WoodCircus, Underpinning the vital role of the forest-based sector in the Circular Bioeconomy. D2.2 Resource Efficiency, Side Streams and Value Chain Analysis – WP2 Final Report

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The Role of Business Intelligence and Communication Technologies in Organizational Agility: A Configurational Approach

This study examines the role that business intelligence (BI) and communication technologies play in how firms may achieve organizational sensing agility, decision making agility, and acting agility in different organizational and environmental contexts. Based on the information-processing view of organizations and dynamic capability theory, we suggest a configurational analytic framework that departs from the standard linear paradigm to examine how IT’s effect on agility is embedded in a configuration of organizational and environmental elements. In line with this approach, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze field survey data from diverse industries. Our findings suggest equifinal pathways to organizational agility and the specific boundary conditions of our middle-range theory that determine what role BI and communication technologies play in organizations’ achieving organizational agility. We discuss implications for theory and practice and discuss future research avenues

All boom, no benefit?

This paper responds to the draft Queensland Plan, asking where economic growth will come from to lift incomes above the rest of Australia. All boom, no benefit?  from the Centre for Policy Development argues Queensland must chart a new course toward reliable, sustainable and equitably distributed growth – or face a future of fewer jobs and economic disruption. Queensland is at a fork in the road. The days of easy coal mining revenue are running out, and Queensland’s incomes are yet to match the rest of Australia. In fact, average Queensland household incomes are 5 per cent below the national average. Experience from previous mining booms suggests incomes may fall further behind as the investment phase of the latest mining boom cools. A new era of global growth will challenge the performance of commodity exporting economies. Focusing on economic diversity is now more important because the structure of the global economy is changing rapidly. The transformation underway is unlikely to be smooth. Slowing demand for coal, a new economic growth model in China, and high commodity price volatility are likely to be permanent features of the next phase of global growth. Key findings from the report include: Coal prices have dropped at least 30 per cent from their 2008 highs, and the rest of Asia is unlikely to replace falling Chinese demand. China’s new growth model will reshape Queensland’s economy, since it represents Queensland’s largest export market. Exports to China were Queensland’s largest growth point over the past decade, increasing from $1 billion to over$9 billion. A tripling in commodity price volatility will challenge Queensland’s less competitive mines and impact government budgets. Agribusiness, tourism, education, health and wealth management are industries forecast to grow rapidly over coming decades, while mining is forecast to grow slower than global GDP. Only 26 per cent of jobs from new mines and related infrastructure are long-term. The draft Queensland Plan shows Queenslanders understand these risks and want to develop a much more diverse economy to prepare for them. The Queensland Plan represents a step in the right direction toward governing for the future – if it has staying power through multiple election cycles and no gaps in its measures of progress. If Queensland misses this opportunity to chart a new path, it is likely to be forced through a rapid economic transit ion as underperforming industries and their assets become stranded. The report recommends Queensland adopt a new economic strategy that focuses less on attracting capital investment, and more on promoting economic diversity. To capitalise on its natural competitive advantages, Queensland should level the playing field for non-mining industries, establish an endowment fund to manage natural resources, and convene a State Summit to identify growth opportunities. Download the All boom, no benefit? report by Laura Eadie and Michael Hayman Read more about the Too Many Ports report showing the under-utilisation in Queensland’s existing ports and questioning the need for port growth

A Survey on Consensus Mechanisms and Mining Strategy Management in Blockchain Networks

© 2013 IEEE. The past decade has witnessed the rapid evolution in blockchain technologies, which has attracted tremendous interests from both the research communities and industries. The blockchain network was originated from the Internet financial sector as a decentralized, immutable ledger system for transactional data ordering. Nowadays, it is envisioned as a powerful backbone/framework for decentralized data processing and data-driven self-organization in flat, open-access networks. In particular, the plausible characteristics of decentralization, immutability, and self-organization are primarily owing to the unique decentralized consensus mechanisms introduced by blockchain networks. This survey is motivated by the lack of a comprehensive literature review on the development of decentralized consensus mechanisms in blockchain networks. In this paper, we provide a systematic vision of the organization of blockchain networks. By emphasizing the unique characteristics of decentralized consensus in blockchain networks, our in-depth review of the state-of-the-art consensus protocols is focused on both the perspective of distributed consensus system design and the perspective of incentive mechanism design. From a game-theoretic point of view, we also provide a thorough review of the strategy adopted for self-organization by the individual nodes in the blockchain backbone networks. Consequently, we provide a comprehensive survey of the emerging applications of blockchain networks in a broad area of telecommunication. We highlight our special interest in how the consensus mechanisms impact these applications. Finally, we discuss several open issues in the protocol design for blockchain consensus and the related potential research directions

Determinant Affecting Performance of Supply Chain Systems in the Petroleum Industries in Kenya

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the effect of crude oil price as a determinant on performance of supply chain systems in the petroleum industries in Kenya. Supply chain is a dynamic process and involves the constant flow of information, materials, and funds across multiple functional areas both within and between chain members. Members in the chain need to cooperate with their business partners in order to meet customer’s needs and to maximize their profit by reducing cost of crude oil. However, it is a very difficult task in managing the multiple collaborations in a supply chain because there are so many firms involved in the supply chain operations with its own resources  processes also requires real-time operation and decision making across different tasks, functional areas, and organizational boundaries in order to deal with problems and uncertainties. The strategic move of focus for mass customization, quick response, and high-quality service cannot be achieved without more complex cooperation and dynamic structure of supply chains. Keywords: Cost of crude oil price, and Performance of supply chai