Strategic Planning and Performance of Small Medium Enterprises: Evidence From Lagos State, Nigeria

This study examines the strategic planning and its effect on small and medium enterprises performance in Lagos state, Nigeria. Specifically, the study evaluates the level of SMEs operators’ involvement in strategic planning, determines the factors influencing SMEs to adopt strategic planning in their operations, examines the perceived contributions of strategic planning in SMEs Performance, identifies the challenges facing the implementation of strategic plan in SMEs and also examines the effect of strategic planning on SMEs performance.  A survey of four hundred and seventy (470) Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were randomly selected from one thousand nine hundred and sixty- five (1,965) that registered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Lagos State. Data were sourced via a structured questionnaire, while analysis of data was performed with the aid of frequencies, percentages, factor analysis and ordinary least square method of estimation. Results reveal that the majority of SMEs operators do not aware of the strategic planning process in their respective business organizations and their enterprises did not prepare enough for the formulation and implementation of the strategic plan.  Furthermore, results also reveal that organizational complexities, scarce firm resources, new technology and environment dynamics in business operations influenced their adoption to strategic planning, while the presence of an effective strategic plan could facilitate good performance of SMEs via better decisions, customer satisfaction, increased capacity, and identification of problems, chance of success, better solutions, competitive advantage, and market recognition. Results show that inadequate resources, lack of experts and difficult to align organizational culture and strategic plan are the major challenges facing the implementation of a strategic plan in SMEs. Subsequently, the study recommends that entrepreneurial development agencies, as well as the government of Nigeria, should organize training and seminar for SMEs operators on the introduction and formulation of strategic planning. Hence the SME operators will have a full understanding of the industry in which it operates so as to cut an edge for the enterprises. Keywords: Strategic Planning, SMEs, Organizational Complexities, Firm Resources, Environment Dynamics DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-8-02 Publication date:March 31st 202

Radio network planning and optimisation for WCDMA

The present thesis introduces the radio network planning process and optimisation for WCDMA (FDD mode), as defined by 3GPP. This thesis consists of three parts: modelling and tools for radio network planning, process for pre-operational network control and optimisation for the operational network. General challenges to face in 3G network control are based on the fact that many issues are interconnected and should be simultaneously considered, such as Planning means not only to meet current status and demands, but the solution should also comply with the future requirements by providing an acceptable development path. Traffic modelling is not only the question about the total amount of traffic growth, but also the question about the future service distribution and performance demands. All CDMA systems have a relation between capacity and coverage. Consequently, the network planning itself is not only based on propagation estimation but also on the interference situation in the network. Ideally, site selection consideration will be done based on the network analysis with planned load and traffic/service portfolio, taking possible co-siting constraints into account. Provision of multiple services and seamless management of at least two multiple access systems require rapid evolution of the management tools and processes. The network performance in terms of capacity, quality, and implementation and operational costs forms a multidimensional space. Operators' task will be to convert the business strategy to an operating point in the performance space in a cost efficient manner. The contribution of this thesis in terms of modelling and tools is as follows: Improvement of the accuracy of radio link budget by introducing power control headroom (also called fast fading margin). Improvement of loading equation by introducing a transmit power increase term. Development of theory and modelling for a planning tool capable of multi-service and multi-carrier interference, capacity and coverage analysis. Development and implementation an interface taking into account the true traffic distribution (not uniform) and terminal speed. In the area of pre-operational planning process the contribution of this thesis is as follows: Development of dimensioning methodology for multi-service network site density estimation, utilising the modelling of power control headroom, transmit power increase, soft handover and Eb/N0. Development of radio network planning process for multi-service environment including capacity and coverage evaluation for a given traffic mixture, quality and area requirements. Analysis of means to improve radio network performance with Mast Head Amplifier (MHA), diversity reception, sectorisation and proper antenna selection. In the area of optimisation of the operational network the contribution of this thesis is as follows: Definition for optimisation target in the case of 3G. The optimisation will be capacity-quality trade-off management instead of plain quality improvement process. Introduction of Self Organizing Map (SOM) in the analysis of cellular networks. Analysis of the applicability of SOM in WCDMA cellular network optimisation. Introduction of SOM based applications to support network capacity-quality trade-off management. It is worth noting that process and methods described in this work are not limited to 3G systems with WCDMA radio access technology, but they are applicable to other CDMA standards as well.reviewe

TD-SCDMA Relay Networks

PhDWhen this research was started, TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) was still in the research/ development phase, but now, at the time of writing this thesis, it is in commercial use in 10 large cities in China including Beijing and Shang Hai. In all of these cities HSDPA is enabled. The roll-out of the commercial deployment is progressing fast with installations in another 28 cities being underway now. However, during the pre-commercial TD-SCDM trail in China, which started from year 2006, some interference problems have been noticed especially in the network planning and initialization phases. Interference is always an issue in any network and the goal of the work reported in this thesis is to improve network coverage and capacity in the presence of interference. Based on an analysis of TD-SCDMA issues and how network interference arises, this thesis proposes two enhancements to the network in addition to the standard N-frequency technique. These are (i) the introduction of the concentric circle cell concept and (ii) the addition of a relay network that makes use of other users at the cell boundary. This overall approach not only optimizes the resilience to interference but increases the network coverage without adding more Node Bs. Based on the cell planning parameters from the research, TD-SCDMA HSDPA services in dense urban area and non-HSDPA services in rural areas were simulated to investigate the network performance impact after introducing the relay network into a TD-SCDMA network. The results for HSDPA applications show significant improvement in the TDSCDMA relay network both for network capacity and network interference aspects compared to standard TD-SCDMA networks. The results for non- HSDPA service show that although the network capacity has not changed after adding in the relay network (due to the code limitation in TD-SCDMA), the TD-SCDMA relay network has better interference performance and greater coverage

Determinants of innovativeness in SMEs. disentangling core innovation and technology adoption capabilities

This paper studies innovativeness in SMEs from a set of innovation indicators at the firm level, capturing various types of innovation (product, process, organisational, and marketing innovations) and the level of innovativeness in these firm’s developments. The article identifies two separate dimensions in the innovativeness of Spanish SMEs, using factor analysis techniques. One dimension is associated with the capabilities for core/internal innovation and the other with the capabilities for the adoption of technology. The paper shows that significant differences exist in the personal and organisational factors that favour these two dimensions. The entrepreneur’s motivation, business planning, and cooperation in R&D activities constitute significant factors when considering the core dimension of a firm’s innovativeness, but have no effect on the firm’s capabilities for technology adoption. However, the use of external consultancy services seems to have no significant effect on the core dimension of the innovativeness of anSME, whereas it is a relevant factor for its technology adoption. Furthermore, it is shown that the entrepreneur’s education plays a more significant role in the core dimension of a firm’s innovativeness than in its capabilities for technology adoption. Depending on the policy objectives, these differences should lead to the application of specific policy approaches when an attempt to stimulate innovation in SMEs is made

European local authorities’ financial resilience in the face of austerity: a comparison across Austria, Italy and England

European local authorities have been particularly stricken by the current context of decline and cutback management, and represent an ideal place where to study how governments respond to shocks affecting their financial conditions and management. Along these lines, this paper adopt the perspective of financial resilience for looking at the current context of austerity, and related responses, by shedding new lights on the role of internal capacities and conditions in influencing such responses and, ultimately, performance. Through a multiple case study analysis based on 12 European local authorities in Austria, Italy and England, the paper identifies the main shocks perceived by local management, the related short-term and long-term responses, highlighting the dynamics of financial vulnerabilty, awareness, anticipatory capacity, flexibility and recovery ability (ie, financial resilience) in its interaction with the external context and shocks. From the analysis, four patterns of resilience emerge: pro-active resilience, adaptive resilience, passive/fatalist resilience, complacent resilience

Wind-Diesel Systems in Alaska: A Preliminary Analysis

Most remote rural communities in Alaska use diesel to generate electricity. But the recent rapid development of a worldwide commercial wind industry, along with the rise in diesel fuel prices, has increased interest in wind power in rural Alaska—both to reduce energy costs and to provide local, renewable, sustainable energy. Wind is abundant in Alaska, and a growing number of rural communities are building winddiesel systems, integrating wind into isolated diesel power plants. These systems have moved from the initial demonstration phase a decade ago toward a technology available for many communities. Even in places that have not yet added wind, some rural utilities are planning for the possibility. For example, Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC) has committed to making new diesel power plants “wind ready” by designing its electrical systems so that wind turbines can be incorporated in the future without major reconfiguration. But it is not clear under what rural Alaska conditions wind-diesel systems are more economical than conventional diesel plant operations. The Alaska Energy Authority asked the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) and the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP) to assess the performance of existing rural wind-diesel systems. We analyzed data available for existing wind-diesel systems as of spring 2010. Keep in mind that our analysis is preliminary; most rural wind-diesel systems are very new, and more time is needed to evaluate them fairly. Only three wind systems (Kotzebue, Wales, and Saint Paul Island) have been operating for more than a few years. Initial funding for the Kotzebue and Wales projects came from the U.S. Department of Energy, which funds research but does not subsidize utility operations. These early projects, built in the late 1990s, faced problems but demonstrated there is hardware that can operate in arctic environments. The Saint Paul village corporation funded the system on the island; it provides power for an industrial complex and airport the corporation owns. It is a high-performing system, and the most successful of the early demonstration systems, as measured by its capacity factor. However, it should be noted that both the Kotzebue and Wales systems have provided valuable experiences and lessons learned while integrating wind on a community-scale grid. Beginning in 2004, the Denali Commission funded projects in five communities (Selawik, Hooper Bay, Kasigluk, Savoonga, and Toksook Bay). In 2008, the Alaska Legislature created the Renewable Energy Fund, a competitive program intended to invest in renewable energy. That fund, which is administered by the Alaska Energy Authority, paid for construction of six projects listed as completed in spring 2010.Alaska Center for Energy and Power Alaska Energy Authority National Renewable Energy Laboratory Denali Commission AlaskaDefinitions / Executive Summary / Introduction / Alaska Wind-Diesel Systems / Technical Data Collection / Economic Analysis / Performance Analysis / Case Studies / Lessons Learned / Wind-Diesel Research Needs / Wind-Energy Financing Options / Reference

Reengineering Production Systems: the Royal Netherlands Naval Dockyard

Reengineering production systems in an attempt to meet tight cost, quality and leadtime standards has received considerable attention in the last decade. In this paper, we discuss the reengineering process at the Royal Netherlands Naval Dockyard. The process starts with a characterisation and a careful analysis of the production system and the set of objectives to be pursued. Next, a new production management structure is defined after which supporting planning and control systems are designed and a number of organisational changes are carried through. In this way, the Dockyard may combine high technological capabilities with an excellent logistic performance

Practices for strategic capacity management in Malaysian manufacturing firms

While the notion of manufacturing capabilities is a long-standing notion in research on operations management, its actual implementation and management has been hardly researched. Five case studies in Malaysia offered the opportunity to examine the practice of manufacturing managers with regard to strategic capability management. The data collection and analysis was structured by using the notion of Strategic Capacity Management. Whereas traditionally literature has demonstrated the beneficial impact of an appropriate manufacturing strategy on the business strategy and performance, the study highlights the difficulty of managers to set the strategy, let alone implementing it. This is partly caused by the immense pressure of customers in these dominantly Make-To-Order environments for SMEs. Current concepts for manufacturing capabilities have insufficiently accounted this phenomenon and an outline of a research agenda is presented