Sustainable hub location under mixed uncertainty

This paper addresses a novel sustainable hub location problem (SHLP) in which two new environmental-based cost functions accounting for air and noise pollution of vehicles are incorporated. To cope with uncertain data incorporated in the model, a mixed possibilistic–stochastic programming approach is proposed to construct the crisp counterpart. A simulated annealing (SA) and an imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) with a new solution representation are developed to solve real-sized instances whose performances are compared with a proposed lower bound. Finally, some computational experiments are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and solution approaches.     

Locating a Biorefinery in Northern Spain: Decision Making and Economic Consequences

Biofuels are emerging as a prominent renewable and sustainable energy sources in developed countries. In this sense, this paper presents a case study in which a biorefinery has to be sited in Northern Spain. Thus, the strategic decision of locating such a facility is deeply investigated through strategic policy evaluation. Then, tactical decisions ranging from purchasing and transportation policies to storage protocols are carried out. Only local and limited biomass can be harvested for supplying the biorefinery through a heterogeneous vehicle fleet. Moreover two different and mutually exclusive storage strategies are evaluated: direct supply from crops to biorefinery and using intermediate-collectors. Additionally, crop exploitation factors and biorefinery sizes are used to generate several scenarios in which the strategic decision of location as well as all the tactic decisions are made. Some mixed integer linear programming models are proposed to figure out all relevant decision problems.The results suggest that the Northwest study area as the best option to locate the biorefinery and recommend the intermediate-collector storage strategy. Moreover, the key information about critical biomass, crops and times are also provided.     

交叉中值模型在物流设施选址中的应用研究

城镇化目前已经成为扩大改革开放的一项重要举措,但随着而来的就是相关基础服务设施不完善,严重影响了新城镇广大居民的生活质量和水平。因此,对于新建城镇相关物流服务设施的选址问题就变得尤为重要,交叉中值模型则是一个城镇区域内单一设施连续点选址的非常适合的方法。     

Market drivers of sustainability and sustainability learning capabilities: The moderating role of sustainability control systems

This study examines (i) the impact of market drivers of sustainability on the adoption of sustainability learning capabilities and (ii) the moderating role of sustainability control systems (SCS) on the relationship between market drivers of sustainability and sustainability learning capabilities. Drawing on the levers of control framework, stakeholder theory and organisational learning literature, survey data were collected from 175 large scale local and multinational companies operating in Sri Lanka. Findings reveal that market drivers of sustainability have a significant positive impact on sustainability learning capabilities. Whereas the interactive use of SCS shows a positive moderating impact, the diagnostic use of SCS shows a negative impact. The study enhances our understanding of (i) the influence of market drivers of sustainability on the adoption of sustainability learning capabilities and (ii) the use of SCS in enabling sustainability learning capabilities. The study reveals novel insights for managers responding to changing market drivers of sustainability, on how to (re)align different uses of SCS to enable sustainability learning capabilities.     

Public Sector Organizations and Cocreation With Citizens: A Literature Review on Benefits,Drivers, and Barriers

ABSTRACT

Cocreation has captured the attention of public managers and policymakers and yet the literature focusing in the public sector is still relatively dispersed. In this literature review we present a contextualized analysis of the potential reasons that lead public sector organizations to cocreate with citizens and identify potential barriers that may hamper the adoption of cocreation in public settings. The analysis undertaken allowed us to conclude that the topic is increasingly capturing the interest of researchers, although the state of the literature is characterized by a reduced heterogeneity in research methods. We classified cocreation benefits in the public sector as innovation related, improved decision-making, and symbolic related, and we categorized the drivers for cocreation according to three broad categories: external, relation-specific and internal. Finally, we identified potential barriers of cocreation, including structural, organizational, and behavioral barriers.     

An analysis of environmental sustainability in small & medium‐sized enterprises: Patterns and trends

One of the greatest challenges facing the world today is climate change. The need to consistently advance with environmentally sustainable practices in today's businesses is crucial, and businesses are demanded to be more environmentally sustainable every day. This study conducts an analysis of the literature on small and medium‐sized enterprises' (SMEs) environmental sustainability by carefully examining 122 studies from 58 journals published from 2013 to 2019. We investigate the trends in drivers and barriers of sustainability adoption to inform both SMEs managers and policymakers. Our results also classify the reviewed studies on the basis of their methodologies and show the distribution of studies across industry sectors and locations in order to set directions for future research on sustainability practices of SMEs.     

Services as drivers of economic growth. Is there an opportunity for Latin America countries?

ABSTRACT

Considering the recent improvements in services innovation and productivity performance, the aim of the article is to analyze if they can act as a new growth driver for Latin American countries. For that, we review the literature on services and structural change in two stages. First, we apply a bibliometric methodology to identify the main trends in literature. Second, we analyze in-depth a smaller set of papers in order to extract the main lessons regarding three aspects of our question: (i) services and productivity growth, (ii) new opportunities for innovation in services and (iii) relation between services and manufacturing through servitization process. The results show that productivity and innovation growth in services are concentrated in only a few branches. Besides this, services performance depends on their links with manufacturing activities. We conclude that the current Latin American servitization process clausure opportunities for developing instead of opening them.     

High-speed rail and regional development: the case of intermediate stations

High-speed rail has developed both nationally and internationally in Europe as a successful alternative to both air and road over distances of 400–600 km. Inter-city traffic, especially between the major metropolitan areas in North-west Europe has benefitted greatly from the investment in this network. This paper explores two issues: the impact on the intermediate areas between these major metropolitan areas and the creation of potential cross-border inter-regional services. The evidence shows how both levels of service and potential economic impacts have been much less pronounced in these intermediate areas. Such areas have been affected both by a failure to see greatly improved direct access to major cities other than within their own countries and a lack of new cross-border inter-regional services. The paper argues that the creation of the high-speed rail TEN-T has not met the primary objectives of reducing regional disparities in accessibility or reducing the effect of national borders on regional integration. To achieve this requires not just infrastructure provision but an appropriate regulatory framework for service provision and accompanying measures at the local level.     

A model for planning locations of temporary distribution facilities for emergency response

We propose a network flow model for dynamic selection of temporary distribution facilities and allocation of resources for emergency response planning. The model analyzes the transfer of excess resources between temporary facilities operating in different time periods in order to reduce deprivation. Numerical analysis shows that the location of temporary facilities is determined by the demand and supply points. This work contributes to the emergency response planning that requires a quick response for the supply of relief materials immediately after a disaster hits a particular area.     

Theoretical,empirical, and operational models in hotel location research

This paper aims to review past literature on hotel location models and evaluate the state of the art, as well as set out future directions. This study divides hotel location models into three major categories: theoretical models, empirical models, and operational models. Four theoretical hotel location models are reviewed and discussed, including the tourist-historic city model, the mono-centric model, the agglomeration model, and the multi-dimensional model. Based on previous literature, six empirical models and three operational models of hotel location are elaborated. Furthermore, some challenges related to hotel location studies are discussed, and future research directions are provided. In particular, we advocate the development of more sophisticated hotel location models and the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) in hotel location analysis.