The success of agricultural development depends on technical, biological, socio-economic, and institutional factors. This study aimed to identify and analyze Farmer Economic Institutions in Barito ...Kuala District, analyze the existing problems in strengthening Farmer Economic Institutions, and analyze strategies of strengthen Farmer Economic Institutions in Barito Kuala District. This research is a qualitative-quantitative combined research with the object of study being the Farmer Economic Institution of rice and citrus commodities. Sampling was carried out purposively with data collection techniques by observation, interviews, and focus group discussions (FGD) then an analysis of internal and external factors were analyzed using the SWOT method. The results of the study found 119 Farmer Economic Institutions in Barito Kuala Regency, namely Cooperatives (3 institutions); UPJA (66 institutions); LKMA (11 institutions); BUMP (2 institutions); LPM (12 institutions); and others (25 institutions). The problems found in Farmer Economic Institutions include not having a good bargaining position, integrated strategy in the agribusiness system, incomplete infrastructure, and Incompetent human resources in each Farmer Economic Institutions unit of the agribusiness subsystem.
China consumes more energy and emits more carbon dioxide than any other country. The building sector accounts for nearly 1/3 of the total national energy consumption in China; thus, it is critical to ...find a solution for improving buildings’ energy efficiency. Under the market-oriented mechanism, constrained by the energy performance contracting (EPC) mode, energy service companies (ESCOs) play an important role in improving energy efficiency for high-energy-consumption industries, including the building sector. The aim of this study is to determine the strategy for boosting the building ESCO industry. By conducting a strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis, this paper presented the status of the building ESCO industry in China and proposed alternative strategies. By utilizing a conventional multi-criteria decision-making method, namely, the Analytic Network Process (ANP), this study provides a quantitative basis to analytically determine the ranking of the factors in SWOT analysis and select the best strategy to promote the development of the building ESCO industry. The results showed that the ANP-SWOT is a viable and highly capable methodology that provides invaluable insights for strategic management decisions in the building ESCO industry, and a set of strategies for promoting ESCO development in the building sector were proposed based on this approach.
•By SWOT analysis the status of building ESCOs industry in China is presented.•ANP method is used to rank the factors in SWOT.•The best strategies to promote building ESCOs industry are selected.
Since the export of fossil fuel is the backbone of Kuwait's economy, the enormous upsurge in the internal fuel consumption creates anguish and bane. At present, 46% of the internal fossil fuel ...consumption is used for electricity generation. The increase in fuel consumption hurled Kuwait as one of the highest per capita electricity consuming as well as CO2 emitting countries in the world. Consumers pay only 6% of the production cost of electricity—the government subsidizes the balance—, which is one of the major reasons behind the high electricity consumption in the country. Any reduction in electricity consumption can positively reflect on both per capita electricity consumption and CO2 emission. Additionally, the saved fossil fuel can be exported to generate revenue to support the country's economy. Worldwide, demand side management (DSM) is considered as an effective tool to curtail electricity demand. The objective of this review paper is to explore the available literature to find out the most suitable DSM measures to control the growth of per capita electricity consumption in Kuwait. After conducting a detailed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis, it is concluded that incentive-based demand response programs can be considered as one of the most suitable solutions to address this problem.
Carbon-dioxide (CO2) is a critical heat trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) that results in global warming. Thus, many countries across the world including Canada have agreed for national level emission ...reduction targets. A significant fraction of the anthropogenic CO2 is emitted from fossil fuel-based energy generation. Carbon-dioxide capture, storage, and utilization (CCSU) technologies are currently the sole means of capturing CO2 emissions generated by such energy systems. However, only a limited amount of research has been done on CCSU integration in community energy systems. This review aims at exploring the prospects of CCSU integration in community energy systems to achieve zero-emission communities. A systematic literature review was conducted to critically analyze the feasibility of community level carbon capturing. A particular focus was given to the techno-economic aspects of carbon capture integration in community energy systems. The drivers and barriers to CCSU implementation in Canadian communities were discussed under techno-economic, socio-political, legal, and environmental themes in the form of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. Recommendations for overcoming the above barriers were provided from the findings of the review. Finally, a road map aimed towards assessing the suitability of CCSU integration in Canadian communities was defined. The knowledge compiled through this study will aid investors and decision-makers to make informed decisions when planning zero-emission communities.
•CCSU is currently the most effective option to capture CO2 from fossil fuel based combustion systems.•Success of a CCSU project depends on the environmental desirability, technical feasibility, and financial viability.•Carbon capturing has the potential to be implemented in community scale energy systems.•Utilization of captured carbon can provide economic gains better than that from storage.
Nowadays, one of the growing and remarkable branches of tourism is ecotourism. Ecotourism has a great impact on the development of a region from different perspectives. Hence, by improving and ...developing sustainable ecotourism in a region, it will be possible to develop and improve its economic, social, and environmental situation. The Lafour region is one of the potential hubs for ecotourism activities in Iran. Despite the high potential of this region for ecotourism activities, it has not yet achieved its suitable position in this domain. Hence, the main goal of this study is to develop sustainable goals for ecotourism in the region. To meet the target, first, the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT factors) are identified through interviews with tourists, local residents, and the experts, filed observation, and considering similar works in the literature review. Then, some practical and useful strategies are determined based on SWOT analysis and consulting with the experts. The important point of the study is proposing an applicable heuristic clustering method based on SWOT analysis to classify the strategies into different clusters. To prioritize the strategies in each cluster, the commonly used Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method called the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is applied. This paper concludes and reveals that the three strategies including ST6 “Encouraging investors and entrepreneurs to establish ecotourism centers in the region”, ST5 “Establishing and improving the hygiene units and the medical clinics in the region”, and ST3 “Improving and diversifying tourism services and products to attract tourists and increase their satisfaction” have the greatest impact on accomplishing sustainable development goals in the region.
•The main goal of this study is to develop sustainable ecotourism in Lafour region, Iran.•The SWOT are identified by the help of interviews with tourists, tourism experts, ecotourism activists, local residents and academic experts.•Eight strategies are determined based on SWOT analysis and consulting with tourism experts.•A heuristic clustering method based on SWOT analysis is proposed and the strategies are ranked to different clusters.•The strategies in each cluster are prioritized by TOPSIS method.
Many factors in the current scenario have influenced manufacturing organisations to have a competitive edge by concentrating on entire supply chains. Sourcing decisions are one of the strategic ...decisions because they enable companies to reduce costs and improve profit figures. The main task in sourcing is vendor selection. Recent challenges such as shortened product life cycle, just-in-time environment, and the importance of strategic partnerships in upstream chains always influence companies to prioritise vendor selection. In addition, outsourced parts and components account for a significant contribution in the cost of finished goods. Thus evaluating and selecting the right vendor is the key to business. Vendors are selected merely on the basis of cost factors in the traditional approach. However, companies eventually have understood that their approach which emphasises costs as the sole criterion is inefficient and needs to be changed. To deal with the complex process of vendor evaluation, multiple criteria decision-making techniques have evolved. This study presents the integrated approach of multiple multi criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques such as fuzzy logic, strength-weakness-opportunity-threat (SWOT) analysis, and data envelopment analysis. The efficacy of the proposed approach is evident from the case study of an automotive component manufacturer involving 20 vendors, comprising of pre-qualification by fuzzy SWOT and final selection by DEA.
Purpose
The Indian pharmaceutical industry has contributed significantly to global healthcare by securing superior-quality, inexpensive and reachable medicines worldwide. However, supply chain ...management (SCM) has been challenging due to constantly shifting requirements for short lifecycles of products, the convergence of industry and changeable realities on the ground. This study aims to identify, assess and prioritize the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of the pharmaceutical SCM environment in India.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) analysis and recognizes strategies to utilize the advantages of the strengths and opportunities, rectify weaknesses and resolve threats.
Findings
A variety of strategies that could have a positive effect on the Indian pharmaceutical business are presented. Findings and suggested strategies can significantly advance knowledge, enhance understanding and contribute to the growth of a successful SCM for the Indian pharmaceutical sector.
Originality/value
This paper would act as a roadmap to greater comprehension of the market leaders and market leaders' operating climate. The findings from this study will offer academic scholars and business practitioners deeper insights into the environment of SCM.
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) altimeter mission provides a good opportunity to globally detect submesoscale processes (submesoscales) from high-resolution sea surface height (SSH) ...measurements. However, in addition to the balanced mesoscale eddies and submesoscales, the measured SSH also contains signals of unbalanced internal gravity waves (IGWs) including internal tides (ITs) and supertidal IGWs (IGWs with frequencies of 3–8 cycles per day). Therefore, a quantitative understanding of the contributions of the above multiscale dynamic processes to the SSH is a prerequisite for exploring submesoscales from the SWOT-derived SSH data. Here, this issue was investigated through analyzing one-year moored observation-derived near-surface steric heights (SHs) in the subtropical northwestern Pacific (NWP) and northern South China Sea (SCS) which have different dynamic backgrounds. In the sense of annual mean, the root-mean-squared (RMS) SHs of submesoscales (defined as processes with periods of 2–15 days here) and IGWs in the SCS are 1.30 and 5.54 cm, respectively, while they are only 0.70 and 3.19 cm in the NWP. Seasonally, the RMS SH of submesoscales is larger in winter than summer in both regions; with respect to the IGWs, their RMS SH is larger in summer than winter in the SCS but it is opposite in the NWP. Generally, the SHs of diurnal and semidiurnal ITs are dominated by the stationary component in both regions but the proportion of the nonstationary component is much larger in the NWP than the SCS. The sum of the SHs by nonstationary diurnal and semidiurnal ITs exceeds that of submesoscales except in winter in the SCS. Furthermore, we also found that the SHs of supertidal IGWs are always larger than those of submesoscales in both regions and both seasons. By decomposing the IGWs with frequencies of 1–8 cpd (i.e., cycles per day) into different baroclinic modes, we found that for all of the IGWs bands, the SHs are overwhelmingly attributed to the first mode. The results in this study will provide useful information for the application of SWOT data in regions with active IGWs.
Sustainable development goals (SDG) involve not only environmental issues but also economic, social, and cultural concerns. Higher education plays a key role in promoting sustainable development ...initiatives and in empowering people to change their thinking and to strive for a sustainable future. However, the main issue that needs to be presently resolved is how leaders, teachers, and students in higher education can achieve sustainable development in their system vision, mission and values, strategic plans, and organizational culture. Morocco is a country with a long history of higher education and has continuous reforms for sustainable development. In the process of responding to the wave of globalization, the Moroccan government has begun to formulate a higher education reform plan to maintain its competitiveness and achieve the SDG standards. Therefore, this study is focused on the quality of the higher education system through which the sustainability of higher education reform can be implemented. With this in mind, an organized approach that involved a questionnaire using the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) decision-making model with integration of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Entropy method was developed. The questionnaires were filled out by the experts, staff, and students of the higher education system (universities) to obtain the important key factors for the SWOT analysis. The AHP was used for the qualitative analysis of the weights of the SWOT factors, while the Entropy method was applied for the objective analysis of the number of different weight attributes. After integration of AHP with Entropy, the finalized variables were ranked; these results are more reliable and realistic to decision-makers. Finally, the SWOT matrix was established based on the questionnaire assessment and the AHP with Entropy weights to help implement the higher education reform policy and to monitor the quality of the current education system. The results also indicate that higher education reform must incorporate many changes, including effective budget planning, skilled experts, internationalization, improved and expanded infrastructure, reformed study curriculum, and latest training.
Lake water budgets are sensitive to climate change and human activities and have been undergoing rapid changes worldwide over the past few decades. Satellite altimeters greatly promote the ...large-scale monitoring of lake level and storage variations. However, limited spatiotemporal coverage of the existing individual altimeters prevents long-term and spatially seamless observations on global lakes. These limitations are partially surmounted by the gridded digital elevation model (DEM) data, which can facilitate spatially contiguous measurements of lake bathymetry exposed at the low-level period. The high-resolution SRTM DEM has been widely used for estimating lake level variations due to its early collection time and reliable data quality, while how many lakes worldwide and to what extent of the newly inundated areas can be monitored based on SRTM DEM remains unexplored. Here, we conduct a quasi-global investigation of SRTM DEM regarding its capability of mapping inundated-area bathymetry and estimating lake storage variations. After generating a global-scale lake inventory (122,444 lakes below 60°N, >1 km2) representing the maximum water inundation extents between 1984 and 2020, the feasibility of mapping lake inundated-area bathymetry was evaluated by comparing the maximum inundated area with the waterbody extent derived from SRTM DEM and analyzing the characteristics of interannual and seasonal variability of each lake. Results show that the maximum exposed lake bathymetries from the SRTM DEM data cover an area of 372,986 km2, accounting for 15.95% of the maximum water area of our investigated lakes. Climate-driven lake expansions or human-induced reservoir impoundments after 2000 (the SRTM mission period) are the main contributors to the higher availability of SRTM DEM-based bathymetry mapping on the Tibetan Plateau, India, eastern China, and Amazon Plains. As the newly launched Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is anticipated to monitor lake water budget variation at an unprecedented resolution, this study provides a base map for supplementing inundated bathymetry information. The joint use of SRTM and SWOT-based observations will extend the time and space extents of lake-level measurements, thereby enhancing our understanding of lake dynamics at a longer timescale.
•How many lake bathymetries can be observed from SRTM DEM is evaluated globally.•15.95% of lake area are exposed in SRTM DEM, equivalent to 372,986 km2.•Lake expansions and reservoir operations increase the exposed lake bathymetries.•SRTM DEM complements the SWOT mission in observing lake dynamics.
PDF
