DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF A SIMULATION MODEL OF THE RESOURCE-ACQUISITION PROCESS FOR GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS

The general scarcity of resources within the overall environment forces government contractors to strategically plan for resource acquisitions. This study used a dynamic systems approach to analyze the resource-acquisition process of government contractors.;The general research plan was implemented in two phases: field study (Phase I) and modeling and experimentation (Phase II). The field study was conducted to gain a better overall understanding of productive systems that operate within the government marketplace. In Phase II, a System Dynamics model of a government aerospace contractor was constructed based on earlier System Dynamics models and refined from interviews with key management personnel of one government aerospace contractor. The System Dynamics model was subjected to a verification procedure to establish confidence in the model, and the model was also utilized to evaluate alternative expansion policies for a government contractor. An aggressive expansion policy allows higher growth at the expense of increased instability. On the other hand, a conservative expansion policy provides a lower growth rate with more stability.;Two research questions were raised to guide this research: (1) What is the strategic policy structure that captures and reflects the behavior of the resource acquisition decision-making process by government aerospace contractors? (2) What are the key effects (or impacts) on the system from the strategic policy alternatives in the resource acquisition decision-making process of a government aerospace contractor?...