Governing business dynamics in complex contexts

The paper is to highlight the peculiarities of Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME) and its proposals with reference to network and systems theories, such as the Many-to-Many, and the Viable Systems Approach (VSA). (VSA) represents an interpretative lens for complex phenomena, and seems to be suitable for analysing service systems because its capacity to move from holism to reductionism, respecting the single characteristics of each entity of the context. SSME and Many-to-Many are gradually being integrated, and the network theories, and specifically (VSA), could considerably support this process by contributing with its own scientific proposals. Authors believe that the (VSA)’s view on business purposes, value creation and the management of relations are strongly coherent with the view proposed or tacitly implied by SSME and Many-to-Many approach.