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Twenty first century problems are increasingly being addressed by multi technology solutions developed by regional entrepreneurial and intreprepreneurial innovators. However, they require an expensive new type of fabrication facility. Multiple technology production facilities (MTPF) have become the essential incubators for these innovations. This paper aims to focus on the issues.

The authors address the lack of managerial understanding of how to express the value and operationally manage MTPF centers through the use of investigative case study methods for multiple firms in the study.

Owing to the MTPF centers' novelty and outward similarity to high volume semiconductor fabrication (HVF) facilities, they are laden with ineffective operation and strategic management practices. Metrics are the standard for both operational and strategic management of HVF facilities, yet their application to this new type of center is proving ineffectual.

These new types of regional economic resources may be at risk. A new approach is needed.

The authors develop an operational and strategic metrics management approach for MTPFs that are based on these facilities' unique nature and leverages both the HVF and R&D metrics knowledge base.

Innovations at the interface of micro technology, nanotechnology and semiconductor micro fabrication are poised to solve many of these problems and become a basis for job creation and prosperity. If a new management technique is not developed, then these harbingers of regional economic development will be closed.

While there is an abundance of research on metrics for HVF, this is the first attempt to develop metrics for MTPFs.

Competitive sourcing is the government’s term for transferring the operation of an internal process or function to either an external supplier or a reengineered government team. The competitively sourced function is managed through performance metrics. These metrics must be thorough, appropriate and well designed to ensure the government is receiving the level of service required to fulfill its various missions. This research effort develops a performance metric evaluation system that was synthesized from metric design literature, Total Quality Management concepts, and the Government Performance Results Act. Use of the system in a case study is discussed along with how to evaluate the results. Results indicate that some Air Force performance metrics have insufficient and improperly designed metrics.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the institutionalization of screening and metrics in conventional finance and reflect upon the implications for Islamic finance.

The study involves the analysis of archival data, interviews and fieldwork with current impact investors in North America and the European Union to trace the historical development of impact investing screening and metrics.

First, the paper explores how conventional investors have applied positive and negative screens in the creation of their values/mission-based investment strategies. This is followed by a historical analysis of the development and implementation of impact metrics and regulatory frameworks that influenced the growth of conventional impact investing. The possible benefits of learning from these experiences for the Islamic finance industry are then considered. The paper concludes with an analysis of the potential value of mission/values-based investing for the economic development of the Middle East and North Africa region.

Though not a comprehensive study of institutionalization, this study supports recent calls for more intentional use of capital for blended returns within Islamic markets. To support these initiatives, it provides scholars and practitioners with multiple recommended points of entry into this growing market.

There has been scant organizational research examining the development of best practices within the impact investment community and how these might be applied to other contexts such as Islamic finance.

Heterogeneous teams consisting of unmanned ground vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles are being used for different types of missions such as surveillance, tracking and exploration. Exploration missions with heterogeneous robot teams (HeRTs) should acquire a common map for understanding the surroundings better. The purpose of this paper is to provide a unique approach with cooperative use of agents that provides a well-detailed observation over the environment where challenging details and complex structures are involved. Also, this method is suitable for real-time applications and autonomous path planning for exploration.

Lidar odometry and mapping and various similarity metrics such as Shannon entropy, Kullback–Leibler divergence, Jeffrey divergence, K divergence, Topsoe divergence, Jensen–Shannon divergence and Jensen divergence are used to construct a common height map of the environment. Furthermore, the authors presented the layering method that provides more accuracy and a better understanding of the common map.

In summary, with the experiments, the authors observed features located beneath the trees or the roofed top areas and above them without any need for global positioning system signal. Additionally, a more effective common map that enables planning trajectories for both vehicles is obtained with the determined similarity metric and the layering method.

In this study, the authors present a unique solution that implements various entropy-based similarity metrics with the aim of constructing common maps of the environment with HeRTs. To create common maps, Shannon entropy–based similarity metrics can be used, as it is the only one that holds the chain rule of conditional probability precisely. Seven distinct similarity metrics are compared, and the most effective one is chosen for getting a more comprehensive and valid common map. Moreover, different from all the studies in literature, the layering method is used to compute the similarities of each local map obtained by a HeRT. This method also provides the accuracy of the merged common map, as robots’ sight of view prevents the same observations of the environment in features such as a roofed area or trees. This novel approach can also be used in global positioning system-denied and closed environments. The results are verified with experiments.

The purpose of this research is to understand whether an organization knows if it is ready to respond to a disaster and whether it has the capabilities to deliver relief. Our initial motivation was to identify unique resources possessed by the United States Navy (USN) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) due to their unique and critical capabilities for humanitarian operations. The recent frequency of disasters around the world suggests these events will continue to create demand for relief capabilities. For this reason we need to understand readiness metrics not just for USN and USMC but for humanitarian organizations (Hos) in general.

We survey relevant literature for understanding how HOs define and develop readiness metrics and associated factors. We studied documents including peer-reviewed scholarly articles, government documents, white papers, research papers and Department of Defense (DoD) briefings. We study literature that is significantly written for DoD, one, the vast experience of USN and USMC and two, the lessons learned have been documented. The literature offers substantial information on what readiness means and why it is important. This documented information is critical because it is known to the researchers in humanitarian operations that data is hard to come by.

The framework for readiness proposed at the end of this article is context the emergency responder probably uses in an informal fashion. The validation of readiness framework, we find exists in the supporting literature we review.

The understanding of readiness metrics for humanitarian operations for the organizations we study may offer insight into other HOs. The insights we gain may not be pivotal or counterintuitive to the conclusions based on commonsense. However, they are supported by the literature review. We formalize the concept based on conclusions of a set of diverse set of researchers and practitioners such as academic scholars, DoD personnel and government officials involved in humanitarian missions, USAID representatives that are repeatedly tasked for being ready, military and government officers from host and foreign countries and many more.

The purpose of this study is to analyse how academic staff cope with the new culture of performance measurement and assessment in universities. In particular, the study aims to shed light on how external pressures related to measurement of research performance are translated into organisational and individual academic responses within the university and the extent to which these responses are related specifically to the operational features of performance measurement systems (PMS).

The study is based on a case study conducted in an Italian public university and based on interviews with a cross-disciplinary sample of faculty members.

The study provides insights into how linking financial incentives and career progression to research performance metrics at the system and organisational levels may have important reorientation effects on individual behaviours and epistemic consequences for the academic work.

The study is based on interviews, so one limitation is related to the risk of researcher and interviewee personal bias. Moreover, this study is focused on one single case of a specific university setting, which cannot be fully representative of the experiences of others.

The study contributes to the literature on management accounting by exploring the factors that might explain why the unintended effects of PMS on academics’ behaviour reported by several studies might occur. From a practitioner’s point of view, it shows features of PMS that may produce unintended effects on academic activities. It also highlights the need to rethink PMS for the evaluation of university performance through the involvement of different stakeholders.

This paper aims to measure the effect of supply discrepancy reports (SDRs) on military aircraft readiness metrics, including aircraft availability, not mission capable supply (NMCS) hours, cannibalizations and mission-impaired capability awaiting parts (MICAP) hours.

Monthly SDR, NMCS, aircraft cannibalizations and MICAP data from 2009 to 2018 are analyzed using linear regression and independent samples t-tests to examine whether discrepant shipments negatively impact aircraft readiness.

Results of linear regression were significant in 4 of 12 analyses, suggesting that SDRs are a significant predictor of increased cannibalizations. Results of independent samples t-tests found MICAP hours were significantly higher on discrepant shipments compared to nondiscrepant shipments in all three analyses.

This research will increase awareness of the extent to which SDRs degrade aircraft readiness, and provide an opportunity for United States Department of Defense (DoD) supply chain leaders to take action to improve order fulfillment performance in their organizations.

Little research has been done investigating the impact of SDRs within the DoD, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has examined the effect of SDRs on military aircraft readiness metrics.

This paper aims to explore the experiences, attitudes and expectations of higher education managers in relation to the increased use of metrics. Specifically, the authors examine a system of metrics which was introduced as part of the process for establishing Technological Universities in Ireland.

A total of 12 managers were interviewed. The authors present data from the interviews in which the authors explore: the previous use of metrics; the impacts of the introduction of metrics; and the future use of metrics. A mix of narrative structuring and thematic analysis is used.

The introduction of metrics evokes a mixed reaction from the managers. The metrics allow performance in a range of activities to be measured, assessed and benchmarked. However, there are both direct and indirect impacts of the transition to a metric-based system, which the authors explore using six themes.

The authors apply the Academics Responding to Change model proposed by Trowler (1998) as the theoretical lens. This helps to capture the complex mix of direct and indirect effects that metrics can have on activities both at an individual and institutional level.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to investigate the role of big data and predictive analytics (BDPA) and social capital on the performance of humanitarian supply chains (HSCs); second, to explore the different performance measurement frameworks and develop a conceptual model for an HSC context that can be used by humanitarian organizations; and third, to provide insights for future research direction.

After a detailed review of relevant literature, grounded in resource-based view and social capital theory, the paper proposes a conceptual model that depicts the influence of BDPA and social capital on the performance of an HSC.

The study deliberates that BDPA as a capability improves the effectiveness of humanitarian missions to achieve its goals. It uncovers the fact that social capital binds people, organization or a country to form a network and has a critical role in the form of monetary or non-monetary support in disaster management. Further, it argues that social capital combined with BDPA capability can result in a better HSC performance.

The proposed model integrating BDPA and social capital for HSC performance is conceptual and it needs to be empirically validated.

Organizations and practitioners may use this framework by mobilizing social capital, BDPA to enhance their abilities to help victims of calamities.

Findings from study can help improve coordination among different stakeholders in HSC, effectiveness of humanitarian operations, which means lives saved and faster reconstruction process after disaster. Second, by implementing performance measurements framework recommended by study, donors and other stakeholders will get much desired transparency at each stage of HSCs.

The findings contribute to the missing link of social capital and BDPA to the existing performance of HSC literature, finally leading to a better HSC performance.

Performance Based Logistics (PBL) is an acquisition reform that is intended to improve weapon systems logistics by reducing cost, improving reliability, and reducing footprint. PBL is an extension of a broad process of rationalizing and, in many cases, outsourcing government services. As with other examples of governmental service outsourcing, measurement issues arise in the gap between governmental objectives and service measurement, and in the contrast between clear profit-centered vendor metrics, and more complex mission-oriented governmental metrics. Beyond this, however, PBL presents new challenges to the relationship between governmental agencies and their service vendors. In many cases, weapons systems logistical support involves levels of operational risk that are more difficult to measure and more difficult to value than other government services. We discuss the implications of operational risk and other measurement issues on PBL implementation.