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1 – 10 of over 196000The scale of urban land has been expanding because the speed of urban development has increased the population. Thus, certain improvement in planning and construction based on…
Abstract
The scale of urban land has been expanding because the speed of urban development has increased the population. Thus, certain improvement in planning and construction based on circular economy is required. Industrial resource-based city planning and construction is particularly important based on the aforementioned problems and development background. The development of industrial resource cities in the transformation stage based on the circular economy was considered as the breakthrough point. The development, function, and concept of the new district planning were analyzed in view of the design strategy of the current domestic resource-based urban planning; moreover, the planning principles (integration of regional and harmonious resource constructions and coordinated organization function) that are suitable for resource industrial city were presented. In this study, taking the industrial transformation and resource-based city of Yichun as an example, the infrastructure and the general situation of the new district planning in the future were deeply analyzed. In the light of the functional development and planning structure of the transformation and development planning of resource-based industrial cities, the following planning and development strategies were proposed: the centralized small-scale space should be constructed. Diversion control should be carried out on bicycle lane and motorized lane in new area. The three-dimensional layout of the grid should be applied to the overall planning of the road, and according to the expressway, main roads, secondary roads and ordinary sections, there must be four kinds of traffic system, so as to construct a diversified traffic diversion system. The original industrial land should be extended into a continuous space, and the allocation of new district resources after transformation must be suitable for the development plan of brand strategy, so as to perfect the forestry land of Sun Yue gorge street and transform it into RBD recreational and entertainment community, and build a friendly eco city.
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Premaratne Samaranayake and Senevi Kiridena
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Research limitations/implications
As part of adopting the proposed framework in practice, it needs to be guided by an overall methodology appropriate for application‐specific contexts.
Practical implications
The potential direct benefits of adopting the proposed framework include on‐time project completion, reduced inventory levels of spare‐parts and reduced overtime costs.
Originality/value
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.
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Richard DeMartino, Rajendran Sriramachandramurthy, Joseph C. Miller and John N. Angelis
Despite a large and growing literature on the subject, little is understood about the phenomenon of small business growth. Specifically, the small business growth literature has…
Abstract
Despite a large and growing literature on the subject, little is understood about the phenomenon of small business growth. Specifically, the small business growth literature has often emphasized “why” opposed to “how” firms grow. This chapter sheds light on this black box of growth by investigating the phases of planning and implementation processes separately to explore the choice of strategic expansion modes. It examines a much under-researched firm category: declining small firms. Employing a three-year longitudinal study using a multi-case study method, we find that while growth approaches are typically contextually (industry) derived, formalized planning greatly affects implementation. Further, resources are the key mediating variable between formal planning and implementation – firms with slack resources will typically implement their contextually influenced planned growth course, and firms with inadequate resources will typically implement through interactive learning, which causes them to downscale the growth plans or exit the market (merger or sale).
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The Nature of Business Policy Business policy — or general management — is concerned with the following six major functions:
Sina Mohammadi, Mehdi Tavakolan and Banafsheh Zahraie
This paper proposes an innovative intelligent simulation-based construction planning framework that introduces a new approach to simulation-based construction planning.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes an innovative intelligent simulation-based construction planning framework that introduces a new approach to simulation-based construction planning.
Design/methodology/approach
In this approach, the authors developed an ontological inference engine as an integrated part of a constraint-based simulation system that configures the construction processes, defines activities and manages resources considering a variety of requirements and constraints during the simulation. It allows for the incorporation of the latest project information and a deep level of construction planning knowledge in the planning. The construction planning knowledge is represented by an ontology and several semantic rules. Also, the proposed framework uses the project building information model (BIM) to extract information regarding the construction product and the relations between elements. The extracted information is then converted to an ontological format to be useable by the framework.
Findings
The authors implemented the framework in a case study project and tested its usefulness and capabilities. It successfully generated the construction processes, activities and required resources based on the construction product, available resources and the planning rules. It also allowed for a variety of analyses regarding different construction strategies and resource planning. Moreover, 4D BIM models that provide a very good understanding of the construction plan can be automatically generated using the proposed framework.
Originality/value
The active integration between BIM, discrete-event simulation (DES) and ontological knowledge base and inference engine defines a new class of construction simulation with expandable applications.
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Alessandro Gabrielli and Giulio Greco
Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), this study investigates how tax planning affects the likelihood of financial default in different stages of the corporate life cycle.
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), this study investigates how tax planning affects the likelihood of financial default in different stages of the corporate life cycle.
Design/methodology/approach
Collecting a large sample of US firms between 1989 and 2016, hypotheses are tested using a hazard model. Several robustness and endogeneity checks corroborate the main findings.
Findings
The results show that tax-planning firms are less likely to default in the introduction and decline stages, while they are more likely to default in the growth and maturity stages. The findings suggest that introductory and declining firms use cash resources obtained from tax planning efficiently to meet their needs and acquire other useful resources. In growing and mature firms, tax aggressiveness generates unnecessary slack resources, weakens managerial discipline and increases reputational risks.
Practical implications
The results shed light on the benefits and costs associated with tax planning throughout firms' life cycle, holding great significance for managers, investors, lenders and other stakeholders.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature that examines resource management at different life cycle stages by showing that cash resources from tax planning are managed in distinctive ways in each life cycle stage, having a varied impact on the likelihood of default. The authors shed light on underexplored cash resources. Furthermore, this study shows the potential linkages between the agency theory and RBV.
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Amgad Badewi, Essam Shehab, Jing Zeng and Mostafa Mohamad
The purpose of this paper is to answer two research questions: what are the ERP resources and organizational complementary resources (OCRs) required to achieve each group of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to answer two research questions: what are the ERP resources and organizational complementary resources (OCRs) required to achieve each group of benefits? And on the basis of its resources, when should an organization invest more in ERP resources and/or OCRs so that the potential value of its ERP is realised?
Design/methodology/approach
Studying 12 organizations in different countries and validating the results with 8 consultants.
Findings
ERP benefits realization capability framework is developed; it shows that each group of benefits requires ERP resources (classified into features, attached technologies and information technology department competences) and OCRs (classified into practices, attitudes, culture, skills and organizational characteristics) and that leaping ahead to gain innovation benefits before being mature enough in realising a firm’s planning and automation capabilities could be a waste of time and effort.
Research limitations/implications
It is qualitative study. It needs to be backed by quantitative studies to test the results.
Practical implications
Although the “P” in ERP stands for planning, many academics and practitioners still believe that ERP applies to automation only. This research spotlights that the ability to invest in ERP can increase the innovation and planning capabilities of the organization only if it is extended and grown at the right time and if it is supported by OCRs. It is not cost effective to push an organization to achieve all the benefits at the same time; rather, it is clear that an organization would not be able to enjoy a higher level of benefits until it achieves a significant number of lower-level benefits. Thus, investing in higher-level benefit assets directly after an ERP implementation, when there are no organizational capabilities available to use these assets, could be inefficient. Moreover, it could be stressful to users when they see plenty of new ERP resources without the ability to use them. Although it could be of slight benefit to introduce, for example, business intelligence to employees in the “stabilizing period” (Badewi et al., 2013), from the financial perspective, it is a waste of money since the benefits would not be realised as expected. Therefore, orchestrating ERP assets with the development of organizational capabilities is important for achieving the greatest effectiveness and efficiency of the resources available to the organization. This research can be used as a benchmark for designing the various blueprints required to achieve different groups of benefits from ERP investments.
Originality/value
This research addresses two novel questions: RQ1: what are the ERP resources and OCRs required to achieve the different kinds of ERP benefits? RQ2: when, and on what basis, should an organization deploy more resources to leverage the ERP business value?
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The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel analytical approach for workface planning practice in industrial-construction sector such that the construction work package (CWP…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel analytical approach for workface planning practice in industrial-construction sector such that the construction work package (CWP) resource budget can be sufficiently planned for delivering possible field installation work package (FIWP) schedules with work uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach
The relationship between CWP resource budget and FIWP schedules is first elucidated based on workface planning practice. The literature of work packaging, workface planning and project scheduling is reviewed. A novel analytical approach is then developed to quantify CWP resource budget based on a probability theory, in consideration of the probability of occurrence of feasible FIWP schedules formulated based on a resource scheduling approach. The results of case studies given by the new approach are cross validated by using simulation and optimization techniques.
Findings
The new analytical approach can assist workface planning by quantifying the expected CWP resource budget to deliver the FIWP work scope with certain activities that are planned at project level and with uncertain activities that are found at workface level.
Practical implications
The new analytical approach helps project and workface planners to reliably deploy CWP resource budget for delivering FIWP schedules instead of guessing the budget based on experience. An industrial-construction project for upgrading oil-sands refinery facility is used to show the practical implications.
Originality/value
This research develops a new analytical approach for workface planning practice to determine sufficient CWP resource budget for delivering feasible FIWP schedules with work uncertainty.
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Abdul Rahman bin Idris and Derek Eldridge
The article aims to shift the basis of organisational human resource planning away from the traditional prescriptive approach to a systems based model that incorporates an…
Abstract
The article aims to shift the basis of organisational human resource planning away from the traditional prescriptive approach to a systems based model that incorporates an emphasis on learning. A brief history of human resource planning is presented showing how it has evolved towards current needs and the specification for the new model. The new model is conceived in the context of increased environmental pressures on organisations and resultant management approaches. At the heart of the new approach is the process of transformation by which inputs to the model are processed in a way that involves all stakeholders in planning to produce viable outputs for managerial decision making.
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Yasir Fadol, Belal Barhem and Said Elbanna
The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the mediating role of the extensiveness of strategic planning on the relationship between slack resources and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the mediating role of the extensiveness of strategic planning on the relationship between slack resources and organizational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses empirical data gathered from 102 usable replies from private and also public hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Findings
The findings indicate the existence of a positive relationship between slack resources and organizational performance and show that the extensiveness of strategic planning plays a mediating role in this relationship.
Research limitations/implications
The authors highlight the exploratory nature of the study considering its unusual setting, namely, the UAE’s health care sector.
Practical implications
Several implications of the findings for managerial and policy practices in the UAE health care sector are discussed.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature on management, health care, and developing countries by examining the role of the extensiveness of strategic planning in mediating the relationship between slack resources and organizational performance in the health care industry of a developing country.
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