Collaborative Concept Mapping on the World Wide Web

The Collaborative Concept Mapping project is a joint research project between IMD and EPFL. The goal of the project is to create a collaborative tool that helps managers to define business strategies in the face of complex situations. Addressing complex problems requires collaboration on models in order to integrate multiple views and create shared understanding. Because of the rapidly changing nature of the business world, models have a short life expectancy. Managers cannot wait for the creation of the ultimate models before testing them in the real world. In order for models to be created and shared by people, a method and a tool for building them are needed. In this article we propose a method and a tool that integrate systems theory, management learning, and software engineering practices for addressing complex problems.