given of the way in which the various systems analysis techniques have been used to evolve a greater understanding of supply and inventory policies and systems. There seems to be a natural way in which the use of the several techniques evolved and were fitted together. It is believed that this pattern has occurred in other large systems studies, and that it would be applicable to those large and complex systems in which there would not be a significant pool of prior research available. "Management Technology", ISSN 0542-4917, was published as a separate journal from 1960 to 1964. In 1965 it was merged into Management Science.