A Strategic Approach to Crisis Management and Organizational Resilience

The paper adopts a strategic view on organizational survival and argues that preparedness, responsiveness, adaptability and learning abilities constitute organizational drivers of resilience and a new direction on crisis management. As a conceptual and literature exploration, the methodological focus is to combine various concepts within a unified model for resilience. The proposed conceptual model highlights the need for strategic reconfigurations toward the construction of a resilience culture and the development of a supporting social capital in organizations. It also portrays organizational survival and sustainability as dependent on strategic characteristics rather than the managerial ability to handle situations and manage crisis. Implications, methodological concerns in the study of resilience and further research directions are also presented. The paper approaches a new way of thinking about crises and provides a set of cultural and organisational characteristics that would increase resilience and crisis management abilities. While organisations are nowadays more than even affected by disruptions and crises, their inherent ability and strategies to protect their sustainability have been under theorized. This paper aims at contributing to a growing and fruitful discussion

Supply Chain Risk Management Frameworks and Models: A Review

Supply chain risk management (SCRM) is a relatively new scientific discipline aiming to support management in its everyday struggle against the inherent uncertainty of supply chain operations propagated mostly by demand and supply fluctuations, in terms of yields, capacity, costs and lead times. This paper focuses on a literature review of available SCRM frameworks and models. Using an appropriate combination of keywords, three established academic databases and a hard inclusion criterion, a final sample of 16 (starting from 922) relevant and above all, empirically validated SCRM frameworks/models papers are retrieved and studied in full. Following a systematic literature review approach and supported by a content analysis tool, the authors produce some useful results on the current research status and identify some of its shortcomings, which have to be addressed by researchers in the future, i.e. the immaturity of research in the field, the absence of a holistic approach for SCRM and finally the lack of a systematic approach to successfully identify risk propagation across contemporary and complex supply chain networks

A machine learning approach to enable bulk orders of critical spare-parts in the shipping industry

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to propose a methodological approach and a decision support tool, based on prescriptive analytics, to enable bulk ordering of spare parts for shipping companies operating fleets of vessels. The developed tool utilises Machine Learning (ML) and operations research algorithms, to forecast and optimize bulk spare parts orders needed to cover planned maintenance requirements on an annual basis and optimize the company’s purchasing decisions. Design/methodology/approach: The proposed approach consists of three discrete methodological steps, each one supported by a decision support tool based on clustering and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. In the first step, clustering is applied in order to identify high interest items. Next, a forecasting tool is developed for estimating the expected needs of the fleet and to test whether the needed quantity is influenced by the source of purchase. Finally, the selected items are cost-effectively allocated to a group of vendors. The performance of the tool is assessed by running a simulation of a bulk order process on a mixed fleet totaling 75 vessels. Findings: The overall findings and approach are quite promising Indicatively, shifting demand planning focus to critical spares, via clustering, can reduce administrative workload. Furthermore, the proposed forecasting approach results in a Mean Absolute Percentage Error of 10% for specific components, with a potential for further reduction, as data availability increases. Finally, the cost optimizer can prescribe spare part acquisition scenarios that yield a 9% overall cost reduction over the span of two years. Originality/value: By adopting the proposed approach, shipping companies have the potential to produce meaningful results ranging from soft benefits, such as the rationalization of the workload of the purchasing department and its third party collaborators to hard, quantitative benefits, such as reducing the cost of the bulk ordering process, directly affecting a company’s bottom linePeer Reviewe

ZAT PENGHAMBAT PERTUMBUHAN, METIL FEOFORBIDA B DARI BIJI PETIR (Parkia intermedia Hassk)

Dalam penelitian berkelanjutan terhadap kandungan zat pengatur tumbuh barudari tumbuhan Indonesia, di peroleh hasil bahwa ekstrak metanol dari biji mudatanaman petir (Parkia intermedia Hassk) suku Leguminosae memiliki aktivitaspengatur tumbuh yang signifikan terhadap bioindikator padi (Oryza sativa)kultivar Conde. Pemisahan ekstrak metanol dilakukan melalui partisi pelarutorganik dilanjutkan dengan kombinasi kolom kromatografi pada silika gel GF254menghasilkan suatu senyawa yang beraktivitas penghambat pertumbuhanterhadap bioindikator padi (Oryza sativa). Struktur kimia zat penghambatpertumbuhan diidentifikasi dengan metode spektroskopi dan di identifikasisebagai suatu metil feoforbida B. Metil feoforbida B menunjukkan aktivitaspenghambat pertumbuhan pada konsentrasi 0,1 bpj terhadap bioindikator padi

A New Multi-Index Method for the Eutrophication Assessment in Transitional Waters: Large-Scale Implementation in Italian Lagoons

Eutrophication represents one of the most impacting threats for the ecological status and related ecosystem services of transitional waters; hence, its assessment plays a key role in the management of these ecosystems. A new multi-index method for eutrophication assessment, based on the ecological index MaQI (Macrophyte Quality Index), the trophic index TWQI (Transitional Water Quality Index), and physicochemical quality elements (sensu Dir. 2000/60/EC), was developed including both driver and impact indicators. The study presents a large-scale implementation of the method, which included more than 100 Italian lagoon sites, covering a wide variability of lagoon typologies and conditions. Overall, 35% of sites resulted in eutrophic status, 45% in mesotrophic, and 25% in oligotrophic status

Conservation actions for restoring the coastal lagoon habitats: Strategy and multidisciplinary approach of LIFE Lagoon Refresh

The Habitat Directive of European Union lists Costal Lagoons (habitat code 1150*) among priority habitats because they are in danger of disappearance. Natural ecosystems may recover from anthropogenic perturbations; however, the recovery can follow natural restoration or it can be redirected through ecological restoration by anthropogenic intervention. Accordingly, by collecting the available theoretical indications for restoration of estuarine and coastal areas, a methodological approach was detailed andit can be summarised into five issues: (i) Environmental context from which it began; (ii) Desired state to be achieved; (iii) Policies and socio-economic context; (iv) Typology of recovery and/or improvement of habitats and ecosystems; and (v) Methods for monitoring the impact of the project. The project strategy, management and measures of LIFE Lagoon Refresh were also presented and discussed, as a case study for the implementation of the multidisciplinary approach for restoration ecology in transitional waters. The project takes place in the northern Venice Lagoon (Italy), started in 2017 and it lasts 5 years. In the Venice Lagoon, since the 20th century, strong reductions of the typical salinity gradient of buffer areas between lagoon and mainland, and of reedbed extensions have occurred due to historic human interventions, with negative consequences on coastal lagoon habitats. To improve the conservation status of habitats and biodiversity of the area, the LIFE Lagoon Refresh project included several conservative actions, which are (i) the diversion of a freshwater flow from the Sile River into the lagoon; (ii) the restoration of intertidal morphology, through biodegradable structures; (iii) the reed and aquatic angiosperm transplantations with the involvement of local fishermen and hunters, and (iv) the reduction of hunting and fishing pressures in the intervention area. To achieve the restoration of the lagoon environment, the strategy of the project covered a combination of different aspects and tools, such as planning activities, through the involvement of local Institutions and communities; stakeholder's involvement to increase awareness of environment conservation and socioeconomic value improvement; an ecological engineering approach; numerical models as supporting tool for planning and managing of conservation actions; environmental monitoring performed before and after the conservation actions

ISOLATION AND STRUCTURE DETERMINATION OF BISDEMTHYLAAPTAMINE FROM BUNAKEN MARINE PARK SPONGE <i>Aaptos, sp.</i>

Bisdemethylaaptamine, an alkaloid naphtyridine with molecular weight 200 and formulae molecule C11H8N2O2 has been isolated from Bunaken Marine Park sponge Aaptos sp. Isolation was done by using several stages of column chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography. Molecular weight of this naphtyridine alkaloid was determined by electron ionization (EI) and electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectroscopies and its structure assigned to be 8,9-dihydroxy-1H-benzo[d,e][1,6]naphtyridine by proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonances (1H and 13C-NMR).   Keywords: Sponge, Aaptos sp., naphtyridine alkaloid, bisdemethylaaptami