The system approach and application of the principles of system dynamics enables managers to test the impact of proposed decisions on key business health indicators in the long term and in terms of various market scenarios. This procedure can be used to strengthen the sustainability of livestock production.
Computer simulation based on the principles of system dynamics finds application especially in modeling complex systems that contain a number of feedbacks, delays, nonlinearities. Livestock production is characterized by a large delay between the decision and its impact, which cannot be accelerated (typically, for example, the expansion of the herd of reproductions) and the inertia of the system associated with the biological cycle. These aspects reduce the flexibility of decision making in business management. Moreover, a small farmer in the Czech environment is a recipient of input and output prices, without much possibility to influence the prices. Livestock planning has medium and long-term character, small farmers are normally having only their own judgment on such decisions, without the support of a sophisticated tool.
The management simulator was created using the Vensim simulation software and the Sable user interface extension.
