The Mind of Operations
Description
This open access book offers a systematic introduction to operational thinking as a distinctive Chinese cognitive framework for understanding and governing complex systems. Drawing on five millennia of Chinese civilization, it traces how strategic wisdom evolved from Yu the Great's flood control, Dujiangyan and the Three Gorges Project to today's South-North Water Transfer, "Dual Carbon" strategy, smart cities and AI-enabled decision-making. This book provides an original "trinity" framework of systems thinking, coordinated planning thinking, and balancing thinking, explaining how structural cognition, process integration, and conflict coordination work together to solve multi-objective, multi-constraint problems. Through rich historical and contemporary cases-from classical texts such as The Art of War, Qimin Yaoshu and Discourses on Salt and Iron to modern mega-projects, digital platforms and resilient supply chains-it shows how Chinese governance wisdom has been continuously transformed into modern methodologies for optimization, risk control and strategic planning. Methodologically, this book develops a complete toolkit of "structural cognition-process integration-conflict coordination," supported by cognitive models, case analysis, and digital-intelligent teaching tools. It demonstrates how operational thinking can guide national governance modernization, regional coordinated development, industrial upgrading, and personal time- and life-management (for example, via the "Four Quadrants Rule"). Special chapters translate Party innovation theories and Marxist views of practice into operable methods, realizing the integration of "Great Ideology and Politics + digital intelligence + practical training" in general education and professional curricula. By integrating traditional culture, systems science, management science and AI, this book builds an independent knowledge system of operational thinking with Chinese characteristics, contemporary value and global relevance. It helps readers move from "cognitive mapping" to "practical navigation," and from intuitive judgment to data- and model-driven decision-making.
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Persons
Chief Editor: Prof. Jiuping Xu received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Tsinghua University and a second Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Sichuan University. He is a distinguished professor at Sichuan University, the director of the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, and the director of the Key Laboratory for Uncertain Decision-Making. Prof. Xu is an academician of the International Academy of Systems and Control, a Foreign Academician of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on operations research, system science, complex decision analysis, and large-scale engineering management, where he proposed the "Theory Spectrum-Model Group-Algorithm Cluster" paradigm and advanced methods for energy systems, circular economy, water management, and environmental governance. He has led over 80 national projects, published more than 1,000 papers and 50 books (including 17 in English), and supervised over 500 graduate students.
Associate Chief Editors: Dr. Ziqiang Zeng is an associate professor, Ph.D. supervisor, and the deputy head of the department of Management Science and Data Science at Sichuan University. His research focuses on data-driven decision-making, operations research, risk analysis, intelligent transportation, and operations management. Dr. Zeng has led two National Natural Science Foundation of China projects, one U.S. Department of Transportation project, and over ten provincial and ministerial projects. He has published more than 60 papers, including 50+ SCI/SSCI articles in journals such as Nature, Risk Analysis, IEEE TFS, CAIE, Applied Energy, and EJOR. He has authored four books with Elsevier and Springer and holds 13 patents and 10 software copyrights.
Dr. Liming Yao is a professor and Ph.D. supervisor at Sichuan University. His research interests include data-driven optimization, artificial intelligence applications, digital transformation, resource and energy management, and business intelligence. He has led more than ten national and provincial research projects and published over 60 papers in journals such as Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, INFORMS Journal on Computing, Risk Analysis, Energy Policy, Journal of Hydrology, and International Journal of Approximate Reasoning.
Dr. Yi Lu is a professor in Sichuan University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Technical Economics and Management from Sichuan University in 2012. His research interests include supply chain resilience, digital Transformation, and emergency management. His research has been published in the journals such as Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.
Dr. Xiaoping Li is an associate professor at Sichuan University, where he completed his Ph.D. and postdoctoral research. His work focuses on organizational competitiveness, performance evaluation, and exhibition marketing. Dr. Li has served as Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese Society of Management Science and Engineering (2013-2023) and is currently an Executive Council Member of the Sichuan Association for Technological Economics and Management Modernization. He has led one provincial-level project and nearly ten other research projects, and has published more than 30 CSSCI/SSCI/SCI papers in journals such as Systems Engineering Theory and Practice and International Journal of Production Research.
Content
Introduction.- Introduction to Operational Thinking.- The Theoretical Foundations of Systems Thinking.- Systemic Governance of the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project.- Integrated Systems Engineering of the Three Gorges Hydropower Project.- The Theory of Coordinated Thinking.- Organizational Coordination in Post-Disaster Recovery.- Regional Coordination in Post-Disaster Reconstruction.- The Scholarly Foundations of Balanced Thinking.- Multiple Equilibria in the Circular Economy.- Internal-External Adjustment under the Dual-Carbon Targets.- Postscript.