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The purpose of this paper is to present an approach to support understanding of inter‐organisational systems.

The approach combines two types of graphical snapshots of relevant properties of each organisation, based on concrete data. The first type of snapshot provides a bird's eye view of the network that enables matching partners to form groups based on similarity. The second type of snapshot can be used to compare and contrast the information technology (IT) portfolio of partners to assess the extent to which each portfolio is ready to meet the needs of the inter‐organisational system. The approach has been applied in a case study that analysed E‐CUSTOMS, a large distributed system that connects the customs organisations of a number of member states of the European Union. The approach has been validated by showing the results to experts in the E‐CUSTOMS project, who confirmed the findings.

An approach based on quantifiable and non‐quantifiable data that combines two visualisation techniques was used. The graphical snapshots obtained by applying this approach showed similarities and differences between countries that indicate opportunities and challenges in IT integration.

The approach provides a semi‐automatic method to understand inter‐organisational systems. If in need of successful co‐operation in groups within an inter‐organisational network, this approach will help the expert to ask the right questions.

An understanding of inter‐organisational systems is necessary, as co‐operation in inter‐organisational networks usually requires considerable up‐front investments in IT specific for this co‐operation.

The shift from data-informed to data-driven educational policymaking is conceptually framed by institutional and transhumanist perspectives. Examples of the shift to large-scale quantitative data driving educational decision-making suggest that data-driven educational policy will not adjust for context to the degree as done by the data-informed or data-based policymaking. Instead, the algorithmization of educational decision-making is both increasingly realizable and necessary in light of the overwhelmingly big data on education produced annually around the world. Evidence suggests that the isomorphic shift from localized data and individual decision-making about education to large-scale assessment data has changed the nature of educational decision-making and national educational policy. Big data are increasingly legitimized in educational policy communities at national and international levels, which means that algorithms are assumed to be the best way to analyze and make decisions about large volumes of complex data. There is a conceptual concern, however, that decontextualized or de-humanized educational policies may have the effect of increasing student achievement, but not necessarily the translation of knowledge into economically, socially, or politically productive behavior.

Carbon emissions from gas flaring in the Nigerian oil and gas industry are both a national and international problem. Nigerian government policies to eliminate the problem 1960-2016 yielded little or no results. The Kyoto Protocol (KP) provides Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as an international market-based mechanism to reducing global carbon emissions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analytically highlight the potentials of CDM in eliminating carbon emissions in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

This paper reviewed the historical background of Kyoto protocol, Nigerian Government policies to eliminating gas flaring in its oil and gas industry 1960-2016 and CDM projects in the industry. The effectiveness of the policies and CDM projects towards ending this problem were descriptively analysed.

Government policies towards eliminating gas flaring with its attendant carbon emissions appeared not to be yielding the desired results. However, projects registered under CDM in the industry looks effective in ending the problem.

Therefore, the success recorded by CDM projects has the policy implication of encouraging Nigeria to engage on establishing more CDM projects that ostensibly proved effective in reducing CO2 emissions through gas flaring reductions in its oil and gas industry. Apparent effectiveness of studied CDM should provide a way forward for the country in eliminating gas flaring in its oil and gas industry which is also a global menace. Nigeria could achieve this by providing all needed facilitation to realising more CDM investments.

CDM as a policy has proved effective in eliminating gas flaring in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The government should adopt this international policy to achieve more gas flaring reductions.

Social problems of respiratory diseases, water pollution and food shortage among others due to gas flaring are persisting in oil and gas producing areas as government policies failed to end the problem. CDM projects in the industry have proved effective in eliminating the problem, thus improving the social welfare of the people and ensuring sustainable development.

The paper analysed the effectiveness of Nigerian Government policies and an international market-based mechanism towards ending gas flaring in its oil and gas industry.

Since the Polish economy shifted to the free market in 1990, Polish companies have had to pay more attention to internal and external training activities to help their organizations compete effectively and survive in a market‐driven system. The aim of this study was to take a comprehensive look at the training practices and activities after quite a large amount of money has been invested on training and development since 1990. This study involved a survey of 30 Polish companies. The study described standard training practices and how Polish companies adhere to accepted practices in determining training needs, developing training programs, and assessing training outcomes. The major findings were that many companies neglect to assess training needs and fail to evaluate the results of their training efforts. Recommendations and suggestions for improvement are provided.

This study presents findings with a particular digital library system, the Belgian‐American Research Collection at the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center (UWDCC). It focuses on the ways in which a usability study can inform the future design of the collection and other UWDCC projects. The study uses two formal testing instruments: a focus group and a task‐oriented field test. Both of these techniques yielded solid data about user expectations, problems and actions with the collection. While the findings can aid UWDCC designers as they begin to envision another iteration of the Belgian‐American Research Collection, the findings also point to a need for a shift in the development of more complete digital library systems. This study proposes the development of digital library systems that have a strong orientation toward users and usability as well as advanced search interfaces and full metadata. In the end, it is not just about cataloging and organizing information; it is also about presenting information logically and intuitively for your users.

With the growth of unstructured data, opportunities to generate insights into supply chain risks in low cost countries (LCCs) are emerging. Sourcing risk has primarily focused on short-term mitigation. This paper aims to offer an approach that uses newsfeed data to assess regional supply base risk in LCC’s for the apparel sector, which managers can use to plan for future risk on a long-term planning horizon.

This paper demonstrates that the bulk of supplier risk assessments focus on short-term responses to disruptions in developed countries, revealing a gap in assessments of long-term risks for supply base expansion in LCCs. This paper develops an approach for predicting and planning for long-term supply base risk in LCC’s to address this shortfall. A machine-based learning algorithm is developed that uses the analysis of competing hypotheses heuristic to convert data from multiple news feeds into numerical risk scores and visual maps of supply chain risk. This paper demonstrates the approach by converting large amounts of unstructured data into two measures, risk impact and risk probability, leading to visualization of country-level supply base risks for a global apparel company.

This paper produced probability and impact scores for 23 distinct supply base risks across 10 countries in the apparel sector. The results suggest that the most significant long-term risks of supply disruption for apparel in LCC’s are human resource regulatory risks, workplace issues, inflation costs, safety violations and social welfare violations. The results suggest that apparel brands seeking suppliers in the regions of Cambodia, India, Bangladesh, Brazil and Vietnam should be aware of the significant risks in these regions that may require mitigative action.

This approach establishes a novel approach for objectively projecting future global sourcing risk, and yields visually mapped outcomes that can be applied in forecasting and planning for future risks when considering sourcing locations in LCC’s.

There are a number of decision-making problems encountered by a building design team. This issue is apparent in assessment of building envelope materials and designs in the early design stage. The purpose of this paper is to develope a decision support tool based on a quality function deployment (QFD) approach integrated with a knowledge management system (KMS) and fuzzy theory to facilitate a building design team to simultaneously mitigate the decision-making problems when assessing the building envelope materials and designs for the first instance.

This study engaged a design team comprising three decision makers (DMs) to test the developed decision support tool through a case study of a representative building project. The study employed deductive qualitative data analysis with use of a framework analysis approach to analyze perspectives of the DMs after completing the case study through a semi-structured interview.

A mapping diagram derived qualitatively from the framework analysis suggested that the tool can help mitigate the identified decision-making problems as a whole.

Practical contributions of using the decision support tool include achievement of a more efficient design and construction management, and higher productivity of a project. In terms of academic contributions, this study expands capabilities of a conventional decision support system, KMS, and QFD tool to handle decision-making problems.

One question of interest to several different groups is whether capital markets value environmental information and, if so, to what extent this information is incorporated into security valuation models. This paper addresses these questions by reporting on a survey of financial analysts and other influential members of the financial community with respect to their knowledge of various types of environmental information and their use of this information in security analysis. The results, while exploratory in nature, indicate a surprising lack of knowledge among the respondents concerning various organizations and reporting initiatives that are well known in environmental circles. A pervasive theme running through the results suggests that while most analysts do not explicitly incorporate environmental variables into their evaluation models, for those that do, their focus is on downside risk rather than upside potential. The results suggest that the reluctance to make widespread use of environmental information is due, at least partly, to concern with the reliability of the available information. This suggests that more work needs to be done to communicate relevant and reliable environmental performance information to the investment community.

Management training and development is currently in vogue. There appears to be a growing belief in the benefits of investment in training and development. When a market is buoyant is the time to consider and anticipate the consequences of a future downturn in demand. Such a downturn in demand may demonstrate increasing pressure to “justify” investment in training and development. There is a long established academic body of knowledge on the subject of evaluating training and development. From research evidence and the authors′ experience, the sponsors and the providers of training and development pay scant attention to systematic evaluation of these activities and investments. It is the authors′ contention that when the market′s critical assessment of the value of training and development increases there will be an increasing interest in evaluation. An overview of the history of evaluation traditions is provided and the state of play is commented upon. It is noted that there is a shortfall between theory and practice. It is argued that evaluation is a worthwhile and important activity and ways through the evaluation literature maze and the underpinnings of the activity are demonstrated, especially to management. Similarly the literature on evaluation techniques is reviewed. Tables are provided which demonstrate areas of major activity and identify relatively uncharted waters. This monograph provides a resource whereby practitioners can choose techniques which are appropriate to the activity on which they are engaged. It highlights the process which should be undertaken to make that choice in order that needs of the major stakeholders in the exercise are fully met.