Spatial planning in small islands: the need to discuss the concept of ecological structure

The concepts of green infrastructure and ecological structure (ES) are current topics of discussion among the scientific community and spatial planners. ES is mandatory in Portugal in land-planning, such as municipal master plans, but no consensus has been reached on how to implement it. The concept has not yet been implemented in the Azores, a Portuguese autonomous region, even though the Region has the responsibility of adapting legislation or accomplishing the Portuguese legislature. This study presents a critical analysis of the available literature about ES and proposes a conceptual framework to define ES for small islands, which have unique characteristics, focusing on the Azorean archipelago. The conceptual framework meets the requirements of local legislation and uses an ecological function approach that is increasingly advocated in recent European recommendations. This framework is presented as a strategic and flexible way to identify both the important elements (recognized in current legislation) in a territory and the remaining potential of the territory. The framework also supports decision-making by allowing the identification of integrated solutions, decreasing trade-offs as much as possible and reconciling the needs of nature conservation and socioeconomic development. This framework could be applied to other small islands and other territories, with local adaptations.     

The Informal ‘Guanxi’ Institutional Culture of the Malaysian Housing Development Industry

There has been limited understanding of the relationship between private developers and the housing delivery mechanism in Malaysia. This paper seeks to bridge the research gap by analysing the social relationships and informal institutions embedded in the Malaysian housing development industry. Empirical data were collected for Kuala Lumpur and Johor to compare and contrast developers’ views and their working relationships with government departments. Informed by various arguments that ‘guanxi’ can reduce transaction costs and supplement/complement the formal legal regime, this paper examines the ways developers are engaged in such transaction cost reduction activities. Policy and theoretical implications of the informal cultural practice in the housing development industry are then drawn out.     

Consumers,clothing retailers and production planning and control in the smart city

Abstract

Though there has been much talk of smart cities, it is still unclear what the concept means and what the role of their inhabitants might be in the development of such cities. There is a tendency to focus on technology and infrastructure and forget that cities are places for people to live. To counter this, smart city planners need to recognise that people’s needs can and should influence and shape their environment, rather than concentrating too much on technology or the built environment. In order to understand how smart cities can serve the needs of their inhabitants, we will examine the specific example of the fashion clothing industry and its development of omni-channel retailing. This will show that retailers, driven by technology-smart and fashion-conscious consumers, are reshaping the clothing supply chain to achieve greater integration, flexibility and speed. Central to this process is the manufacturers’ ability to create production planning and control (PPC) systems capable of operating effectively in an omni-channel environment. The paper presents a Composite Model of Enterprise Planning which can aid the development of such PPC systems. The paper concludes that changes within the fashion clothing industry indicate how smart cities can develop and are developing, and that although these changes are facilitated by technology, they are driven by the necessity to meet consumers’ needs.     

ICT-based solution approach for collaborative delivery of customised products

Growing interest on business collaboration motivates today’s industries, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to establish and manage dynamic and non-hierarchical business networks to respond to market opportunities with added business benefits. This business environment requires concurrent work and real-time information sharing between key business partners in order to design and develop customised products. The use of traditional communication media such as e-mail, phone and fax is not satisfactory to get real-time information and is time-consuming and most often ineffective. In such environments, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT)/Web-based technology supports real-time information sharing among networked SMEs for the collaborative design and manufacturing of customised products. This study proposes an innovative ICT platform supporting SMEs collaboration, through Web and the Internet of Things technologies, which follows the Net-Challenge conceptual approach and methodological guidelines for SMEs to form and operate virtual organisations for the collaborative development and delivery of customised products. The ICT Platform was assessed in three different industry domains, namely the textile and apparel, the footwear and the machine tools, respectively. This ICT solution promotes collaboration, with substantial advantages for SMEs including the reduction of costs and delivery time and improvement of the innovation potential.     

A modularised typology for flow design based on decoupling points – a holistic view on process industries and discrete manufacturing industries

Management of production activities covers a wide range of decisions. In this paper, a modularised approach is suggested that, through configuration, generates a case-specific flow design. The approach is based on identification of decision categories that are generic and fundamental in the flow design, covering both discrete manufacturing industries and process industries. Each decision category identifies a unique property of the flow which changes at a particular point: this is termed a ‘decoupling point’. A three-dimensional modularised typology is developed by combining three different decision categories. Cases from the steel industry and the tooling industry are used to illustrate how the typology can be applied. The modularised approach provides a typology for the application of both qualitative and quantitative methods for flow management, including planning, control and performance management.     

Achieving manufacturing excellence through the integration of enterprise systems and simulation

This paper discusses the significance of the enterprise systems and simulation integration in improving shop floor’s short-term production planning capability. The ultimate objectives are to identify the integration protocols, optimisation parameters and critical design artefacts, thereby identifying key ‘ingredients’ that help in setting out a future research agenda in pursuit of optimum decision-making at the shop floor level. While the integration of enterprise systems and simulation gains a widespread agreement within the existing work, the optimality, scalability and flexibility of the schedules remained unanswered. Furthermore, there seems to be no commonality or pattern as to how many core modules are required to enable such a flexible and scalable integration. Nevertheless, the objective of such integration remains clear, i.e. to achieve an optimum total production time, lead time, cycle time, production release rates and cost. The issues presently faced by existing enterprise systems (ES), if properly addressed, can contribute to the achievement of manufacturing excellence and can help identify the building blocks for the software architectural platform enabling the integration.     

论规划环境影响评价的司法审查

规划环境影响评价的司法审查通过发挥公众和法院等主体的监督作用,为规划环评制度的有效实施设立司法防线,预防政府的决策失误,减少因规划问题而引发的环境矛盾和纠纷.中国虽然确立了规划环评制度,但尚未作出与之相配套的司法审查规定,造成了现实中的实施效果不佳.尽管在一定程度上体现了对行政行为成熟性原则的突破,但从诉之利益、审查适当性等方面看并不存在对非指导性专项规划环评行为进行司法审查的障碍.我们应当在借鉴他国有益经验的基础上,重视和挖掘自身独特的政治制度与法制传统,以环境影响评价制度改革为契机,确立针对规划环评的司法审查制度.     

新时代高质量战略规划效能的特性逻辑、评价模型及提升路径——以“十四五”时期高校的战略规划文本为切入点

面对新时代新要求,深化战略管理理念,提升战略规划效能,是增强核心竞争力、实现高质量发展的应然选择。通过调研国内外12所高水平大学的战略规划文本,分析高效能战略规划的应有特性和逻辑过程;应用CiteSpace软件进行文献关键词分析,采用扎根理论梳理现实表征,明晰战略规划效能的主要评价要素,并采用主题分析法全面细化,构建“三阶段三层级”战略规划效能评价模型。在此基础上,结合新形势和规划管理工作共性问题,提出“十四五”时期提升高校战略规划效能的关键路径。     

全球或区域性战略研究典型案例比较

全球或区域战略研究的总体思路,通常是由分析战略环境出发,在厘清战略资源、明确战略驱动力的基础上,研究未来发展的战略风险,并制定未来发展愿景,最终提出实现愿景的对策。在实际研究过程中,基于研究主体和研究背景的差异性,各类研究会有不同的关注重点,有些特别关注某些重点环节,而有些则会进行综合分析。由于研究背景和分析视角的差异,一些模型和方法、观点和表述,并不一定适用于所有战略及规划研究。特别是,制定区域性战略规划还应结合本区域实际进行具体深入的分析研讨。     

Production planning and control for remanufacturing: exploring characteristics and difficulties with case studies

Production planning and control for remanufacturing is a major managerial challenge in the operations management. Researches demonstrate the need for decision-making methods in this context, which has generated theoretical and quantitative studies. However, this area still lacks empirical studies dealing with the practical, day-to-day difficulties of remanufacturers. The purpose of this paper is to link the literature and practice in a systematic in such a way that it is possible to show the similarities and differences between theoretically listed needs and real cases, thereby extending the results of previous research. For this purpose, four case studies are considered. The cases involve original equipment manufacturers (OEM) of automotive parts that have remanufacturing operations. The results indicate that these companies have difficulties that have not been addressed to date in the literature related to the uncertainties inherent in remanufacturing. In addition, we find that these companies use simplified decision-making approaches.