Let the Citizens Map—Public Participation GIS as a Planning Support System in the Helsinki Master Plan Process

Current public participation methods are laborious, reach few participants and are ineffective at gathering usable information for planning. This situation leads often to mistrust and dissatisfaction in the process and outcome. This article identifies the critical conditions for meaningful use of public participation GIS (PPGIS) tools to support the making of master plan in Helsinki. With PPGIS tools, residents’ insight of their living environment can be reached and utilized along the planning process. The results are divided to conceptual and empirical points. Whereas the conceptual points emphasize better understanding of the locus of the PPGIS tools in planning process, the empirical findings reveal new ways to study how residents’ perceptions align with the plan proposal. Though new tools, data and analysis can support representativeness, independence, early involvement, influence and transparency, planners and residents need more understanding of the benefits of these tools. The study indicates that though planners found the collected data and the analysis valuable, they still lacked the skills and institutional motivation to use the data effectively. The results point out that when PPGIS tools can be integrated to the mainstream planning practices, the tools have the ability to evolve to a more comprehensive participatory planning support system.     

DIAGNOSING ORDER PLANNING PERFORMANCE AT A NAVY MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR ORGANIZATION,USING LOGISTIC REGRESSION

We present a tool to diagnose the behavior of planners in complex production processes and to establish improvement potential for the delivery performance by changing the planning behavior. Scientific literature on production control offers valuable knowledge, but the complexity of real‐life processes makes it impossible to directly apply this knowledge in real‐life. The presented tool identifies possible deficiencies in the current way of managing the business processes, by matching the scientific knowledge on order planning with data reflecting the real‐life processes via logistic regression. A case study at a maintenance organization illustrates the diagnosis tool.     

Visualizing and managing value creation through integrated reporting practices: a dynamic resource-based perspective

The article builds on the current debate on how accounting tools can assist top management teams to manage their resources, while communicating a variety of data and information about value creation to their stakeholders. Within this debate, the study focuses on a recent tool for corporate reporting, the Integrated Reporting (〈IR〉), and investigates its utility to support the development of a holistic model for managing strategic resources to create value. To operationalize the 〈IR〉 according to this perspective, the article combines 〈IR〉 with the Dynamic Resource-Based View (DRBV) of the firm on the basis of their common idea that strategic resources are interconnected and have to be managed with the collaboration of all stakeholders in order to inform governance actions and create value with a holistic perspective. For the two case studies analyzed, the information provided by the two organizations’ 〈IR〉 is specifically organized and re-framed using “resource mapping”, which is a DRBV-based visual and analytical technique representing the causal relationships between resources and governance actions. In this way, we not only aim to re-organize and visualize existing information into a new form, but we also expect to describe and communicate the dominant logic in the business and the leverage points where the value creation process lies, supporting the usefulness of Integrated Reporting as a management and governance tool.

     

Risk‐Based Decision Support Tools: Protecting Rail‐Centered Transit Corridors from Cascading Effects

We consider the value of decision support tools for passenger rail system managers. First, we call for models that follow events along main rail lines and then into the surrounding environment where they can cascade onto connected light rail, bus, auto, truck, and other transport modes. Second, we suggest that both probabilistic risk assessment (PRA‐based) and agent‐based models have a role to play at different scales of analysis and for different kinds of risks. Third, we argue that economic impact tools need more systematic evaluation. Fourth, we note that developers of decision support tools face a challenge of balancing their desire for theoretical elegance and the tendency to focus only on high consequence events against decisionmakers’ mistrust of complex tools that they and their staff cannot manage and incorporate into their routine operations, as well as the high costs of developing, updating, and applying decision support tools to transport systems undergoing budget cuts and worker and service reductions.     

A framework for the strategic management of future tyre technology

Strategically managing technology faces one major problem: technology planners and managers who mistake ‘R & D management’ for ‘strategic technology management’. In globally competitive markets, survival and growth of tyre companies will increasingly depend upon the ability to manage technological resources strategically. This article proposes a process model which views the strategic management of technology as ‘techno-business management’, where technology and business strategy, planning and implementation can be facilitated by the use of portfolio frameworks and technology forecasting techniques in analysing and addressing the key strategic management areas of techno-business strategy development and strategy implementation.     

Life Cycle Inventory Tools: Supporting the Development of Sustainable Solid Waste Management Systems

Integrated Waste Management (IWM) is an approach that can be used to develop more sustainable waste management systems. Sustainable waste management means waste management systems that are environmentally effective, economically affordable and socially acceptable for a particular region and its individual circumstances. Based on an integrated approach to waste management, a community or region can continuously improve and monitor their solid waste management system. The tool of Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) can support the implementation of IWM. This tool can assess the use of resources (including energy), the release of emissions to air, water and land, and the generation of useful products from waste. LCI is a decision support tool and can help planners and waste managers design more sustainable waste management systems for the future.In this article the concept of Integrated Waste Management is described and the application of Life Cycle inventory tools to waste management is discussed. A number of current Life Cycle models for waste management systems are introduced.     

Presenting Geographic Information: Effects of Data Aggregation,Dispersion, and Users' Spatial Orientation

Geographic information systems (GIS) have taken on an increasingly important role supporting decision making in many organizations. GIS have been used to support a breadth of tasks including oil and mineral exploration, facility location, logistics support, and facilities management decisions. The effectiveness of GIS as a decision support tool comes primarily from the visual display of data in the form of maps. When presenting information as a geographic map, the level of data aggregation potentially affects aspects of task complexity such as information load and the potential for pattern recognition by the user. Other task attributes expected to be related to data aggregation effects include problem size, the degree of data dispersion, and users' spatial orientation skills. We conducted an experiment to study these effects and their interactions. Subjects used a GIS including map-based information characterized by different levels of problem size, data dispersion, and data aggregation. Spatial orientation skill was examined as a covariate in the experimental treatments. The results indicate that all of these geographic information characteristics have significant impacts on decision performance. Moreover, many interactions are present among the factors. We evaluate these interactions in order to derive implications for practice and for future research.     

LP/HC and LULUs: The Political Uses of Risk Analysis in Land-Use Planning1

This paper examines how LP/HC (low-probability/high-consequence) risk analysis is used in planning for locally unwanted land uses, or LULUs. LULUs are development projects that are predictably objectionable to many of their neighbors. Examples are nuclear power plants, hazardous waste facilities, refineries, and airports. The paper begins by elaborating the idea of LULUs, focussing on those whose planning typically requires or invokes some form of LP/HC risk analysis. It then discusses how land planning and planners actually use the LP/HC approach to deal with LULUs. It argues that in practice land-use planners and their associates employ a concept of risk different from that of economists, scientists, and engineers and more like that of political decision-makers and the public at large. It concludes with a political interpretation that offers some suggestions for productively reducing this divergence in the treatment of LULUs that pose LP/HC risks.     

Collaborative Product Development: The Effect of Project Complexity on the Use of Information Technology Tools and New Product Development Practices

Collaboration is an essential element of new product development (NPD). This research examines the associations between four types of information technology (IT) tools and NPD collaboration. The relationships between NPD practices and NPD collaboration are also examined. Drawing on organizational information processing theory, we propose that the relationships between IT tools and NPD collaboration will be moderated differently by three project complexity dimensions, namely, product size, project novelty, and task interdependence, due to the differing nature of information processing necessitated by each project complexity dimension. Likewise, the moderation effects of the project complexity dimensions on the relationship between NPD practices and NPD collaboration will also be different. We test our hypotheses using data from a sample of NPD projects in three manufacturing industries. We find that IT tools are associated with collaboration to a greater extent when product size is relatively large. In contrast, IT tools exhibit a smaller association with collaboration when project novelty or task interdependence is relatively high. NPD practices are found to be more significantly associated with NPD collaboration under the contingency of high project novelty or high task interdependence. The findings provide insights about circumstances where several popular IT tools are more likely to facilitate collaboration, thus informing an NPD team's IT adoption and use decisions.     

Computer support for continuous improvements

Abstract. The view of manufacturing has changed in recent years. This is evident from how the focus of management's attention is shifting more and more towards the basics of operating the business. The challenge to manufacturers in the West today is how to introduce leaner practices in their operations. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate how computer technology and information systems can be applied to support the transition to leaner practices in a complex operation. The problem with the large information systems developed to manage the complex operations of many Western companies is that they were designed to help maintain performance and not to support finding opportunities for new improved practices. Results from the ESPRIT II project, CIM for Multi-supplier Operations (CMSO), show that an existing data infrastructure can be effectively utilized to develop inexpensive, customized tools to support a process of continuous improvements. In this project a set of tools for planning the material flow from supplier to the assembly line was developed for the Saab-Valmet automobile assembly plant in Uusikaupunki, Finland. Hypertext tools were used to quickly develop decision support applications that supported problem solving and finding improvement potentials.     

Managing structural and dynamic complexity in supply chains: insights from four case studies

Complexity is regarded a major impediment to Supply Chain (SC) performance. However, very few studies aid SC managers adopt adequate practices in response to structural and dynamic complexity. This study offers a comprehensive review of the practices that four manufacturing companies employ in their SC function to manage the structural and dynamic complexity of their product portfolio, internal SC, and supplier and customer bases. Moreover, leveraging the results of the inductive in-depth case studies, a classification of complexity management practices consisting of four clusters is advanced: variety reducing, confinement and decoupling, coordination and collaboration and decision support and knowledge generation. Each cluster’s distinctive logic and limitations are discussed and propositions on their managerial scope are introduced, therefore providing managers with relevant insights to design effective complexity management approaches in their organisations.     

A dynamic ERP critical failure factors modelling with FCM throughout project lifecycle phases

Implementation of enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) is a complex and costly task which usually results in serious failures. Numerous factors affect these projects implementation due to their size, complexity and high chance of failure. Therefore, identifying these factors in ERP projects is a critical issue. The majority of previous publications have been conducted in identifying ERP critical success factors (CSFs) rather than critical failure factors (CFFs). In order to help practitioners, this article studies the CFFs in ERP implementation projects. The implications of interdependency among failure factors are also usually overlooked by project managers due to perceived complexity in modelling and analysing influential factors. With this in mind, we have proposed a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM)-based dynamic model of ERP failure factors through project lifecycle phases. The main advantage of FCM lies in them being capable of modelling complex phenomena based on the experts’ perceptions. This tool models uncertainty and related events, imitating human reasoning. Moreover, FCMs enable the developing of forecasting exercises through simulations. Practitioners would thus assess the joint influence of ERP implementation failure factors on project outcomes. The results make known to practitioners which problems will arise if the failure factors are not treated, and how these will impact on the outcomes of projects. Therefore, the proposed approach would help them to manage ERP implementation projects in a more effective and proactive way.     

基于两阶段资源分配协调机制的分布式多项目随机调度

企业趋向于多项目共享全局资源的分布式协同管理。但在多项目实际执行时，全局资源可用量往往由于外部环境的动态变化而存在不确定性，活动中断、资源浪费等现象频发，项目管理变得愈加复杂。本文将不确定的全局资源可用量建模为随机变量，设计两阶段资源分配协调机制，在预分配阶段，考虑项目允许的最大活动中断次数约束，建立各项目调度的马尔可夫动态决策过程模型；预分配结束后，基于活动重要度依次对剩余全局资源进行协调再分配，以提高资源利用率并减少平均项目延期。设计基于全局资源协调分配的Rollout近似动态规划算法进行求解。开展问题库算例实验研究与案例分析，验证协调机制与求解算法的性能；同时，探讨并分析不确定参数对目标结果的影响。     

Some initial specifications for a strategic information system

Much of the discussion and published literature on information systems to date has been about systems concerned with the internal administration and operations of an organization. Considerably less attention has been given to the information requirements of the more strategic managerial activities of planning and policy making, in which the future directions and objectives of the organization are decided. Internal information systems in many organizations have now grown to maturity. At the same time, managers have become aware of the need for an additional component of the overall information system to support their more strategic activities. This paper considers the broad characteristics of a strategic component of an organizational information system and derives some initial specifications from which a more comprehensive design can be developed.     

Using Real‐Time Decision Tools to Improve Distributed Decision‐Making Capabilities in High‐Magnitude Crisis Situations*

Multi‐organizational collaborative decision making in high‐magnitude crisis situations requires real‐time information sharing and dynamic modeling for effective response. Information technology (IT) based decision support tools can play a key role in facilitating such effective response. We explore one promising class of decision support tools based on machine learning, known as support vector machines (SVM), which have the capability to dynamically model and analyze decision processes. To examine this capability, we use a case study with a design science approach to evaluate improved decision‐making effectiveness of an SVM algorithm in an agent‐based simulation experimental environment. Testing and evaluation of real‐time decision support tools in simulated environments provides an opportunity to assess their value under various dynamic conditions. Decision making in high‐magnitude crisis situations involves multiple different patterns of behavior, requiring the development, application, and evaluation of different models. Therefore, we employ a multistage linear support vector machine (MLSVM) algorithm that permits partitioning decision maker response into behavioral subsets, which can then individually model and examine their diverse patterns of response behavior. The results of our case study indicate that our MLSVM is clearly superior to both single stage SVMs and traditional approaches such as linear and quadratic discriminant analysis for understanding and predicting behavior. We conclude that machine learning algorithms show promise for quickly assessing response strategy behavior and for providing the capability to share information with decision makers in multi‐organizational collaborative environments, thus supporting more effective decision making in such contexts.     

Fuzzy‐Logic‐Based Safety Verification Framework for Nuclear Power Plants

This article presents a practical implementation of a safety verification framework for nuclear power plants (NPPs) based on fuzzy logic where hazard scenarios are identified in view of safety and control limits in different plant process values. Risk is estimated quantitatively and compared with safety limits in real time so that safety verification can be achieved. Fuzzy logic is used to define safety rules that map hazard condition with required safety protection in view of risk estimate. Case studies are analyzed from NPP to realize the proposed real‐time safety verification framework. An automated system is developed to demonstrate the safety limit for different hazard scenarios.     

Risk Analysis for Environmental Health Triage

The Homeland Security Act mandates the development of a national, risk-based system to support planning for, response to, and recovery from emergency situations involving large-scale toxic exposures. To prepare for and manage consequences effectively, planners and responders need not only to identify zones of potentially elevated individual risk but also to predict expected casualties. Emergency response support systems now define "consequences" by mapping areas in which toxic chemical concentrations do or may exceed Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) or similar guidelines. However, because AEGLs do not estimate expected risks, current unqualified claims that such maps support consequence management are misleading. Intentionally protective, AEGLs incorporate various safety/uncertainty factors depending on the scope and quality of chemical-specific toxicity data. Some of these factors are irrelevant, and others need to be modified, whenever resource constraints or exposure-scenario complexities require responders to make critical trade-off (triage) decisions in order to minimize expected casualties. AEGL-exceedance zones cannot consistently be aggregated, compared, or used to calculate expected casualties and so may seriously misguide emergency response triage decisions. Methods and tools well established and readily available to support environmental health protection are not yet developed for chemically-related environmental health triage. Effective triage decisions involving chemical risks require a new assessment approach that focuses on best estimates of likely casualties, rather than on upper plausible bounds of individual risk. If risk-based consequence management is to become a reality, federal agencies tasked with supporting emergency response must actively coordinate to foster new methods that can support effective environmental health triage.     

A Computerized Approach to Decision Process Tracing for Decision Support System Design*

We propose the use of computerized process tracing (CPT) tools as an appropriate approach for monitoring the information acquisition and evaluation phase of specific decision processes. CPT tools are unobtrusive and seem particularly relevant for evaluating certain decision tasks that may be supported by decision support systems (DSS). CPT tools can be an important component of DSS development. An information systems research taxonomy developed by previous researchers [29] [36] is used to position research work involving the methodology of CPT. Using a critique suggested by Libby [28], CPT tools are evaluated and compared to alternative process tracing tools. A brief empirical example using CPT is provided, and future uses relative to DSS are suggested. The appendix includes an example of a specific CPT tool.     

Scenarios,Real Options and Integrated Risk Management

In the 1970s, scenario planning gained prominence as a strategic management tool. Scenario planning encourages managers to envision plausible future states of the world and consider how to take advantage of opportunities and avoid potential threats. In the last decade, finance researchers have developed real option analysis as a way to value investments under uncertainty. Scenario planning and real option analysis have complementary strengths and weaknesses as tools for managers making strategic investment decisions under uncertainty. We combine these two approaches in an integrated risk management process. This process involves scenario development, exposure identification, formulating risk management responses, and implementation steps. We advocate a corporate-level perspective on managing risk that takes into consideration the full range of exposures across a firm’s portfolio of businesses. In contrast with the predominant emphasis on quantitative analysis in the real option literature, this study illustrates qualitative assessment of real options.     

顾客价值共创模式下的零售商定价与服务策略研究

顾客参与价值共创模式逐渐成为商家吸引消费者的重要利器,在该模式下消费者需要投入一定的成本为产品或服务的最终形成创造一定的价值。本文构建了顾客参与产品价值共创背景下的理论分析模型,通过刻画顾客参与偏好、顾客参与复杂度、价值共创效应和麻烦效应等关键变量,研究了零售商的定价和服务策略。研究表明,当麻烦效应充分小且价值共创效应足够大时,零售商引入顾客参与价值共创战略能达到零售商和消费者双赢局面;大多数情况下提供上门安装服务是零售商的占优策略;零售商提供服务后能够借助服务定价更有效地区分消费者从而更有效地实施价格歧视,使得消费者受损;大多数情况下零售商服务成本的增加反而对消费者有利。