Search results

This study aims to determine the maximum extent of damage in the threat zones, the result of a catastrophic failure in one liquefied petroleum gas storage sphere, located in storage and transfer center in Hassi R’Mel city, Algeria.

To reach the desired results, we relied on ALOHA® v. 5.4.7 software (Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres) for accidents simulation, and on Google Earth as an output tool to show results on the city map.

The results prove that the city of Hassi R’Mel is almost completely threatened by thermal effects resulting from a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion phenomenon, which can reach a distance of 3.9 km.

Determining the extent to which the damages resulting from an industrial accident may reach is of great importance in preventing industrial hazards, as well as in decision-making in the field of urbanization.

This paper examines the relevance of the wicked problem continuum, particularly the emergence of super wicked challenges for public leadership researchers. Contemporary theorizing on public leadership adequately deals with tame challenges, struggles with wicked problems and remains in the dark with regards to the implications of super wicked problems

The wicked problem continuum provides a typology or set of dilemmas running from tame to wicked through to super wicked problems. These different problem types are treated as if they were on a three-zone continuum in which the difficulty of solving or substantially reducing the problem varies from relatively low to very high.

We delineate the three-problem contexts in the wicked problem continuum and discuss the ideal type of organization thriving in each zone. We then posit two opposing wicked problem interpretations-taming and wilding- for those interested in public leadership. Taming calls for prudent, results-oriented leaders employing tried and tested practices. Wilding demands leaders who test the status quo by seeking alternatives.

On the global leadership agenda, wilding problems—those calling attention to the super wicked zone—are escalating. Despite this, public leaders' training lacks a framework for making sense of these urgent and publicly contentious super wicked problems.

Public policy researchers are beginning to direct attention to super wicked problems such as climate change, and pandemics. This work introduces the wicked problem continuum and demonstrates its pertinence for researchers of public leadership.

This paper seeks to tackle the complex problem of integrating real‐time data information about the tracking of a hazardous material (hazmat) vehicle with classical risk evaluation methodologies in order to describe possible accident scenarios. The application deals with the transport of hydrocarbon dangerous goods, where the accident consequences may involve the population exposed along the infrastructure used for transportation.

The approach taken consists of three phases. First, the acquisition of real‐time data about the travel and the carried hazmat; second, the evaluation of the risk area; and finally, a Geographic Information System (GIS) are taken into account.

The findings of this analysis constitute the methodological basis to implement a decision support system as regards hazmat transport risk analysis, also in real time, with important evaluations for planning criteria. Using TIP (Transport Integrated Platform), the data collection is received in real time and the scenario construction and visualization may represent a user‐friendly tool for prompt risk evaluation.

The information displayed by the GIS interface is easy to use, and gives prompt information about the accident consequences.

In terms of the total impact from the hazmat transport system to the whole environment (humans, goods, infrastructures, services and natural elements), the paper focuses on the importance of creating a historical real‐time database implemented from a real time information, that represents a standard set of information necessary to define an accident scenarios, for hazmat transport.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief answer to the following questions: in the arena for State and non-State actors, who and how may guarantee the balance between democracy, State and market? How can the citizens’ economic well-being be prioritized, in terms of national security?

Adapting both the link analysis approach and the order of Pierce’s inference stages, the author illustrates the state of the art, some economic indices and Italy’s need for countermeasures.

Starting from the notion of “social sustainability of the political decisions,” given by the author, the paper highlights the opportunity to rethink the concept of political warfare, in view of a productive fabric characterized by both a high number of small and medium-sized enterprises and the pervasiveness of mafia-type organizations. At the end, the author shares some proposal in the fields of Public Law and Social Marketing and a broader definition of the above-mentioned concept.

This study shows the link between security studies, people’s perception of grey areas and polarization of opinions and wealth, giving the reader a bottom-up input to the comprehension of the contemporary complexity.

The purpose of this paper is to consider heritage for buildings within Enterprise Zones – a programme promoted by central government to improve the UK economy. A central view has been focusing on economic growth, with little thought given to the wider implications of heritage when imposing these zones of deregulation.

An illustrative case study of Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone is used that includes primary interviews with key stakeholders involved in the zone. This is synthesised with secondary literature review allowing an investigation of the way in which heritage issues are being dealt with and the resulting implications for both Bristol and in other zones in the UK.

Conflicts are demonstrated between the objectives of the Enterprise Zone scheme and those of heritage protection, indicating that they are not natural partners. It is argued that existing statutory protection is not necessarily enough to safeguard the heritage of these areas, given that the balance of power is now tipped in favour of economic growth.

If lessons can be learnt from this study then potential heritage issues from similar zoned developments can be avoided. The study encourages positive engagement with heritage by central government. Furthermore, it presents the first academic study that considers heritage within the latest tranche of spatially targeted fiscal incentive programmes.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the creation of innovative methods for engaging in conversations about everyday risk.

A range of methods from conventional survey research to open-ended, semi-structured conversations and focus groups were used in the series of studies that serve as the subject of this meta-study. The meta-study uses participant observation, key informant interviews and project reports to narrate and evaluate the evolution of Frontline as an action planning, monitoring, advocacy and research tool.

The Views from the Frontline (VFL) methods began as the bottom-up mirror of a top-down monitoring approach used by the United Nations (Hyogo Framework for Action Monitor). Limitations of such bottom up monitoring led to creation of guidelines for formalising local knowledge resulting from actions – Action at the Frontline (AFL) and, later, Frontline, a flexible tool for eliciting experiences of everyday risk. The earlier VFL monitoring approach had shared outsiders’ assumptions about the nature of the “problem” and limited the degree to which local residents could express their own experiences and priorities.

Extensive use of this suite of methods has shown that civil society organisations are fully capable of conducting credible research when properly supported and motivated. Use of these methods has so far provided strong support for policy advocacy at the global scale, has had moderate success in liaison with national policy makers and slow but promising results as a learning/action tool at the local scale. Frontline has as yet untapped potential as a resource for academic research.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review the existing research on the intersection between war and international business (IB) and to map out a future research agenda.

Drawing on corporate examples and extant literature within IB, political science and international relations, the paper provides an introduction to the main concepts of war, a review of the IB research on war and provides a critical future research agenda.

The review of the multiple strands of war-related research in IB generally reveals an understudied area. Among other biases, prior research has focused on inter-state wars and has relatively unexplored foreign direct investment (FDI) and non-FDI within civil wars. Furthermore, previous studies offer little attention to how IB and multinational companies contribute to the emergence and development of wars.

The paper develops an analytical and critical research agenda for future research to examine the relationship between war and IB. This includes a set of questions for each of the three major phases of war: pre-conflict, armed violence and post-conflict. To the best of my knowledge, this has not been done before in the context of IB research.

Despite the increased level of national conflict around the world, outward foreign direct investment (FDI) targeting these areas has increased. This study aims to adopt a dynamic capability lens to examine the relationship between firm capabilities and the level of conflict in their FDI portfolio. The paper argues that conflict zones may be an attractive destination for a subset of firms, given their capability profile.

The authors draw from a sample of US Fortune 500 firms (2019) to examine their FDI destinations; specifically, they collected data on the locations of their foreign subsidiaries, which resulted into a final sample of 118 diversified US firms. The model was analyzed using ordinary least squares multiple regression to predict the extent to which their FDI portfolios have ongoing domestic and international conflict and the impact of expansion in such conflict-stricken markets on firm financial performance (ROA).

The authors find that firms with greater international geographical diversification capabilities, as depicted by their geographic spread, and those with greater local stock management capability, as depicted by their initial public offering maturity, are more likely to launch subsidiaries in high ongoing conflict zones. Furthermore, the authors find that while it may be unprofitable for firms to seek FDI in high-conflict zones, firms that operate in strategic industries (manufacturing, infrastructure, natural resource extraction) experienced positive performance. This can be attributed to the fact that firms operating in these sectors are more likely to directly profit in the reconstruction/rebuilding of such conflict-stricken markets.

While previous literature focused on macro-level factors, this study sought to highlight firm-level factors that determine FDI decision in conflict zones. The authors capture different dimensions/sources of firms’ dynamic capability, one resulting from foreign experience (i.e. geographic diversification) and the other from local experience (i.e. domestic stock management) to assess how each correlate with multinational corporations’ level of conflict in their FDI portfolio. Furthermore, the authors contribute to the understanding of the relationship between expansion in conflict zones and firm performance and highlight that industry does matter. Implications from this study highlight the importance of building risk management capabilities to handle not just expansion in conflict zones but also during challenging times like those brought about by pandemics.