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Academic rankings are facing various issues, including the use of data sources that are not publicly verifiable, subjective parameters, a narrow focus on research productivity and regional biases and so forth. This research work is intended to enhance creditability of the ranking process by using the objective indicators based on publicly verifiable data sources.

The proposed ranking methodology – OpenRank – drives the objective indicators from two well-known publicly verifiable data repositories: the ArnetMiner and DBpedia.

The resultant academic ranking reflects common tendencies of the international academic rankings published by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy (SRC), Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and Times Higher Education (THE). Evaluation of the proposed methodology advocates its effectiveness and quick reproducibility with low cost of data collection.

Implementation of the OpenRank methodology faced the issue of availability of the quality data. In future, accuracy of the academic rankings can be improved further by employing more relevant public data sources like the Microsoft Academic Graph, millions of graduate's profiles available in the LinkedIn repositories and the bibliographic data maintained by Association for Computing Machinery and Scopus and so forth.

The suggested use of open data sources would offer new dimensions to evaluate academic performance of the higher education institutions (HEIs) and having comprehensive understanding of the catalyst factors in the higher education.

The research work highlighted the need of a purposely built, publicly verifiable electronic data source for performance evaluation of the global HEIs. Availability of such a global database would help in better academic planning, monitoring and analysis. Definitely, more transparent, reliable and less controversial academic rankings can be generated by employing the aspired data source.

We suggested a satisfying solution for improvement of the HEIs' ranking process by making the following contributions: (1) enhancing creditability of the ranking results by merely employing the objective performance indicators extracted from the publicly verifiable data sources, (2) developing an academic ranking methodology based on the objective indicators using two well-known data repositories, the DBpedia and ArnetMiner and (3) demonstrating effectiveness of the proposed ranking methodology on the real data sources.

For organizations competing in volatile environments, strategic agility is the key for sustaining in the market. It is essential for such organizations to identify the main agility indicators that contribute to their strategic core. The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a systematic methodology that identifies key agility indicators through prioritization and establishing the intra- and inter-relationships among them.

The methodology consists of four phases. Phase I forms a pool of agility key performance indicators (KPIs). Phase II categorizes and ranks the KPIs based on their importance and the gap that exists between their current and desired level. Using interpretive structural modeling, phase III establishes the intra-relationships among the KPIs as well as agility attributes, agility enablers and improvement paths, collectively referred to as agility indicators. Finally, phase IV analyzes the inter-relationships among agility indicators using three consecutive houses of quality.

To demonstrate the capability of the proposed methodology, it was applied to a dairy food company operating in a competitive environment. The application could address the shortcomings of previous agility methodologies and helped the company to assign resources to the right agility indicators with the highest influence on strategic agility.

The methodology was applied to a single organization only. The application does not include long-term post-implementation observations and measurement of strategic agility.

Practitioners can benefit from the methodology to identify the right agility indicators of their organization and assign organizational resources for the improvement of such indicators. The methodology ensures selecting indicators that contribute to organization’s strategic agility, although ostensibly seem unrelated.

The paper contributes to the literature of strategic and organizational agility by proposing a systematic methodology that considers both intra- and inter-relationships among agility indicators. The methodology also makes a decent contribution in addressing organizational ambidexterity by analyzing mutually exclusive indicators pertaining to current and future opportunities for the organization.

The purpose of this paper is to capture the status of implementation of Six Sigma in various manufacturing industries and also examine the success of the Six Sigma by using different performance indicators.

The methodology of critical review involves the selection and classification of 112 research articles on the implementation of Six Sigma in different manufacturing industries. The selected articles are categorized by the following: articles distribution based on the year of publication, publication database, various journals, contribution of authors, continent, scale of industry, implemented approaches, focused industry, tools and techniques used in phases of Six Sigma methodology, and performance indicators used in Six Sigma implementation. Then after, future scopes of research opportunities are derived based on significant findings.

The literature revealed that: Very few work was undertaken on the implementation of Six Sigma in various manufacturing industries like ceramic, paper, gems and jewelry, cement, furniture, stone, fertilizer, forging, paper and surface treatment industries. Most of the researchers have considered very few performance indicators to identify the improvement after Six Sigma implementation. But, there is no clue regarding overall improvement in different perspectives after the implementation of Six Sigma. The financial indicators, personnel indicators, process indicators and customer indicators are useful to measure the overall improvement after the implementation of Six Sigma in the manufacturing sector.

The study was carried out on the implementation of Six Sigma methodology in various manufacturing industries, and various performance indicators were identified while implementing the Six Sigma methodology. Case studies pertaining to service industries were not covered here.

Very little research has been carried out to measure the overall success of implementing Six Sigma methodology in manufacturing industries. This paper will provide value to students, researchers and practitioners of Six Sigma by providing insight into the implementation of Six Sigma in manufacturing industries.

A synthetic indicator (SI) is developed to measure the sustainability of tourist destinations according to four proposed dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic, environmental and political. Its purpose is to determine the most appropriate indicators for each type of tourist destination, i.e. which variables should be considered in each territory according to its typology (environmental, social, economic and tourism). To test the usefulness and employability of the SI, it has been applied in the Algarve (Portugal). Three destinations were analysed in this region: Albufeira, Faro and Lagos, all three good examples of the well-known sun and beach tourism model.

The SI is the result of a system of indicators. To reach the final result, a multi-criteria calculation has been used in which the most important variables that fit the territorial reality analysed have been included, based on an exhaustive analysis of more than 2,000 indicators proposed by various scientific studies and international organisations such as the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The results of this analysis have been weighted according to the opinion of the population. A survey of more than 1,800 questionnaires was carried out in tourist destinations with high seasonality and dependence on tourism in the Algarve, Portugal. Finally, the SI has been aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The level of sustainability and the level of social concern regarding tourism activity were defined. In the Algarve, tourism is transforming the landscape and the local economy, and overcrowding is perceived as an economic activity that negatively affects sustainability. The concerns of the resident population about the impacts of tourism have served to identify priority strategies to improve the level of sustainability of the destinations. The three territories analysed present different problems and therefore require different strategies for action, mainly of a local public nature. The final result indicates the level of sustainability of the destination, which allows specific actions for improvement in the short, medium and long term to be generated.

The results made it possible to develop lines of action aimed at improving the sustainable management of each tourist destination analysed. Involving the local population allows the residents of the destination to be part of tourism policies, assuming a bottom-up strategy. This research provides answers to destinations seeking to implement sustainable tourism, offering tourism sector managers tools for correct decision-making.

This research presents a SI based on a system of indicators adjusted to the needs of the territory to be analysed, takes into account the opinion of the local population as a weighting factor and is in line with the 17 SDGs.

本文根据为可持续发展提出的四个方面：社会、经济、环境和政治, 开发了一个综合指标（SI）来衡量旅游目的地的可持续性。其目的是为每一类旅游目的地确定最合适的指标, 即根据每个地区的类型 (环境、社会、经济和旅游), 应考虑哪些变量。为了测试IS的有用性和可用性, 它被应用于阿尔加维 (葡萄牙) 。在这个地区, 有三个目的地。阿尔布费拉 (Albufeira)、法鲁 (Faro) 和拉各斯 (Lagos), 这三个地方都是著名的阳光和海滩旅游模式的例子。

SI 是一个指标体系的结果。为了得出最终结果, 我们采用了多标准计算, 在对各种科学研究和国际组织（如世贸组织）提出的两千多个指标进行详尽分析的基础上, 将符合所分析的领土现实的最重要变量纳入其中。这一分析的结果已经根据民众的意见进行了加权处理。在葡萄牙阿尔加维（Algarve）季节性强且依赖旅游业的旅游目的地进行了1800多份问卷调查。最后, SI与可持续发展目标保持一致。

本文定义了可持续发展水平和社会对旅游活动的关注程度。在阿尔加维, 旅游业正在改变景观和当地经济, 过度拥挤被认为是一种对可持续性产生负面影响的经济活动。居民对旅游业影响的关注有助于确定优先战略, 以提高目的地的可持续性水平。所分析的三个地区出现了不同的问题, 主要是地方公共属性方面的, 因此需要不同的行动策略。最终的结果表明了目的地的可持续发展水平, 并为短期、中期和长期的具体改进行动提供依据。

这些结果帮助我们制定行动方针, 以改善所分析的每个旅游目的地的可持续管理。让当地居民参与进来这一种自下而上的战略, 可以让目的地的居民成为旅游政策的一部分。这项研究为寻求实施可持续旅游的目的地提供了答案, 为旅游管理者提供了正确决策的工具。

这项研究提出了一个合成指标, 其基础是根据要分析的区域的需要而调整指标系统, 考虑到当地居民的意见作为加权因素, 并且与17项可持续发展目标一致。

Se desarrolla un indicador sintético (IS) para medir la sostenibilidad de los destinos turísticos según las cuatro dimensiones propuestas para el desarrollo sostenible: social, económica, medioambiental y política. Su objetivo es determinar los indicadores más adecuados para cada tipo de destino turístico, es decir, qué variables deben considerarse en cada territorio según su tipología (ambiental, social, económica y turística). Para comprobar la utilidad y empleabilidad del IS, se ha aplicado en el Algarve (Portugal). En esta región se analizaron tres destinos: Albufeira, Faro y Lagos, los tres buenos ejemplos del conocido modelo de turismo de sol y playa.

El IS es el resultado de un sistema de indicadores. Para llegar al resultado final se ha utilizado un cálculo multicriterio en el que se han incluido las variables más importantes que se ajustan a la realidad territorial analizada, a partir de un análisis exhaustivo de más de dos mil indicadores propuestos por diversos estudios científicos y organismos internacionales como la OMC. Los resultados de este análisis se han ponderado según la opinión de la población. Se ha realizado una encuesta de más de 1.800 cuestionarios en destinos turísticos con alta estacionalidad y dependencia del turismo en el Algarve – Portugal. Por último, el IS se ha alineado con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible.

Se definió el nivel de sostenibilidad y el nivel de preocupación social respecto a la actividad turística. En el Algarve, el turismo está transformando el paisaje y la economía local, y la masificación se percibe como una actividad económica que afecta negativamente a la sostenibilidad. La preocupación de la población residente por los impactos del turismo ha servido para identificar las estrategias prioritarias para mejorar el nivel de sostenibilidad de los destinos. Los tres territorios analizados presentan problemas diferentes y, por tanto, requieren estrategias de actuación distintas, principalmente de carácter público local. El resultado final indica el nivel de sostenibilidad del destino, lo que permite generar acciones específicas de mejora a corto, medio y largo plazo.

Los resultados permitieron desarrollar líneas de actuación dirigidas a mejorar la gestión sostenible de cada destino turístico analizado. Involucrar a la población local permite que los residentes del destino formen parte de las políticas turísticas, asumiendo una estrategia ascendente. Esta investigación aporta respuestas a los destinos que buscan implementar un turismo sostenible, ofreciendo a los gestores del sector turístico herramientas para una correcta toma de decisiones.

sta investigación presenta un indicador sintético basado en un sistema de indicadores ajustado a las necesidades del territorio a analizar, tiene en cuenta la opinión de la población local como factor de ponderación y se ajusta a los 17 ODS.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to provide a reference framework for the major properties of performance indicators, using the formalism of the Representation Theory.

Performance indicators shown are commonly used in many different areas of operations management in order to analyse process evolution. However, in practical applications many questions arise: “How many indicators should be used for representing a given process?”, “Is there an optimal set?”, “How to check whether the indicators used suitably represent the system investigated?”, etc. In the literature these questions have been addressed in relation to a number of different application fields. This has led to a maze of classifications and properties, which may create confusion in both the academic and the practitioner communities. In a previous work, the paper carried out an analysis of the existing literature, examining and comparing different approaches. This present work identifies and analyses the major properties which effective indicators should exhibit, and suggests an operational methodology to choose the “best” set of indicators.

The findings in this paper produce a detailed analysis of the properties of indicators and establish a schematic methodology facilitating the selection and verification of indicators. To make the process clearer, properties are explained by the use of practical examples.

Indicators are utilized in many different contexts for a variety of purposes (for example, logistics, business management, manufacturing, sports competitions, etc.). The paper provides a general analysis of the most important properties of indicators, without entering into specific application contexts.

The paper proposes an operational methodology to support the selection and testing of the best indicators for a given process. This methodology may also be used for integrating other existing approaches.

Properties of indicators are examined from a mathematical/symbolic point of view, using the formalism of the Representation Theory.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of international benchmarking studies as drivers for e‐government development.

The paper shows that after reviewing 44 published e‐government benchmarking reports (2000‐2006) and evaluating their validity and acceptance in academic and practitioners' literature, the paper systematically compares and contrasts ten established international e‐government benchmarking methodologies. The comparative analysis is conducted utilizing a proposed conceptual framework (CMBP), which specifically assesses the context, methodology, type of benchmarking and social paradigmatic tendency of each of the reports studied.

The paper finds that regardless of the methodology adopted‐international e‐government benchmarking does have an imperative role in driving e‐government development, only when the exercise is accompanied with a long‐term iterative adaptation and reform mechanism.

The framework proposed in this paper provides public administrators with a valuable conceptual lens for understanding the value of each benchmarking study to better assess its applicability in driving development of their e‐government initiative. The paper also contributes to the limited body of academic literature investigating e‐government benchmarking and proposes a methodical framework for understanding the role of international benchmarking reports in e‐government development.

The purpose of this study is to show the importance of adequately considering quality measures within the use of composite indicators (CIs). Policy support often relies on high quality indicators. Often, the underlying data of relevant indicators are coming mainly from sample surveys. Obviously, the reliability of the indicators then heavily relies on the sampling design and other quality aspects.

Starting from the well-known work on sensitivity analysis of indicators, this study integrates the sampling process as an additional source of variability. The methodology is evaluated in a close-to-reality simulation environment using relevant and important surveys with different sampling designs. As an example, this study uses data related to the statistics of income and living conditions (SILC). The study is based on a design-based simulation framework.

In general, the normalisation method is dominating as source of the total variance of CI. In our study, we show that the sampling process also becomes rather relevant and generally dominates the influence of different weighting methods. We show that in some scenarios approximately 40 per cent of the variability in the sensitivity analysis comes from the sampling process. The quality of ranking derived from CIs then suffers considerably from the sampling design. When using data sources from different quality, e.g. in regional comparisons, one may expect some cases with biased CI values which may become useless for applications.

The impact of sampling heavily depends on the data gathering process. In case of sample data, the sampling designs play an important role. However, the design effect still depends on the variables taken into account and has to be considered carefully.

The findings show the importance of considering the quality framework the European Code of Practice also for CIs. This additional information shall foster to understand possible over- or misinterpretations of CIs, especially when deriving rankings from the indicators. Specialised statistical methods shall be integrated in future research, particularly when focusing on regional indicators.

CIs are often used for policy monitoring. In general, the data gathering process is not considered adequately by end-users. This becomes especially important when being interested in regional indicators. The present paper shows possible implications of the sampling designs on CI outcomes with the focus on comparative studies.

As a consequence of rapid urbanisation and globalisation, cities have become the engines of population and economic growth. Hence, natural resources in and around the cities have been exposed to externalities of urban development processes. This paper introduces a new sustainability assessment approach that is tested in a pilot study. The paper aims to assist policy‐makers and planners investigating the impacts of development on environmental systems, and produce effective policies for sustainable urban development.

The paper introduces an indicator‐based indexing model entitled “Indexing Model for the Assessment of Sustainable Urban Ecosystems” (ASSURE). The ASSURE indexing model produces a set of micro‐level environmental sustainability indices that is aimed to be used in the evaluation and monitoring of the interaction between human activities and urban ecosystems. The model is an innovative approach designed to assess the resilience of ecosystems towards impacts of current development plans and the results serve as a guide for policy‐makers to take actions towards achieving sustainability.

The indexing model has been tested in a pilot case study within the Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia. This paper presents the methodology of the model and outlines the preliminary findings of the pilot study. The paper concludes with a discussion on the findings and recommendations put forward for future development and implementation of the model.

Presently, there is a few sustainability indices developed to measure the sustainability at local, regional, national and international levels. However, due to challenges in data collection difficulties and availability of local data, there is no effective assessment model at the micro‐level that the assessment of urban ecosystem sustainability accurately. The model introduced in this paper fills this gap by focusing on parcel‐scale and benchmarking the environmental performance in micro‐level.

The construction and use of composite indicators has recently increased considerably because such indicators permit the comparison and ranking of countries with respect to complex phenomena of global importance. Together with the diffusion of these composite indicators, a major debate has emerged over their real capacity to produce objective and reliable results. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this paper, an analysis of the results of the Gender Gap Labour Market Index (GGLMI) – an ad hoc composite indicator constructed by the authors to analyse the gender gap in European labour markets – is proposed, in order to identify the most appropriate choices in the construction of composite indicators, to obtain reliable results. This is a sensible approach, especially when various aspects (some of them controversial) have to be synthesised.

In addition to highlighting the greater robustness of non-compensatory methods, this analysis confirms the variability of countries’ rankings on graded positional lists, and suggests the need to use a procedure based on a set of alternative methods conveniently combined in each step of the composite indicator construction.

The research identifies the weak steps in composite indicator construction and the data characteristics which increase the volatility. Only an approach based on various alternative paths can control for it.

It offers some reflections on the extent to which gender disparities in labour market still persist in European countries and the different ways in which it manifests.

The analysis of characteristics and policies activated in countries at the top of the ranking can suggest initiatives to promote gender equality.

Besides of testing the robustness of results, an effort in order to identify the best way to obtain a synthetic and reliable single rank is made. Further, the results produced by the GGLMI for the year 2011 are presented and discussed.

The present research has been conceptualized to make an inter-district analysis in terms of IHDI of Uttar Pradesh. It aims to provide district-wise estimates of HDI and IHDI with the latest available data, which may prove to be a critical policy input to the policy makers that how different districts are performing in terms of education, health and standard of living parameters and help in implementing tailor made policy actions.

The paper utilizes the Census of India data and unit-level data of National Sample Survey (NSS) for constructing HDI and IHDI. The broad framework for computing IHDI in this study is similar to the approach of UNDP's HDR 2010. To adjust the inequality aspect, the Atkinson inequality aversion parameter has been estimated at indicator level on the basis of NSS unit record data.

The study reveals that inequality discounted income index is on an average 30 percent lower than unadjusted income index. However, quite high variation exists in case of education and health. The difference ranges from 30 percent to 40 percent in the case of education and from 3 to 36 percent in the health dimension. The surprising fact which study finds that health infrastructure and education infrastructure are poorly correlated with their respective outcomes.

The study offers a policy suggestion that increasing investment on educational and health infrastructure will not have any significant impact on their respective outcomes unless distributional inequalities are reduced. The study also suggests that rising income inequalities are threat to inclusive growth and sustainable development goals agenda. Thus, it recommends policy makers to take pro-active timely policy measures to reduce income inequalities. The educational achievement should be fixed in terms of average years of schooling and expected years of schooling rather than in terms of literacy rate.

The present research is an original work. This is the first study in the case of Uttar Pradesh which attempted to estimate district-wise IHDI following the internationally accepted UNDP (2010) methodology.