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AbstractThe ontology of dynamic capabilities (DCs) is grounded in a systemic perspective of organisational strategy. In a controversial move, DCs theory adopts systems thinking as a metaphorical reference, not a possible research method. Systemic methodologies can provide a holistic management perception and guide managers to develop DCs differently, considering the deliberate learning and design process as a non‐linear dynamism of causal loops. Calling attention to the conceptual origins, this work proposes a framework based on systemic methodologies to manage and develop organisational DCs. Based on two different systemic methodologies, the viable system model (VSM) and soft systems methodology (SSM), we integrate the systems approach of learning and design into DCs management guidelines.

The notion that democracy is a system is ever present in democratic theory. However, what it means to think systemically about democracy (as opposed to what it means for a political system to be democratic) is under-elaborated. This article sets out a meta-level framework for thinking systemically about democracy, built upon seven conceptual building blocks, which we term (1) functions, (2) norms, (3) practices, (4) actors, (5) arenas, (6) levels, and (7) interactions. This enables us to systematically structure the debate on democratic systems, highlighting the commonalities and differences between systems approaches, their omissions, and the key questions that remain to be answered. It also enables us to push the debate forward both by demonstrating how a full consideration of all seven building blocks would address issues with existing approaches and by introducing new conceptual clarifications within those building blocks.

Pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics involve the study of the role of inheritance in individual variation in drug response, a phenotype that varies from potentially life-threatening adverse drug reactions to equally serious lack of therapeutic efficacy. Pharmacogenetics-pharmacogenomics represents a major component of the movement to `individualized medicine'. Pharmacogenetic studies originally focused on monogenic traits, often involving genetic variation in drug metabolism. However, contemporary studies increasingly involve entire `pathways' that include both pharmacokinetics (PKs)—factors that influence the concentration of a drug reaching its target(s)—and pharmacodynamics (PDs), factors associated with the drug target(s), as well as genome-wide approaches. The convergence of advances in pharmacogenetics with rapid developments in human genomics has resulted in the evolution of pharmacogenetics into pharmacogenomics. At the same time, studies of drug response are expanding beyond genomics to encompass pharmacotranscriptomics and pharmacometabolomics to become a systems-based discipline. This discipline is also increasingly moving across the `translational interface' into the clinic and is being incorporated into the drug development process and governmental regulation of that process. The article will provide an overview of the development of pharmacogenetics-pharmacogenomics, the scientific advances that have contributed to the continuing evolution of this discipline, the incorporation of transcriptomic and metabolomic data into attempts to understand and predict variation in drug response phenotypes as well as challenges associated with the `translation' of this important aspect of biomedical science into the clinic.

1. Organizations : what are they, actually? -- 2. Membership, goals, and hierarchies -- 3. Machines, games, and facades : the three aspects of an organization -- 4. Beyond the iceberg metaphor : the possibilities and limitations of communicating about organizations.

AbstractThis paper presents a short overview of my research project on systems thinking in culture studies. The paper objective is to discuss the findings in terms of established systems concepts to illustrate the pivotal role of systems concepts in the notion of 'culture as system'. A global systems philosophy was the overriding criterion adopted for the research. This involved a complementary recourse to systems analysis and cybernetic ideas set within a holistic framework. The invariant features that are known to characterize complex open systems were also considered as contributory to a fuller understanding of culture as a system.