Perceptual mapping of practical ethics along the value chain: A multiple correspondence analysis with industry and cultural indices as supplementary variables

This paper presents findings from a study investigating a firm’s ethical practices along the value chain. In so doing we attempt to better understand potential relationships between a firm’s ethical stance with its customers and those of its suppliers within a supply chain and identify particular sectoral and cultural influences that might impinge on this. Drawing upon a database comprising of 667 industrial firms from 27 different countries, we found that ethical practices begin with the firm’s relationship with its customers, the characteristics of which then influence the ethical stance with the firm’s suppliers within the supply chain. Importantly, market structure along with some key cultural characteristics were also found to exert significant influence on the implementation of ethical policies in these firms.Practical Ethics, Value Chain, Multiple Correspondence Analysis

Uncovering And Exploring The Mobilization And Launch Phase Of High And Low Performing Project Teams

As part of a larger study, this analysis, first, uncovers a previously alluded to, but heretofore un-explicated, phase of project team development (PTD) -- dubbed mobilization and launch -- and, then, explores the ways in which activities and outputs of this phase relate to project team effectiveness (PTE) by comparing them across three high and three low performing teams. The analysis shows that the former used this formative period: (1) to actuate a comprehensive mobilization strategy that was carried out relatively rapidly and resulted in well informed, as well as fully and competently staffed, teams and (2) to hold highly participatory launch meetings from which team members emerged in general agreement about what needed to be done and how and by whom it would be done. Low performing teams, in contrast, basically squandered this potentially valuable time and, thus, emerged from this phase totally unprepared to move to and effectively through subsequent phases of PTD

Knowledge management during radical change: Applying a process oriented approach

During periods of radical organisational change two elements - namely the organisation's strategy and its people - are affected profoundly. Strategic change involves refocusing the organisation in a direction that has little bearing on its past. People are affected by changes, as they are displaced to other parts of the organisation in different roles, or perhaps, are removed under the euphemism of de-layering, rightsizing and re-engineering. Hence, rather than enhance knowledge, senior managers inadvertently destroy knowledge during a radical organisational change. Yet pressures to change and the pace of change are unrelenting. Senior managers are forced to take an approach that can be summarised as ''change first - limit the damage to knowledge later''. Thus, this paper argues that organisations need a process to manage knowledge during periods of radical organisational change. The paper proposes such a process through case study evidence. It highlights actions managers take to ensure that they navigate the paradox of leading the organisation through radical change and nurture knowledge

Application of Incident Command Structure to clinical trial management in the academic setting: principles and lessons learned

Background Clinical trial success depends on appropriate management, but practical guidance to trial organisation and planning is lacking. The Incident Command System (ICS) is the ‘gold standard’ management system developed for managing diverse operations in major incident and public health arenas. It enables effective and flexible management through integration of personnel, procedures, resources, and communications within a common hierarchical organisational structure. Conventional ICS organisation consists of five function modules: Command, Planning, Operations, Logistics, and Finance/Administration. Large clinical trials will require a separate Regulatory Administrative arm, and an Information arm, consisting of dedicated data management and information technology staff. We applied ICS principles to organisation and management of the Prehospital Use of Plasma in Traumatic Haemorrhage (PUPTH) trial. This trial was a multidepartmental, multiagency, randomised clinical trial investigating prehospital administration of thawed plasma on mortality and coagulation response in severely injured trauma patients. We describe the ICS system as it would apply to large clinical trials in general, and the benefits, barriers, and lessons learned in utilising ICS principles to reorganise and coordinate the PUPTH trial. Results Without a formal trial management structure, early stages of the trial were characterised by inertia and organisational confusion. Implementing ICS improved organisation, coordination, and communication between multiple agencies and service groups, and greatly streamlined regulatory compliance administration. However, unfamiliarity of clinicians with ICS culture, conflicting resource allocation priorities, and communication bottlenecks were significant barriers. Conclusions ICS is a flexible and powerful organisational tool for managing large complex clinical trials. However, for successful implementation the cultural, psychological, and social environment of trial participants must be accounted for, and personnel need to be educated in the basics of ICS

Hydro/Battery Hybrid Systems for frequency regulation

An innovative Hydro/Battery Hybrid System (HBHS), composed of a hydropower plant (HPP) and a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is proposed to provide frequency regulation services in the Nordic Power System (NPS). The HBHS is envisioned to have a faster and more efficient response compared to HPPs currently providing these services, whilst retaining their high energy capacity and endurance, thus alleviating stand-alone BESS operation constraints. This Thesis aims to explore the operation and optimization of such a hybrid system in order to make it efficient and economically viable. A power plant perspective is employed, evaluating the impact different control algorithms and parameters have on the HBHS performance. Providing Frequency Containment Reserves for Normal Operation (FCR-N), to the national TSO in Sweden, is defined from technology and market analyses as the use case for the HBHS. The characteristics of HPPs suitable for HBHS implementation are found theoretically, by evaluating HPP operational constraints and regulation mechanisms. With the aim of evaluating the dynamic performance of the proposed HBHS, a frequency regulation model of the NPS is built in MATLAB and Simulink. Two different HBHS architectures are introduced, the Hydro Recharge, in which the BESS is regulating the frequency and the HPP is controlling its state of charge (SoC), and the Frequency Split, in which both elements are regulating the frequency with the HPP additionally compensating for the SoC. The dynamic performance of the units is qualitatively evaluated through existing and proposed FCR-N prequalification tests, prescribed by the TSO and ENTSO-E. Quantitative performance comparison to a benchmark HPP is performed with regards to the estimated HPP regulation wear and tear and BESS degradation during 30-day operation with historical frequency data. The two proposed HBHS architectures demonstrate significant reductions of estimated HPP wear and tear compared to the benchmark unit. Simulations consistently report a 90 % reduction in the number of movements HPP regulation mechanism performs and a more than 50 % decrease in the distance it travels. The BESS lifetime is evaluated at acceptable levels and compared for different architectures. Two different applications are identified, the first being installing the HBHS to enable the HPP to pass FCR-N prequalification tests. The second application is increasing the FCR-N capacity of the HPP by installing the HBHS. The Frequency Split HBHS shows more efficient performance when installed in the first application, as opposed to the Hydro Recharge HBHS, which shows better performance in the second application. Finally, it is concluded that a large-scale implementation of HBHSs would improve the frequency quality in the NPS, linearly decreasing the amount of time outside the normal frequency band with increasing the total installed HBHS power capacity

From eco-efficiency to eco-effectiveness: The policy-performance paradox

The internalisation level of sustainability issues varies among topics and among countries. Companies give up less internalised issues for more internalised ones. Discrepancies between legal, market and cultural internalisation lead to different escape strategies: firms develop a high level environmental management system and they have nice sustainability policy and reports. These achievements cover the fact that their total emission keeps increasing and they do not proceed in solving the most crucial global community or corporate governance problems. ‘Escaper’ firms are often qualified as ‘leading’ ones, as a current stream of research is also ‘escapist’: it puts too much emphasis on sustainability efforts as compared to sustainability performance. Genuine strategies focus on hardcore sustainability issues and absolute effects rather than on issues easily solved and having high PR effects. They allow for growth in innovative firms, if they crowd out less efficient or more polluting ones. They produce positive environmental value added when sector average eco-efficiency is used as benchmark and do not accelerate market expansion and consumerism

Chatham House Report: Changing Climate, Changing Diets: Pathways to Lower Meat Consumption

No abstract available

An Assessment of PIER Electric Grid Research 2003-2014 White Paper

This white paper describes the circumstances in California around the turn of the 21st century that led the California Energy Commission (CEC) to direct additional Public Interest Energy Research funds to address critical electric grid issues, especially those arising from integrating high penetrations of variable renewable generation with the electric grid. It contains an assessment of the beneficial science and technology advances of the resultant portfolio of electric grid research projects administered under the direction of the CEC by a competitively selected contractor, the University of California’s California Institute for Energy and the Environment, from 2003-2014

Orchestration of the Marketing Strategy under Competitive Dynamics

Constructing suitable marketing strategy and implementing it effectively is an art and science both like orchestration of a symphony. The discussion in this paper blends this analogy with the science of marketing demonstrating the levels of strategy development in a competitive marketplace. The paper presents the marketing-mix in contemporary context and argues that performance of a marketing firm can be maximized, when a firm develops a creative marketing strategy and achieves marketing strategy implementation effectiveness. The discussion in the paper reveals that marketing managers of different levels simultaneously operate within the firm and perceive the need for strategy development with varied preferences. A consequence of this is development of robust strategies and their effective implementation which, in turn, leads to increased market performance. Thus, it is important for researchers to investigate various strategy integration perspectives and this paper provides guidance by reviewing the existing literature.Marketing strategy, strategy integration, marketing-mix, customer value,strategy implementation, market competition, risk factors, brand building, customer centric strategy, routes to market