Nascita ed evoluzione dell’Approccio Sistemico Vitale (aSv): un quadro di sintesi

Objectives. This work is aimed at narrating the main stages of the evolutionary path of the Viable Systems Approach (VSA) identifying its fundamental trajectories that have defined research lines of interest for the wider community of scholars and researchers interested mainly but not only in management. Methodology. Given the aims of the work, the methodology adopts essentially a narrative method, based on a literature analysis that allows outlining a synthesis framework of the history, experiences and advancements of the VSA evolution. Findings. The contribution made it possible to identify on the one hand the scholars, on the other hand the interests that have progressively thickened around the original proposal of the VSA as an interpretative and governing methodology of business phenomena based on the adoption of a systems perspective. This contribution let to better understand as well as to better define the essential steps that the VSA has taken to become an interpretative meta-model, able to support the development and the adaptation of the traditional managerial model to the ever changing contextual conditions. Research limits. Given the purpose and narrative character of the discussion, the work should not be considered as a literature review with respect to which it would be certainly incomplete and not rigorous; rather it is a first attempt to trace the literature for the definition of a synthesis framework of the evolutionary and interest lines of the VSA. Practical implications. The contribution represents a possible reference for the scientific community that intends to know the foundations and evolutionary path of the adoption of the VSA interpretative framework, in order to be able to use it to interpret the complexity that characterizes the current socio-economic phenomena or contribute to its development. Originality of the study. This work represents one of the first attempts to outline and narrate the evolutionary path of the VSA.