Futures of automobile industry and challenges on sustainable development and mobility

Portugal had only very few foresight exercises on the automobile sector, and the most recent one was a survey held in a project on work organisation systems in the automobile industry, its recent historical paths and the special strategies of location of companies (the WorTiS project). This involved several teams with different disciplinary backgrounds and from two Portuguese universities. The provisional main results of the first round of a Delphi survey held in Portugal on the automotive sector were already published, but a further analysis was not yet done. This foresight survey was done under the WorTiS project, developed in 2004 by IET – Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Innovation (at FCT-UNL), and financed by the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology. Some of this experience on foresight analysis is also been transferred to other projects, namely the WORKS project on work organisation restructuring in the knowledge society that received the support from EC and still is running. The majority of experts considered having an average of less knowledge in almost all the scenario topics presented. This means that information on the automotive industry is not spread enough among academics or experts in related fields (regional scientists, innovation economists, engineers, sociologists). Some have a good knowledge but in very specialised fields. Others have expertise on foresight, or macroeconomics, or management sciences, but feel insecure on issues related with futures of automobile sector. Nevertheless, we considered specially the topics where the experts considered themselves to have some knowledge. There were no “irrelevant” topics considered as such by the expert panel. There are also no topics that are not considered a need for co-operation. The lack of technological infrastructures was not considered as a hindered factor for the accomplishment of any scenario. The experts’ panel considered no other international competence besides US, Japan or Germany in these topics. Special focus will be made in this paper on the topic 2. Public policy and automobile industries, and more specifically on the technological and/or research policies issues, where one can specify the automobile’s role in transport policies with further implications like environment, safety, energy, mobility.automotive industry; scenario; economical co-operation; technology; Delphi survey

Futures of automobile industry and challenges on sustainable development and mobility

Portugal had only very few foresight exercises on the automobile sector, and the most recent one was a survey held in a project on work organisation systems in the automobile industry, its recent historical paths and the special strategies of location of companies (the WorTiS project). This involved several teams with different disciplinary backgrounds and from two Portuguese universities. The provisional main results of the first round of a Delphi survey held in Portugal on the automotive sector were already published, but a further analysis was not yet done. This foresight survey was done under the WorTiS project, developed in 2004 by IET – Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Innovation (at FCT-UNL), and financed by the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology. Some of this experience on foresight analysis is also been transferred to other projects, namely the WORKS project on work organisation restructuring in the knowledge society that received the support from EC and still is running. The majority of experts considered having an average of less knowledge in almost all the scenario topics presented. This means that information on the automotive industry is not spread enough among academics or experts in related fields (regional scientists, innovation economists, engineers, sociologists). Some have a good knowledge but in very specialised fields. Others have expertise on foresight, or macroeconomics, or management sciences, but feel insecure on issues related with futures of automobile sector. Nevertheless, we considered specially the topics where the experts considered themselves to have some knowledge. There were no “irrelevant” topics considered as such by the expert panel. There are also no topics that are not considered a need for co-operation. The lack of technological infrastructures was not considered as a hindered factor for the accomplishment of any scenario. The experts' panel considered no other international competence besides US, Japan or Germany in these topics. Special focus will be made in this paper on the topic 2. Public policy and automobile industries, and more specifically on the technological and/or research policies issues, where one can specify the automobile's role in transport policies with further implications like environment, safety, energy, mobility.automotive industry; scenario; economical co-operation; technology; Delphi survey

The role of Human Resource Management and the Human Resource Professional in the new economy

The world economy is currently dominated by information- and communication technology, and has consequently become increasingly competitive and globalised. The changing economy also impacts on our living and working environment. A qualitative approach to research was followed in examining the implications of the changing economy on the field of human resource management, with the objective of developing a model for describing the role of human resource management in the new economy. The qualitative analysis focused on the most recent publications in this regard and it is apparent that the changing economy has a direct and definite influence on the role of human resource management in organisations. All human resource management practices will have to change dramatically to answer to the demands of the new economy. Important concepts relating to the new economy and included in the model are intellectual capital, human capital, knowledge management, the internet, e-commerce and globalisation. Whereas the competitive advantage for organisations in the old economy centred on financial capital and technology, the emerging economy necessitates an emphasis on investment in human capital, knowledge, and the commitment and enthusiasm of the employees. The focus in the business world has shifted from physical assets to knowledge and information, i.e. intellectual capital. The effective management of human and intellectual capital poses new challenges in the organisation for leadership and managerial capabilities. The model that has been developed to describe the role of human resource management in the new economy focuses on the integration of intellectual and human capital and information management in the human resource strategy of the organisation. The content validity of the model was determined according to Lawshe’s technique, using an evaluation panel. The panel consisted of eleven individuals, all with a sound knowledge of the new economy as well as the field of human resource management. Four panel members have Doctorate degrees and seven have Masters degrees in Human Resource Management. A total content-validity index of 0,89 was obtained, indicating that the model is acceptable and valid. The model emphasises the fact that the human resource management function in an organisation has to utilize the drivers of the new economy, i.e. internet, globalisation and e-commerce. The model also indicates how these aspects are to be utilised in the human resource practices of selection, placement, training and development of human potential. In the last instance the model focuses on the implementation of a people-oriented strategy that will address the effective management of intellectual capital, human capital and information management. CopyrightDissertation (MCom (Human Resources Management))--University of Pretoria, 2005.Human Resource Managementunrestricte

Explaining leakage of public funds

Using panel data from a unique survey of public primary schools in Uganda, The authors assess the degree of leakage of public funds in education. The survey data reveal that on average during 1991-95 schools received only 13 percent of the central government's allocation for the schools'nonwage expenditures. Most of the allocated funds were used by public officials for purposes unrelated to education or captured for private gain (leakage). The survey data also reveal large variations in leakage across schools. A small set of school-specific variables can explain a significant part of this variation. Specifically, the authors find that larger schools receive a larger share of the intended funds per student. Schools with children of wealthier parents also experience a lower degree of leakage, while schools with a higher share of unqualified teachers receive less. After addressing potential selection and measurement issues, the authors show that these school characteristics have a quantitatively large impact on the degree of leakage. The findings are consistent with the view that resource flows-and leakage-are endogenous to schools'sociopolitical endowment. Rather than being passive recipients of flows from government, schools use their bargaining power relative to other parts of government to secure greater shares of funding. Public resources are therefore not allocated according to the rules underlying the government's budget decisions, with obvious equity and efficiency implications. The survey findings had a direct impact on policy in Uganda. As evidence on the degree of leakage became public knowledge, the central government enacted a number of changes: it began publishing monthly transfers of public funds to the districts in newspapers, broadcasting them on radio, and requiring schools to post information on inflow of funds. An initial assessment of these reforms shows that the flow of funds improved dramatically, from 13 percent on average reaching schools in 1991-95 to around 90 percent in 1999. These improvements emphasize the role of information in mobilizing"voice"for better public expenditure outcomes.General Technology,Information Technology,Sustainable Land and Crop Management,Knowledge Economy,Telecommunications Infrastructure,National Governance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Gender and Education

A study of organisational response to the management of operational property assets and facilities support services as a business resource - real estate asset management. Vol. 1-2

The research was driven by three objectives: • to clarify the nature and strength of the link between strategic business planning and the contributory role of the corporate real estate assets; • to model the management processes that are necessary for a proactive approach to real estate provision and their ongoing management as operational facilities; and • to develop an integrated management development model for real estate asset management that is built on continuous improvement. The underlying aim of the study is to develop models and frameworks that justify and provide for the competencies necessary for the continuous alignmof the operational real estate assets to changing business requirements. The above research objectives were operationalised by investigating three related organisational variables - structure, processes and competencies. The main findings reflect a situation in which organisations are looking to optimise on all its business resources. The dynamics of the market place and the pace of technological development are forcing many organisations to look at their operational assets more closely. The evidence from the case studies organisations supports the following: Structure - It is not so much the positioning in terms of closeness to corporate management, but the level of influence that real estate/facilities executives have on the corporate decision making processes that relate to operational facilities issues. Processes - A proactive management approach must provide for procedures that incorporate the strategic business intentions in facilities dimensions and be in a position to provide solutions to business needs. Competencies - It is incumbent upon the real estate/facilities department to understand the nature of the business they are supporting and develop competencies that support the corporate strategic intent. The research proposes an integrated resource planning framework that incorporates the requirements of three principal business resources; people, technology and property. The proposed framework regards Real Estate Asset Management, REAM, as an integrative planning and management process that considers the outcome in operational facilities provision as matching the requirements of people, technology and property; to consciously create the desired workplace environment as defined by real estate variables (via the strategic facilities brief) and facilities services variables (via the service levels brief). The proposed framework was validated against a panel of experts practising in the field of real estate and facilities management. The contribution in knowledge in the field may be viewed in terms of a critical examination of the role of operational facilities as a business resource and the implications this has on the practice of real estate asset management in an organisational setting

Innovation, skills and performance in the downturn: an analysis of the UK innovation survey 2011

The link between firms’ innovation performance and economic cycles, especially major downturns such as that of 2008-10, is a matter of great policy significance, but is relatively under-researched at least at the level of micro data on business behaviour. It is, for example, often argued that economies need to ‘innovate out of recessions’ since innovation is positively associated with improvements in productivity that then lead to growth and better employment (Nesta, 2009). The issues of how individual firms respond to downturns through their investment in innovation, and how this impacts on innovation outputs and ultimately business performance and growth during and after downturns, has been less studied because relevant data has not been readily available. The UK Innovation Survey (UKIS) 2011 now makes this possible. The UKIS 2011 with reference period 2008 to 2010 covers the downturn in economic activity generated by the global financial crash. The build-up of panels over the life of the UKIS also supports analysis of the longer-term interactions between innovation and the business cycle. This report analyses the last four waves of the surveys. Further, the latest survey includes questions on whether firms employ a specific set of skills, which adds materially to the ability to research the role of skills and human capital in innovation at the micro level

Actionable Supply Chain Management Insights for 2016 and Beyond

The summit World Class Supply Chain 2016: Critical to Prosperity , contributed to addressing a need that the Supply Chain Management (SCM) field’s current discourse has deemed as critical: that need is for more academia-­‐industry collaboration to develop the field’s body of actionable knowledge. Held on May 4th, 2016 in Milton, Ontario, the summit addressed that need in a way that proved to be both effective and distinctive in the Canadian SCM environment. The summit, convened in partnership between Wilfrid Laurier University’s Lazaridis School of Business & Economics and CN Rail, focused on building actionable SCM knowledge to address three core questions: What are the most significant SCM issues to be confronted now and beyond 2016? What SCM practices are imperative now and beyond 2016? What are optimal ways of ensuring that (a) issues of interest to SCM practitioners inform the scholarly activities of research and teaching and (b) the knowledge generated from those scholarly activities reciprocally guide SCM practice? These are important questions for supply chain professionals in their efforts to make sense of today’s business environment that is appropriately viewed as volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. The structure of the deliberations to address these questions comprised two keynote presentations and three panel discussions, all of which were designed to leverage the collective wisdom that comes from genuine peer-­‐to-­‐peer dialogue between the SCM practitioners and SCM scholars. Specifically, the structure aimed for a balanced blend of industry and academic input and for coverage of the SCM issues of greatest interest to attendees (as determined through a pre-­‐summit survey of attendees). The structure produced impressively wide-­‐ranging deliberations on the aforementioned questions. The essence of the resulting findings from the summit can be distilled into three messages: Given today’s globally significant trends such as changes in population demographics, four highly impactful levers that SCM executives must expertly handle to attain excellence are: collaboration; information; technology; and talent Government policy, especially for infrastructure, is a significant determinant of SCM excellence There is tremendous potential for mutually beneficial industry-academia knowledge co-creation/sharing aimed at research and student training This white paper reports on those findings as well as on the summit’s success in realizing its vision of fostering mutually beneficial industry-academia dialogue. The paper also documents what emerged as matters that are inadequately understood and should therefore be targeted in the ongoing quest for deeper understanding of actionable SCM insights. Deliberations throughout the day on May 4th, 2016 and the encouraging results from the pre-­‐summit and post-­‐summit surveys have provided much inspiration to enthusiastically undertake that quest. The undertaking will be through initiatives that include future research projects as well as next year’s summit–World Class Supply Chain 2017