Strategic Decision Criteria in an Emergent Company Confronted to Important Institutional Changes

During these last years, Algeria, like some other developing countries is undergoing important institutional changes. The structural adjustment plan (1990s), and the association agreement signed with the European Union (2005) are some of political tools that guide these profound changes that have considerable impacts on the strategic behavior of local enterprises. Beyond these mutations at national level, important policy changes are observed at international level, like the recent reform of the European sugar policy that constitutes a considerable shifter on the behavior of enterprises operating in the Algerian sugar refining industry. The present research aims to measure the weight of the institutional criteria on the strategic decision of sugar refining companies in Algeria, by the application of the SWOT analysis. The ultimate purpose is to contribute to the analysis of interactions that exist between institutional changes induced by the globalization process and the strategic choices of local enterprises in an emergent economy.Institutional change, Strategy, SWOT-AHP, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The evolution of pedagogic models for work-based learning within a virtual university

The process of designing a pedagogic model for work-based learning within a virtual university is not a simple matter of using ‘off the shelf’ good practice. Instead, it can be characterised as an evolutionary process that reflects the backgrounds, skills and experiences of the project partners. Within the context of a large-scale project that was building a virtual university for work-based learners, an ambitious goal was set: to base the development of learning materials on a pedagogic model that would be adopted across the project. However, the reality proved to be far more complex than simply putting together an appropriate model from existing research evidence. Instead, the project progressed through a series of redevelopments, each of which was pre-empted by the involvement of a different team from within the project consortium. The pedagogic models that evolved as part of the project will be outlined, and the reasons for rejecting each will be given. They moved from a simple model, relying on core computer-based materials (assessed by multiple choice questions with optional work-based learning), to a more sophisticated model that integrated different forms of learning. The challenges that were addressed included making learning flexible and suitable for work-based learning, the coherence of accreditation pathways, the appropriate use of the opportunities provided by online learning and the learning curves and training needs of the different project teams. Although some of these issues were project-specific (being influenced by the needs of the learners, the aims of the project and the partners involved), the evolutionary process described in this case study illustrates that there can be a steep learning curve for the different collaborating groups within the project team. Whilst this example focuses on work-based learning, the process and the lessons may equally be applicable to a range of learning scenarios

Integrating knowledge accross disciplines. Experiences from the NeWater project

The starting question for this deliverable was how to create a new adaptive management concept that can integrate insights from various disciplines and connect people from different institutional backgrounds. From literature research and empirical research on the NeWater project we identified challenges for cross-disciplinary knowledge integration, we evaluated interventions for connecting multiple knowledge frames, we analyzed the process of group model building with UML and formulated recommendations. Cross-disciplinary research has arisen from a growing number of complex problems for which knowledge of a single scientific discipline or societal field is insufficient, but presents important challenges: (1) collaboration and integration of knowledge requires in depth discussions that are timeconsuming; (2) the recursive process of problem structuring and restructuring is often at odds with the sequential planning of project activities; (3) participation and mutual learning are crucial but need to be carefully structured and sequenced; and (4) management and leadership faces the difficult challenge of balancing in depth exploration with timely delivery of tangible results. We conclude with the following general recommendations for large cross-disciplinary projects: (1) including a preparatory proposal phase for thorough exploration of opportunities of between researchers and stakeholders (2) flexible funding, planning and operational arrangements to allow for a recursive research process; (3) a project size that allows frequent interaction opportunities between researchers and between researchers and stakeholders to allow for mutual learning and in depth exploration; and (4) enhancing learning opportunities from one project to the next

Supporting decision making process with "Ideal" software agents: what do business executives want?

According to Simon’s (1977) decision making theory, intelligence is the first and most important phase in the decision making process. With the escalation of information resources available to business executives, it is becoming imperative to explore the potential and challenges of using agent-based systems to support the intelligence phase of decision-making. This research examines UK executives’ perceptions of using agent-based support systems and the criteria for design and development of their “ideal” intelligent software agents. The study adopted an inductive approach using focus groups to generate a preliminary set of design criteria of “ideal” agents. It then followed a deductive approach using semi-structured interviews to validate and enhance the criteria. This qualitative research has generated unique insights into executives’ perceptions of the design and use of agent-based support systems. The systematic content analysis of qualitative data led to the proposal and validation of design criteria at three levels. The findings revealed the most desirable criteria for agent based support systems from the end users’ point view. The design criteria can be used not only to guide intelligent agent system design but also system evaluation

An application of multiple criteria decision-making techniques for ranking different national Iranian oil refining and distribution companies

Performance measurement plays an essential role on management of governmental agencies especially when profitability is not the primary concern and we need to consider other important factors than profitability such as customer satisfaction, etc. In this paper, we propose a multi-criteria decision making method to rank different national Iranian oil refining and distribution companies. The proposed study of this paper uses six factors including per capita supply, energy cost, physical productivity of labor, staff participation, quality control inspection of stations and education per capita. The proposed study uses Entropy to find the relative importance of each criterion and TOPSIS to rank 37 alternatives based on cities and three regions. The results of the implementation of our method indicate that central regions close to capital city of the country maintains the highest ranking (0.9122) while southern regions maintains the lowest comes in the lowest priority (0.0569) and the northern region is in the middle (0.7635)

Actions speak louder than words: designing transdisciplinary approaches to enact solutions

Sustainability science uses a transdisciplinary research process in which academic and non-academic partners collaborate to identify a common problem and co-produce knowledge to develop more sustainable solutions. Sustainability scientists have advanced the theory and practice of facilitating collaborative efforts such that the knowledge created is usable. There has been less emphasis, however, on the last step of the transdisciplinary process: enacting solutions. We analyzed a case study of a transdisciplinary research effort in which co-produced policy simulation information shaped the creation of a new policy mechanism. More specifically, by studying the development of a mechanism for conserving vernal pool ecosystems, we found that four factors helped overcome common challenges to acting upon new information: creating a culture of learning, co-producing policy simulations that acted as boundary objects, integrating research into solution development, and employing an adaptive management approach. With an increased focus on these four factors that enable action, we can better develop the same level of nuanced theoretical concepts currently characterizing the earlier phases of transdisciplinary research, and the practical advice for deliberately designing these efforts

Incorporating stakeholders’ knowledge in group decision-making

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