Communications and telecommunications: Integrated approaches to communications planning

The author argues for an integrated approach to the formulation of communication policies. He suggests that the term ‘communication planning’ signals changes in attitudes to planning in general, breaking through the boundaries of technical or quantitative exclusivity into a broader, more interdisciplinary approach. After describing the main characteristics of the integrated approach, he examines the Unesco Afghanistan survey as an example of recent work on the methodology of overall communication system planning. The author then discusses the issue of technology transfer in the context of communications, and concludes with an analysis of the trend towards the international coordination of planning approaches.     

Production capacity planning for multiple products under uncertain demand conditions

This study chiefly deliberates issues regarding capacity allocation for multiple products. When producing multiple products, a manufacturer needs to allocate a favorable production quantity to each product under conditions of uncertain demand since the excess or shortage of a product will in turn cause the loss of profit. The proposed model and the corresponding algorithm in this study are used to find out the optimal capacity allocation under the given probability density function of specific demands and to effectively allocate limited capacity to multiple products with an aim to maximize profit. Finally, the numerical example suggests that the marginal profit, the inventory holding cost, the shortage cost, the loss of excess production, and market demands should be considered in an effort to discover an optimal capacity allocation with regard to multiple products.     

Flexibility planning for managing R&D projects under risk

Incorporating managerial flexibility in an innovative R&D project is important, because managers face greater uncertainty in today's competitive and dynamic changing environment. It is essential to bring managerial flexibility into R&D project planning to decrease technical and market risks, while increasing potential market value. The objective of this paper is to develop a flexibility planning methodology based on real option analysis to improve managerial flexibility for R&D projects. The proposed methodology identifies potential risks that may occur during every R&D stage. It also recognizes a cascading option structure to resolve the identified risks, and evaluates and selects adequate options that maximize the potential value of the project. Instead of using a traditional option pricing method, a dynamic programming model that considers multidimensional product performance and market payoff is used to evaluate the R&D project value. Using the proposed methodology, managers can identify future scenarios as a function of their management actions. The proposed flexibility planning methodology can help managers improve managerial flexibility of R&D project and increase the success rate of product launch. A drug development project is used to illustrate the proposed methodology.     

Progress under pressure: The evolution of antitrust policy in Australia

Australia has developed a balanced and comprehensive antitrust policy. But the process of evolution has seen conflict, misunderstanding and error in applying the relevant economic concepts. Whether antitrust legislation is needed, and in what form, is still debated, as are ways of incorporating new approaches in economics. This is a documented account and commentary on the twenty years of evolution, designed especially for non-Australian readers seeking to gain advantage and avoid error by studying the experience of another country.     

A multi-objective robust optimization model for multi-product multi-site aggregate production planning in a supply chain under uncertainty

Manufacturers need to satisfy consumer demands in order to compete in the real world. This requires the efficient operation of a supply chain planning. In this research we consider a supply chain including multiple suppliers, multiple manufacturers and multiple customers, addressing a multi-site, multi-period, multi-product aggregate production planning (APP) problem under uncertainty. First a new robust multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming model is proposed to deal with APP considering two conflicting objectives simultaneously, as well as the uncertain nature of the supply chain. Cost parameters of the supply chain and demand fluctuations are subject to uncertainty. Then the problem transformed into a multi-objective linear one. The first objective function aims to minimize total losses of supply chain including production cost, hiring, firing and training cost, raw material and end product inventory holding cost, transportation and shortage cost. The second objective function considers customer satisfaction through minimizing sum of the maximum amount of shortages among the customers’ zones in all periods. Working levels, workers productivity, overtime, subcontracting, storage capacity and lead time are also considered. Finally, the proposed model is solved as a single-objective mixed integer programming model applying the LP-metrics method. The practicability of the proposed model is demonstrated through its application in solving an APP problem in an industrial case study. The results indicate that the proposed model can provide a promising approach to fulfill an efficient production planning in a supply chain.     

A planning procedure for new-product chemical research

RESPRO is a computer-based planning tool for new-product chemical research, particularly in the pharmaceutical and agro-chemical industries. It helps the research manager to make quantitative judgements about the effects of different effort allocations to projects at the stage when large numbers of formulations are being tested. These then serve as the basis for estimating the profitability of any given allocation plan, and for adjusting a given plan to make it more profitable. The paper introduces RESPRO and sets it in the context of other similar procedures.     

A strategic planning network for non-profit organizations

Strategic planning processes are seldom treated from a contingency perspective. As a result, practitioners are unable to select a set of planning techniques for a particular situation they confront. This paper constructs methods, defined as sets of techniques, which are applicable to strategic planning for non-profit organizations. These constructed planning methods are matched to strategic archetypes, defined by the sponsor's expectations for quality, acceptance, and/or innovation in the strategy. The contingency framework is presented as a network which identifies planning methods useful for each strategic archetype application.     

The patient trajectory: A modelling tool for planning rural telemedicine systems

The authors present an analytical tool developed and applied to plan for the use of telecommunications technology to link a non-physician health care provider in a rural satellite clinic to a central source of medical expertise. The principal result obtained is that narrowband technologies appear nearly two- thirds as effective as broadband technologies in averting patient travel.     

秦山核电基地——公众沟通实践

公众对核电的可接受性已成为影响核电发展的一个很重要的制约因素。福岛核事故后,确保核电更高安全标准,确保核电绝对安全,确保公众的参与权、知情权和监督权,都是关系到核安全和稳定的大事？     

关于电力规划的几个理论问题

本文论述了市场经济及经济环境对电力规划提出的新要求,对如何正确处理电力规划的有关关系和规划工作如何不断创新进行了探讨。     

中国第三代移动通信标准竞争

第三代移动通信是网络效应明显的行业，存在经济学上所说的直接网络效应和间接网络效应，在存在网络效应的市场上，标准的兼容与竞争问题往往会成为最终产品市场竞争的前奏，在中国的第三代移动通信标准上可以有3种选择即WCDMA，CDMA2000，TD-SCDMA3种标准，在标准竞争中，用户基数、先动优势、产品的生产能力及辅助产品的配套能力、厂商的市场声誉、政府的支持等往往成为制胜的必要资源，目前，在这3种标准中WCDMA在这些必要资源上具有明显的优势。     

A measurement model of strategic planning

While strategic planning is a key concept in management research, there has been little consistency in its conceptualization or measurement. Our review of prior studies also identifies reliability and validity, dimensionality, crude levels of measurement, and lack of parsimony as additional problems associated with prior use of this variable. Such problems substantially limit our ability to compare results across studies, or to make appropriate normative recommendations. We address these concerns by developing and validating a multiple indicator measure of strategic planning, using two independent samples. Implications for future research are then discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The value of formal planning for strategic decisions: Reply

In Armstrong (1982a), I examined alternative explanations to the empirical findings that supported the use of formal planning. In considering the possibility that researcher bias might lead to such results, I used Terpstra's (1981) evaluation scheme. Based on this test, poor methodology did not seem responsible for the conclusions on the value of formal planning.     

Strategic planning for technology products

A DELPHI Questionnaire study was completed that evaluates the relative importance of management of technology (MOT) problems and ranks 24 problems in order of importance, as perceived by MOT expert participants in industry and academia. The problem of 'Strategic Planning for Technology Products' ranked well above all others in terms of its evaluated importance. A follow‐up DELPHI study was completed to clarify the nature and dimensions of the top problem. This second study identifies the 21 top ranked sub‐problems within the Strategic Planning for Technology Products general problem and ranks these sub‐problems in order of importance. The two most important of these sub‐problems are 'Linking Technology Strategic Planning to Corporate Strategic Planning', and 'Linking R&D Strategic Planning to Business Unit Product Development Planning'. Seen as closely related, these two problems are discussed in this article as 'the linkage problem'. The 11 highest ranked problems of this second study are considered individually in this article. This follow‐up study has important implications for both academic researchers and company managers. For researchers the results suggest specific avenues of research that can fruitfully be followed. For technology managers as well as corporate managers the study offers strong indications of areas where company planning performance may be weak, as well as steps that can be taken to deal with any planning weaknesses perceived.     

An experimentally confirmed resource planning model of services under production function uncertainties

The way in which service firms transform inputs into outputs is typically uncertain or unknown. Consequently decision makers, at best, can only make estimates of the underlying production function. The purpose of this study is to offer policy recommendations to service providers and to examine experimentally the sensitivity of estimates of production functions. The primary result of this study is a foundation for modeling manpower planning decisions for co-produced services when production functions are mis-estimated and/or mis-specified.     

Global alliance networks: A comparison of biotech SMEs in Sweden and Australia

The role of networks in business operations is widely recognized. We discuss social network theory, identify its main constituents, and outline a methodology and procedure that enable the identification and valuation of informal networks in an international business-to-business environment. Research is carried on informal Internet networks among firms in the biotechnology industry from Sweden and Australia. We use the methodology to recognize salient nodes, determine prominence and identify structural holes that allow the unveiling of brokerage opportunities that lie latent in networks. Global firms and suppliers of industrial products that are or can position themselves effectively in a social network are in a position to leverage considerable value.