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The purpose of this paper is to present a training model for decision makers that covers the complexity which is inherent in decision-making processes in times of floods.

Through literature review, case study analysis and iterative interviews with decision-makers, the model was established. It enables one to simulate different scenarios depending on selected influencing factors and was implemented with Stella 9.1.

Flood events are highly complex and their development process is significantly influenced by various conditions. The findings show that the most important factor is the water level which determines the time available to respond. The presented System Dynamics (SD) model has the capability to capture such complex settings. Through what-if analysis and the comparison of different scenarios, learning effects are achieved by using the model.

The level of abstraction is high. Not all influencing variables can be incorporated due to the variety of flood events. Based on experts’ recommendations, the most relevant factors were included as areas of focus in the model.

The generated model is presented to facilitate holistic comprehension of the modelling process. It offers the possibility to start learning processes through scenario analyses in order to strengthen decision-makers’ understanding of complexity.

To the best of our knowledge, there are no comparable studies that focus on the generation process of building an SD-model for educational purposes in flood response.

The number of care‐dependent people will rise in future. Therefore, it is important to support home health care (HHC) providers with suitable methods and information, especially in times of disasters. The purpose of this paper is to reveal potential threats that influence HHC and propose an option to incorporate these threats into the planning and scheduling of HHC services.

This paper reveals the different conditions and potential threats for HHC in rural and urban areas. Additionally, the authors made a disaster vulnerability analysis, based on literature research and the experience of the Austrian Red Cross (ARC), one of the leading HHC providers in Austria. An optimization approach is applied for rural HHC that also improves the satisfaction levels of clients and nurses. A numerical study with real life data shows the impacts of different flood scenarios.

It can be concluded that HHC service providers will be faced with two challenges in the future: an increased organizational effort and the need for an anticipatory risk management. Hence, the development and use of powerful decision support systems are necessary.

For an application in urban regions new methods have to be developed due to the use of different modes of transport by the nurses. Additionally, an extension of the planning horizon and triage rules will be part of future research.

The presented information on developments and potential threats for HHC are very useful for service providers. The introduced software prototype has proven to be a good choice to optimize and secure HHC; it is going to be tested in the daily business of the ARC.

Even in the case of disasters, HHC services must be sustained to avoid health implications. This paper makes a contribution to securing HHC, also with respect to future demographic trends.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge there are no comprehensive studies that focus on disaster management in the field of HHC. Additionally, the combination with optimization techniques provides useful insights for decision makers in that area.

Driven by the growing pressure to justify the contributions of marketing activities, marketers have shown considerable interest in improving their marketing performance measurement systems (MPMSs). The purpose of this study is to examine the neglected mediating effect of marketing capabilities on the MPMS–firm performance relationship and to focus on specific aspects of MPMSs that have been largely omitted in the prior research, namely, the comprehensiveness and uses of MPMSs.

A survey was conducted with marketing and senior managers from 210 Irish-based companies. The proposed research model was tested by using the SPSS Process macro and structural equation modeling in AMOS 24.

The three characteristics of MPMSs influence firm performance in different manners: while the diagnostic use of MPMSs hinders the development of market-linking capability and thus negatively influences firm performance; the comprehensiveness of MPMSs positively influences firm performance through its impact on architectural marketing capability; and the interactive use of MPMSs via externally focused learning and market-linking capabilities.

Although this study used objective firm performance data to validate subjective data, the use of single-informant and self-reported measures may still be a concern, as the strong relationships between variables may be because of single-informant bias.

This study provides insights into how companies can use a comprehensive MPMS to cultivate specific crucial marketing capabilities and thereby enhance firm performance.

This study contributes to the marketing performance measurement literature by proposing and empirically validating the mediating effect of marketing capabilities on the MPMS–firm performance relationship.

This paper uses survival analysis to investigate fiscal distress in special district governments. We hypothesize that fiscal distress is positively correlated with revenue concentration and debt usage, and negatively correlated with organizational slack and entity resources. Our model addresses differences in district functions, financing and legislation. Our regression model predicts the likelihood of fiscal distress and correctly classifies 93.4 percent of the districts as fiscally distressed or not. The results show that the most important indicator of fiscal distress is a low level of capital expenditures relative to total revenues and bond proceeds. The information needed to predict fiscal distress is publicly available, making our model useful in the prevention, detection, and mitigation of fiscal distress in U.S. districts.

The achievement of sustainable development goals is linked to the procurement of public infrastructure in a manner that meets key procurement objectives, such as sustainability, value-for-money, transparency and accountability. At the heart of achieving these procurement objectives and others is the capacity of public procurement institutions. Whereas previous reports have hinted that there are deficiencies in procurement capacity in Nigeria, insights regarding critical aspects of organisational capacity deficiencies among different tiers of government agencies is limited. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical gaps in the procurement capacity of state and local government agencies involved in the procurement of public infrastructure in Nigeria.

The study employed a survey of public infrastructure procurement personnel which yielded 288 responses.

Among 23 operationalised items that are related to organisational procurement capacity, none is perceived to be adequate by the procurement personnel. Additionally, among 14 procurement objectives only 1 is perceived as being attained to at least a high extent.

The findings underscore the acuteness of organisational procurement capacity weaknesses among public procurement institutions within Nigeria’s governance structure. It is, thus, imperative for policy makers within state and local government to formulate, resource and implement procurement capacity building initiatives/programmes to address these deficiencies. Additionally, the organisational procurement capacity items operationalised in this study could serve as a useful blueprint for studying capacity deficiencies among public infrastructure procurement agencies in other developing countries, especially within sub-Saharan Africa where several countries have been implementing public procurement reforms.

This chapter discusses some issues of diversity in hazard mitigation when just recovery is considered or not. Justice in hazard mitigation becomes crucial considering unequal distribution of resources, systemic racism, and social vulnerability to hazards. While there has been research on just recovery, there is little or no evidence of research that examines the issue of equity and justice in hazard mitigation, This chapter discusses what hazard mitigation is, the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 focusing on the planning process, public involvement in the planning process, some planning theories on vulnerability, and building the case for achieving and striving for justice and equity in promoting diversity in hazard mitigation. The chapter makes some recommendation on how to achieve diversity in hazard mitigation.