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As competitive pressures persist and global economic influences continue to present new challenges, businesses need to be able to respond to emerging circumstances. Goal-setting and planning are key mechanisms contributing to organizational competitive success, yet organizations underappreciate the role of competency and capacity building factors that contribute to successful planning. This paper integrates three theoretical models enabling an investigation into the positive relationships between managerial activities generating information feedback, training in planning and skills and organizational performance outcomes, while exploring the positive mediating roles of goal-setting and planning.

A unique organizational sample of agribusiness producers (n = 499) in Canada is examined. A structural equation path analysis model is used to evaluate the main relationships.

The results suggest that organizations are finding that managerial and training activities should not be considered in isolation, but rather as supports for goal-setting, planning and performance outcomes. Thus, the implications are that managers can find organizational value enhanced through the building of human resource competency (e.g. management activities and training) with these emerging capacities aiding goal setting and planning activities.

This study makes three main contributions: first, by adopting a rational-design perspective and integrating theoretical frameworks focusing on (a) planning-performance and (b) goal-setting-planning. This extended model goes beyond previous studies by including managerial activities, training, goals, planning and performance outcomes. Second, this study uniquely accounts for a more comprehensive set of key confounding factors such as operational activities, organizational strategy and organizational size in the integrated framework. Finally, as far as the authors are aware, there has not been a survey study at the organizational level that has explored the role of managerial activities and training in planning within a similarly comprehensive model.

Previous research regarding shaping factors and major causes behind accidents in the construction field is reviewed. In particular, a hypothetical model is established to correlate activity time, cost and safety in the context of construction activity acceleration planning. Two demonstration cases are presented to illustrate the proposed theoretical model in the context of critical activity expedition planning. Further, a third case uses a 100-activity project to perform the global level total project time and cost analysis, identifying specific activity acceleration plans that would materialize the shortened total project time at the lowest total project cost.

This research proposes a safety-centric application framework to guide construction acceleration planning at both activity and project levels while taking sufficient preventive measures against safety hazards and accidents. As planning construction acceleration by factoring in safety constraints inevitably drives up cost, it is imperative to control increases in activity costs at the local level in connection with schedule acceleration planning while at the same time not compromising on safety. This research also addresses this critical question through performing global level total project time and cost analysis.

An application framework is proposed for guiding a planner through identifying accident shaping factors, obeying schedule acceleration rules and accounting for safety-related costs in attempts to mitigate hazardous situations on-site at both activity level (local) and project level (global), resulting in (1) minimizing the increase of total project cost in schedule acceleration while at the same time not compromising on safety at individual activities; (2) producing specific execution plans on each individual activity in terms of the amount of time to crash and the associated activity cost.

This study is original in developing theories and methods for evaluating the impact of safety constraints upon construction time and cost in activity acceleration planning and project time-cost analysis. The research fills a gap in knowledge in terms of how to factor in sufficient safety constraints while achieving project time and cost objectives on construction acceleration planning at both activity and project levels.

Independent travelers are those vacationers who have booked only a minimum of their transportation and accommodation arrangements prior to departure on the vacation. Independent travel is an important and growing sector of worldwide tourism. Choice of vacation itinerary for the independent vacation represents a complex series of decisions regarding purchase of multiple leisure and tourism services. This chapter builds and tests a model of independent traveler decision-making for choice of vacation itinerary. The research undertaken employs a two-phase, inductive–deductive case study design. In the deductive phase, the researcher interviewed 20 travel parties vacationing in New Zealand for the first time. The researcher interviewed respondents at both the beginning and the end of their New Zealand vacations. The study compares pre-vacation research and plans, and actual vacation behaviors, on a case-by-case basis. The study examines case study narratives and quantitative measures of crucial variables. The study tests two competing models of independent traveler decision-making, using a pattern-matching procedure. This embedded research design results in high multi-source, multi-method validity for the supported model. The model of the Independent Vacation as Evolving Itinerary suggests that much of the vacation itinerary experienced in independent travel is indeed unplanned, and that a desire to experience the unplanned is a key hedonic motive for independent travel. Rather than following a fixed itinerary, the itinerary of an independent vacation evolves as the vacation proceeds. The independent traveler takes advantage of serendipitous opportunities to experience a number of locations, attractions and activities that they had neither actively researched nor planned.

The paper focuses on an area where little research has been undertaken, namely export planning activity. Using a definition of planning as a one‐cycle process, attention is focused on the propensity of a sample of forest products exporters to undertake certain planning activities and on differences between planners and non‐planners. It was found that exporting was generally unplanned in the survey firms, and that the propensity to plan increased with size and the relative significance of export sales. Other variables, such as management commitment to exporting and the establishment of some export structure, also appeared to play a major role in accounting for planning activity.

Drawing on institutional logics theory, this paper aims to examine the determinants of entrepreneurs’ planning behavior in the first years of 212 Spanish new firms. Additionally, this study identifies four different planning profiles: systematic planner, early planner, late planner and non-planner.

This study’s data structure is a (yearly) pooled cross-sectional time series. This paper investigates the determinants of planning behaviors among entrepreneurs, as well as the impact of that activity on new firm performance (i.e. employment growth).

The results confirm the relevance of institutional forces in explaining the involvement of founders of new firms upon planning activities. Institutional factors, in the form of public external support seem to explain early- and systematic-planner behavior while the influence of entrepreneurial family background does so with late-planner behavior.

The authors focus their attention on two key moments of a new venture’ life: the first year of operation and once the firm has overcome the four-year hurdle that is often used to distinguish new from established businesses. Four different patterns emerge: systematic planner (those who consistently plan over time), early planner (those who engage in planning activities in the early moments of the firm’s life but not later), late planner (those who do not plan at the beginning but end up conducting planning activities a few years later) and non-planner (those who never get involved in planning activities). This new division is an interesting additional feature of this study.

Utilizando la teoría de lógica institucional, el presente artículo analiza los factores determinantes del comportamiento planificador de los emprendedores durante los primeros años de operaciones, por lo que se refiere a sus negocios. A tal efecto, identificamos cuatro perfiles planificadores: sistemático, temprano, demorado y no-planificador.

A partir de una muestra de 201 emprendedores españoles se examinan los determinantes del comportamiento planificador y el efecto subsecuente en el desempeño de las empresas.

Los resultados de este artículo ponen de relieve la importancia de las fuerzas institucionales, a la hora de explicar la involucración de éstos en cuanto a la planificación de actividades se refiere. Por un lado, factores institucionales en forma de apoyo público, tienden a explicar el comportamiento del planificador temprano y sistemático, mientras que la influencia del contexto familiar definiría el modo de actuar del planificador-demorado. Asimismo, en este artículo se analiza el impacto de los diferentes perfiles planificadores en el desempeño del crecimiento de empleo de las empresas.

El presente artículo intenta examinar de manera inédita el comportamiento planificador de los emprendedores usando la teoría de lógica institucional. Además, los resultados sugieren que planificar aporta un efecto positivo en el desempeño de las iniciativas emprendedoras.

Tendo por base teórica as lógicas institucionais, este estudo analisa as estratégias de planeamento de empreendedores e seus determinantes nos primeiros anos de atividade. Adicionalmente, identificamos quatro perfis diferentes dependo do tipo de planeamento feito pelo empreendedor: planeador sistemático, planeador antecipado, planeador demorado, e não-planeador.

Com base numa amostra de 201 empreendedores Espanhóis, examinamos os determinantes de comportamentos de planeamento dos empreendedores e os seus impactos no desempenho das empresas.

Os resultados confirmam a relevância de forças institucionais na explicação do envolvimento de fundadores de novas empresas em atividades de planeamento. Fatores institucionais, sob a forma de apoio externo público, parecem explicar comportamentos de planeamento antecipado e sistemático, enquanto que a influência do contexto familiar do empreendedor tende a explicar planeamentos mais demorados. O estudo também analisa o impacto destes perfis de planeamento no desempenho das novas empresas (i.e., crescimento do emprego).

O presente artigo tenciona examinar de uma forma inédita o comportamento de planeamento dos empreendedores com base na teoria da lógica institucional. Adicionalmente, os resultados sugerem que planear tem um efeito positivo no desempenho das iniciativas empreendedoras.

In this chapter, we examine two theorized approaches to entrepreneurial activity: experiential versus prediction based strategies. We empirically assess the comparative performance of several commonly recommended approaches – researching customer needs, researching the competitive landscape, writing a business plan, conceptually adapting the business plan or experimentally adapting the primary business activity. We found that the majority of nascent entrepreneurs began with a business plan, but only about a third adapted their plan in later stages. We also found that talking with customers and examining the competitive landscape were normative activities. Those who started a plan were more likely to create a venture, although the effects much stronger for those who changed their plan later on, as well as for those who researched customer needs.

Our results show that the selection of these activities is both ubiquitous and driven by pre-start-up experience and new venture characteristics. The activities themselves do not robustly link with successful new venture foundation. Hence, pre-start-up experiences, venture characteristics, and the institutional environment are more important in explaining successful performance than recommended activities. Implications for research, practice, and pedagogy are discussed.

Because of indeterminateness of the environment and delay of the communication, deep space spacecraft is required to be autonomous. Planning technology is studied in order to realize the spacecraft autonomy. First, a multi‐agent planning system (MAPS) based on temporal constraint satisfaction is proposed for concurrency and distribution of spacecraft system. Second, timeline concept is used to describe simultaneous activity, continue time, resource and temporal constraints. Third, for every planning agent in the MAPS, its layered architecture is designed and planning algorithm based on the temporal constraint satisfaction is given in detail. Finally, taking some key subsystems of deep space explorer as an example, the prototype system of MAPS is implemented. The results show that with the communication and cooperation of the planning agents, the MAPS is able to produce complete plan for explorer mission quickly under the complex constraints of time and resource.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how certain limitations of the current approaches to planning and scheduling of aircraft heavy maintenance can be addressed using a single integrated framework supported by unified data structures.

The “unitary structuring technique”, originally developed within the context of manufacturing planning and control, is further enhanced for aircraft heavy maintenance applications, taking into account the uncertainty associated with condition‐based maintenance. The proposed framework delivers the advanced functionalities required for simultaneous and dynamic forward planning of maintenance operations, as well as finite loading of resources, towards optimising the overall maintenance performance.

Execution of maintenance operations under uncertainty involves materials changes, rectification and re‐assembly. It is shown that re‐scheduling of materials (spare‐parts), resources and operations can be taken care of by simultaneous and dynamic forward planning of materials and operations with finite loading of resources, using the integrated framework.

As part of adopting the proposed framework in practice, it needs to be guided by an overall methodology appropriate for application‐specific contexts.

The potential direct benefits of adopting the proposed framework include on‐time project completion, reduced inventory levels of spare‐parts and reduced overtime costs.

Existing approaches to aircraft maintenance planning and scheduling are limited in their capacity to deal with contingencies arising out of inspections carried out during the execution phase of large maintenance projects. The proposed integrated approach is, capable of handling uncertainty associated with condition‐based maintenance, due to the added functionalities referred to above.

The main purpose of this paper is to document the research on development of a conceptual framework for the supply chain. The aims of the research were to develop an integrated framework, and to provide a methodology for planning of many components in the supply chain such as suppliers, materials, resources, warehouses, activities and customers. The proposed framework is based on the unitary structuring technique where bills of materials, bills of warehouses, project networks and operations routings, in both manufacturing and distribution networks, are combined into a single structure.

The framework is described along with illustrated numerical examples in the manufacturing and distribution environments.

The numerical testing has shown that each network in the supply chain provides an integrated approach to planning and execution of many components, and is capable of providing visibility, flexibility and maintainability for further improvement in the supply chain environment.

The framework and planning approach developed in this research are new in the area of supply chain management and provide a foundation for planning, control and execution in supply chain in various industries.