Mixed planning approach at Geneva

This article reports on the proceedings of WARC-ORB-85, held in Geneva in August and September this year. Agreements reached included a priori allotment planning for new frequencies, improved coordination, with the possibility of burden sharing in accommodating new entrants for currently used C band and Ku band frequencies, and first come, first served for other frequencies — a mixed planning approach. The article also considers the issues remaining after the conference that will dominate the intersessional period to WARC-ORB-88.     

A strategic approach to industrial product pricing: The pricing plan

Price planning is one of the most overlooked areas in industrial marketing. Traditionally, emphasis is placed on product development, advertising strategy, and distribution channel formation before any consideration is given to pricing. The result is that industrial pricing decisions are made quickly without the necessary market and cost factors included in the final decision. The pricing decision is at the core of every business plan and impacts directly on the critical components of a company's marketing strategy. In this article, the importance of price planning in industrial marketing is discussed including the major components needed to make an industrial pricing strategy successful.     

Cement transportation planning via fuzzy linear programming

The mining of more than ten million tons of limestone for cement production in western Taiwan will be prohibited by the end of 1997 and hence almost half of the cement production will move toward eastern Taiwan. Since the supply and demand will be separated by the Central Ridge, the planning of transportation networks and facilities for limestone and cement appears urgent. This research resolves the cement transportation planning problem using fuzzy linear programming methods. Three types of fuzzy linear programming models are used to determine the optimal transportation amount and the capacity of new facilities. The emphasis is also on how to formulate a transportation planning problem where the port capacity, demand fulfillment, trans-shipping operation capacity and traffic congestion constraints are included.     

Representation,testing and policy implications of planning processes

Various ways to represent planning processes to test and draw policy implications from them are presented. We argue that three kinds of variables should be included: context, process and outcome. Four different models which incorporate these three variables are proposed, and data from a large public sector planning study are fitted to these four models. The findings suggest that the process-outcome link is the key to understanding the effectiveness of planning processes.     

What Distinguishes the Top Performing New Products in Financial Services

Despite previous comparisons of success and unsuccessful new products, an Important question remains unaddressed: What separates very successful new service products from the ordinary? Robert Cooper, Christopher Easingwood, Scott Edgett, Elko Kleinschmidt, and Chris Storey obtained data on 173 new financial services and identified three performance dimensions: financial performance, relationship enhancement, and market development. Of eleven potential success determinants, nine were found to be drivers of performance. Management implications included the need for a market-driven, customer-focused new product process, greater emphasis on planning and executing the launch, the role of product design, and project prioritization factors.     

An R & D planning and control servosystem: A case study*

This paper describes a planning and control system (PACS) to aid R & D decision-making which has been developed and used at the Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. The planning model portion of the integrated system is a two-dimensional dynamic programming resource allocation algorithm which performs project selection, budgeting and scheduling. Behavioral parameters that can be used to simulate certain organizational factors are included in the planning model. The control model portion of the integrated system develops cost-effectiveness measures of variances between actual and planned performances for ongoing projects over time, which provide early warnings of pending project failures and guide control action. Applications of the system at Monsanto indicate that it significantly aids the development of satisfactory organizational decisions and also provides a laboratory for pretesting decisions.     

Product Innovation by Smaller, High-Technology Firms in Canada

Russell Knight has surveyed 124 small, high-technology firms in Canada to learn more about the processes they use to develop and market innovative products. The scope of his survey included an investigation of planning early in the product's development cycle, how products move from R&D to mass marketing, and how firms learn about their markets in very specialized areas. In general, Knight finds that the firms have more technical than general management expertise. Technically trained entrepreneurs have difficulty with general management skills needed to facilitate the successful introduction of new products.     

河北省地面数字电视广播多频网频率规划研究

地面无线电视数字化是未来广播电视的主要发展方向,而地面数字电视广播频率规划方案是顺利开展此项工作的基础和前提,结合河北省地面数字电视广播频率规划研究工作的开展,通过县级多频网规划实例,对地面数字电视频率规划的原则与规划步骤进行了总结,对频率规划所涉及的系统参数和最低接收场强等进行了重点分析,提出了地面数字电视频率规划中县级多频网的一般规划方法,此次制定的方案已经成为河北省建设地面数字电视覆盖网络的基本依据,规划工作的步骤及方法也可为其他地区开展频率规划提供借鉴和参考。     

电网企业编制公司发展规划的几个关键问题

讨论了公司发展规划的工作过程,提出了双闭环优化的思路,分析了规划工作内容间及其与相关工作的逻辑关系,并且就规划目标的编制方法和规划方案的经济评价方法进行了讨论。     

地理信息系统在电网规划中应用的展望

通过分析实际电网规划流程,构建了地理信息系统在电网规划中应用的辅助功能框架。分析了各功能可能的实现过程及结果,表明采用基于GIS技术的Mapinfo、ArcGIS等空间数据库的成熟软件技术,可为电网规划辅助功能的开发提供稳定的实现平台,在电网规划及规划设计管理领域中具有很好的应用前景。     

Semi-quantitative risk assessment method for product management

The workshop presented a semi-quantitative risk assessment technique that can be used to judge the total risk on all undesired consequences/events for a product manufacturing operation. The technique requires an experienced team to judge risk utilizing a numerical rating system that, although arbitrarily chosen, is self consistent and provides a relative assessment of product manufacturing risk. Once calculated, the risk is compared to the product's net income for making risk management and product planning decisions. The workshop included an exercise where all participants could try the technique.     

Experience in the use of research planning diagrams in a synthetic fibres R & D unit

Abstract. This paper describes the introduction and use of the Research Planning Diagram (RPD) notation in ICI Fibres Limited. Experimenting with the approach has led to the conclusion that it is very useful for planning and controlling development projects but we do not think it serves a real purpose when applied to basic research with a high level of technical content. Support is provided for the view that the RPD notation should be used to give prominence to decisions and that it can be employed as a communications link between different functions in a business area responsible for the successful completion of a project. The paper explains how the RPD notation is used on a routine basis in the management of development projects and describes the benefits that have been derived from its implementation. An illustration is included to show how the notation has been modified to permit criteria and data, relevant to the analysis of key decisions, to be added to the diagram.     

Strategic planning–financial performance relationships in banks: a causal examination

An integrative model of relationships among managerial, environmental, and organizational factors, strategic planning intensity, and financial performance was developed and tested using data from 112 banks. The results suggested that the intensity with which banks engage in the strategic planning process has a direct, positive effect on banks’ financial performance, and mediates the effects of managerial and organizational factors on banks’ performance. Results also indicated a reciprocal relationship between strategic planning intensity and performance. That is, strategic planning intensity causes better performance and, in turn, better performance causes greater strategic planning intensity. Finally, the results hold implications for other financial services institutions subject to similar conditions that banks must operate under. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Long range planning in the mature corporation

The decade of the seventies has seen a dramatic surge in the acceptance and adoption of long range planning systems by U.S. firms. This paper examines the planning experiences of 86 Fortune 1000 companies, many of them with formal planning systems ten years of age or more. Data collected in this study suggests that planning systems move through different phases in a development cycle. The ability to cope with planning problems, the satisfaction of planning participants, and the extent to which companies formulate explicit policies to recognize managerial contributions to long range planning activities are associated with the age of a company's formal planning system and its phase of planning system development. Mature system companies do a better job in coping with planning problems, are more satisfied with their planning systems, and are more likely to recognize managerial contributions to long range planning.     

The impact of formalized strategic planning on financial performance in small organizations

The relationship between formality of planning procedures and financial performance was examined for a sample of small U.S. banks. Small banks without formal planning systems performed equally with small, formal planners. Regardless of formality, each set of banks placed equal emphasis on all aspects of strategic decision-making except formalized goals and objectives. Results suggest that managers responsible for strategic planning activity in smaller organizations do not appear to benefit from a highly formalized planning process, extensive written documentation, or the use of mission and goal identification as the beginning of a strategic planning process.     

The Effects of Decentralization in Strategy‐Making and National Culture on NPD Portfolio Planning

Traditionally, the understanding among scholars and practitioners has been that a portfolio of NPD projects is the expression of a firm's strategy and thus it must support the strategy. In keeping with this view, the current study focuses on new product development (NPD) portfolio planning, which is defined as a firm's effort to formulate portfolio decisions using a defined innovation strategy. Connecting portfolio decisions to a defined innovation strategy has been associated with higher innovation success. Surprisingly, empirical research indicates that portfolio decisions do not always support the company's innovation strategy. Furthermore, during recent years, an increasing number of authors underscore the importance of responsiveness and adaptability in portfolio decision‐making. The current study addresses these two issues by examining a direct effect of decentralization in strategy‐making on NPD portfolio planning, and a moderating effect of decentralization in strategy‐making on the relationship between NPD portfolio planning and NPD program success. The study also examines the influence of national culture on the proposed relationships. The theoretical model was tested using data from the 2012 PDMA Comparative Performance Assessment Study. Findings indicate that NPD portfolio planning positively influences NPD program success. Also, results revealed inverted U‐shaped direct and moderating effects, respectively, of decentralization in strategy‐making on NPD portfolio planning, and of decentralization in strategy‐making on the relationship between NPD portfolio planning and NPD program success. With regard to the moderating effect of national culture, results indicate that uncertainty avoidance does not moderate the relationship between NPD portfolio planning and NPD program success. Nonetheless, we found significant moderating effects of individualism and power distance on the curvilinear relationship between decentralization in strategy‐making and NPD portfolio planning.     

Planning and uncertainty in new product development

The domain of New Product Development (NPD) is subject to considerable uncertainties. Aside from market‐related sources of uncertainty, the degree of innovativeness of the underlying product concept is a significant source of uncertainty, as unclear goals and specifications like, e.g. product specifications may lead to substantial delays in the project. However, companies are required to manage the innovation process as efficiently as possible. The resulting conflicting demands often leave companies struggling to achieve both efficiency as well as flexibility due to their often opposing implications for organizing and managing NPD projects. In this context, planning plays a central role; however, its usefulness for NPD project success is perceived quite differently. While there are reports about a positive influence of initial planning on various success measures, others have questioned the effectiveness of elaborated initial planning and contend that the ability to rapidly react to changes later in the process and to improvise may lead to success in NPD. This study aims at achieving a better understanding of planning in NPD by investigating a sample of 475 Research & Development projects in Japanese electrical and mechanical engineering companies. Regression analysis is used to shed more light on the interplay of planning intensity, changes, and the degree of technological newness of the NPD project and their influence on project success. Our results indicate planning to be of value for different types of innovation projects. Furthermore, the influences of the variables in question vary with the success measures that are taken into account, indicating that a more detailed and contingent understanding of planning in NPD needs to be developed.     

Performance-based strategic resource allocation in supply networks

One driving force behind continued logistics planning research is firms’ need to maintain competitive performance and efficient resource allocation. Operations research has been instrumental in advancing logistics planning research particularly in the petroleum industry. The impact and potential of incorporating performance imperatives however, have been largely unaddressed while the problem's general complexity has grown. This paper focuses on performance planning through resource allocation in supply networks by developing a profit-maximizing network model for distribution planning, and explicitly incorporating order performance criteria for distribution centers and delivery vehicles. The approach has been tested on forty realistic-sized problems, and tradeoff models provide insight and guidelines for assessing the interaction among expected profits, customer service, and operational efficiency for resource acquisition and redistribution. Managerial implications are also provided.     

Using information‐processing theory to understand planning/performance relationships in the context of strategy

This study reveals the importance of viewing planning processes within the context of strategic orientation. Information‐processing theory is used to examine the differences in planning processes given variable strategy content in the banking industry. Findings suggest that banks implementing different strategies require their planning systems to focus on different kinds and amounts of information. Moreover, the relationship between planning and bank performance is clarified when information requirements of a specific strategy are considered. It appears the strategy moderates the relationship between planning and performance. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implementing the World Food Summit Plan of Action: organisational issues in multi-sectoral planning

Despite current ideological and philosophical objections to planning, it survives in new forms, generating Policy Framework Papers, Poverty Assessments or multi-sectoral Action Plans to implement the resolutions of international conferences. The World Food Summit Plan of Action will generate a new wave of such plans. History shows that the road to multi-sectoral planning is littered with organisational elephant-traps. The traps can be avoided, however, by learning the lessons of past experiments with multi-disciplinary or multi-sectoral planning. The literatures on integrated rural development, multi-sectoral nutrition planning, farming systems research, national food security planning, poverty planning and industrial organisation are all of help. They suggest that the key is to establish a task culture, characterised by co-operative goal definition, a high degree of participation, supportive leadership, and strong integration of planning and implementation. A ten point action plan is derived from these principles for follow-up to the World Food Summit.