A map of ecological regions of the conterminous United States, first published in 1987, has been greatly refined and expanded into a hierarchical spatial framework in response to user needs, ...particularly by state resource management agencies. In collaboration with scientists and resource managers from numerous agencies and institutions in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the framework has been expanded to cover North America, and the original ecoregions (now termed Level III) have been refined, subdivided, and aggregated to identify coarser as well as more detailed spatial units. The most generalized units (Level I) define 10 ecoregions in the conterminous U.S., while the finest-scale units (Level IV) identify 967 ecoregions. In this paper, we explain the logic underpinning the approach, discuss the evolution of the regional mapping process, and provide examples of how the ecoregions were distinguished at each hierarchical level. The variety of applications of the ecoregion framework illustrates its utility in resource assessment and management.
This book offers a simple introduction to the theory and practice of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) without a pre-requisite for a sophisticated mathematical background.
“There’s probably no better sport than Formula E to present and study the science and practice of innovation within (motor)sport, and this book is a must read for those active within this fascinating ...area”. - Dr. Kristof de Mey, Sports Technology, Innovation & Business Developer at Ghent University, Belgium This open access book provides novel insights on management innovation and sustainability in motorsport. Utilizing the all-electric racing championship called Formula E as case, it draws upon data from multiple sources such as sustainability reports of Formula and its stakeholders, media data, podcasts and newspaper articles, partner publications, and social media outputs. It aims to generate a theoretical model that describes and explains the optimal conditions for innovation when it comes to enhancing a sport organisation's commercial product. Apart from its general transferability to sports research, this model enables further study of a motorsport phenomenon that has been hailed by media as the championship, which affirms money in sustainability. It has also been emphasized by sport researchers as a highly relevant case to study management innovation. This book will be interesting to academics working in sports management, knowledge management, innovation and sustainability. Hans Erik Næss (b. 1978) is an Associate Professor in Sport Management at Kristiania University College, Norway. He holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Oslo and is the author of several peer-reviewed articles and books on motorsports, including A History of Organizational Change: The case of Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) 1945-2020. Anne Tjønndal (b. 1988) is an Associate Professor in Sociology of Sport at Nord University, Norway. She holds a PhD in sociology from Nord University and has published articles in high-quality international journals on topics like social innovation, gender and inclusion/exclusion in sport. Tjønndal is the Celia Brackenridge International Research Award winner for 2019. ;
This study addresses an apparent disconnect between two views of strategic action: the 'economic view,' which contends that industry structure is the primary influence on strategic action, and the ...'cognitive view,' which suggests that managerial cognition drives strategic action. We argue that this disconnect has created artificial boundaries between the two perspectives and has limited our ability to develop holistic explanations of strategic action. In response, we develop an integrated model that answers two questions: 1) Does industry context affect managerial cognition? 2) Does managerial cognition mediate the relationship between industry context and strategic responses to environmental changes? To examine these questions, we study the relationship between industry velocity, the structure of top management's cognitive representation of the environment, and the speed of response to environmental events. We find that industry velocity influences the structure of cognitive representations, which in turn influence the speed of response to environmental events. These results support our contention that both industry and cognition variables are critical in developing explanations of strategic actions. These results have implications for our understanding of the development of top managers' beliefs, the relationship between beliefs and action, and the nature of the complex relationship between industry context, managerial cognition, and strategic action.
Within the last decades, universities are increasingly expected and measured by their direct engagement in collaborations beyond academia. Exploring the potential that lies in university-business ...collaborations, the present anthology attends to the dilemmas, dualities, and challenges that follow such collaborations, especially in the academic traditions of the social sciences and humanities. Each contribution investigates how the human perspective – a perspective that highlights how complex knowledge and a deep understanding of human everyday life – enriches companies’ processes, products, services, and ideas. Some chapters focus on collaborations between researchers and business practitioners, others focus on teaching examples involving students in the collaborative work with businesses and organisations, and again others contribute with more theoretical considerations. By gathering hands-on experiences, the book provides readers with inspirations, reflections on, and insights into university-business collaborations. This book, therefore, is intended for researchers within the humanities and social sciences, who want to get a deeper understanding of the practice of such collaborations.
Increasing plant diversity can increase ecosystem functioning, stability, and services in both natural and managed grasslands, but the effects of herbivore diversity, and especially of livestock ...diversity, remain underexplored. Given that managed grazing is the most extensive land use worldwide, and that land managers can readily change livestock diversity, we experimentally tested how livestock diversification (sheep, cattle, or both) influenced multidiversity (the diversity of plants, insects, soil microbes, and nematodes) and ecosystem multifunctionality (including plant biomass production, plant leaf N and P, above-ground insect abundance, nutrient cycling, soil C stocks, water regulation, and plant–microbe symbiosis) in the world’s largest remaining grassland. We also considered the potential dependence of ecosystem multifunctionality on multidiversity. We found that livestock diversification substantially increased ecosystem multifunctionality by increasing multidiversity. The link between multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality was always stronger than the link between single diversity components and functions. Our work provides insights into the importance of multitrophic diversity to maintain multifunctionality in managed ecosystems and suggests that diversifying livestock could promote both multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality in an increasingly managed world.
Business strategies, which imply organisational change, usually require the development of projects, e.g. IT projects. However, organisations fail in implementing their strategies even though they ...employ project, programme and portfolio management techniques. Benefits Realisation Management (BRM) is a set of processes structured to close the gap between strategy planning and execution by ensuring the implementation of the most valuable initiatives. However, there is no empirical evidence of its effectiveness. This paper presents the results of a survey to practitioners in Brazil, United Kingdom and United States evaluating the impact of BRM practices on project success rate. Our results show BRM practices being positive predictors to project success on the creation of strategic value for the business. Therefore, these results suggest that BRM practices can be effective to support the successful execution of business strategies.
•We analysed perceptions of project success and practices of Benefits Realisation.•We analysed how dimensions of success influence the final perception.•We evidenced the high relevance of project performance has on perceptions of success.•We evidenced the influence Benefits Realisation Management has on project success.•We evidenced the high influence Benefits Realisation has on the creation of value.
WHY A BOOK ON LEAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY?Why Look at IT? What Is the Problem?Some ExamplesSo What Does Lean Bring to the Table?What Does an IT System Look Like?IT Issues to AvoidA New Directive for ...IT OrganizationsIT BackgroundThe Twenty-First Century EnterpriseThe IT EvolutionThe Enterprise Role of ITThe Twenty-First Century Enterprise and ITCase Study: WiproAre We "Doing the Right Things?"A3 Problem AnalysisThe A3 Steps "Team Members" Box "Approval Information/Signatures" Box "Clarify and Validate the Problem" Box "Perform a Purpose Expansion on the Problem" Box Break Down the Problem/Identify Performance Gaps" Box "Set Improvement Targets" Box "Determine Root Cause" Box "Develop Improvement Task List" Box "Execute Improvement Tasks" Box "Confirm Results" Box "Standardize Successful Processes" BoxUsing the 9-Step A3 ToolWhat Loop Am I In?Case Study: Wipro (Continued)The Art of Managing ChangeA Discussion of ChangeModels for ChangeInnoveeringHow Do We Manage Change?The People The Circle Goal Setting Leadership Values and Ethics Add Value to Society As an Enterprise Continuous Learning Innovation and Change Creation Measuring/Rewarding Stake HoldersSuccessful Change ManagementSome Models for Change Quality Functional Deployment (QFD) Total Quality Management (TQM) The TQM Process Systematic Problem Solving (SPS) at AT&T The Good News about TQMProcess ReengineeringISO 9000CAP Kotter USAF 8-StepUnderstanding ChangeIT PitfallsCase Study: Wipro (Continued)BRINGING LEAN INTO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY?How Can Lean Help IT?Leaning ITMeasurable Benefits of Applying Lean to ITHow IT is ChangingCase Study: Wipro (continued)Some Final ThoughtsWhat is Lean? Defining LeanThe Key Principles of Lean Define "Value" from the Customer's
Perspective Define the Process by Looking at and Analyzing All the Pieces of the SIPOC Remove Obstacles (Bottlenecks) That Disrupt the Value Flow Drive Product and Service Flow at the "Pull" of the Customer Empower Employees in the Change Process through Teaming Build a Strategic PlanLean ToolsAcceptance Tools Acceptance Tool #1-Breakthrough Thinking/Concept Management/Purpose Expansion Acceptance Tool #2-Team Effectiveness Surveys Goals and Objectives Roles and Responsibilities Enthusiasm and Motivation Trust and Openness Leadership and Direction Information and Communication Acceptance Tool #3-Change Readiness Surveys Acceptance Tool #4-Myers Briggs Acceptance Tool #5-JoHari WindowTechnical Tools Technical Tool #1-7 Wastes Overproduction Waiting Unnecessary Transportation Overprocessing Excess Inventory Unnecessary Movement by Employees Production of Defective Parts Underused Employee Abilities or Creativity Technical Tool #2-Value Stream Mapping (Current State/Ideal State/Future State) Mapping the Process Preparation Mapping Process Ideal State Value Stream Map/Future State Value Stream Map Develop an Action Item List of Improvement Opportunities Classify the Action Item List Select Improvement Events Based on the Highest Priority Areas of Improvement Technical Tool #3-SIPOC (Supplier/Input/Process/Output/Customer) Technical Tool #4-SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats) Technical Tool #5-VOC (Voice of the Customer) Technical Tool #6-Systems Flowchart/Information Flow Diagrams Technical Tool #7-Gemba Walk (Go and See Analysis) Technical Tool #8-B-SMART
Targets Technical Tool #9-JIT (Just-In-Time)/Kanban/Cells Technical Tool #10-Spaghetti Chart Technical Tool #11-Lean Events/RIE (Rapid Improvement Events)/Kaizen Events Technical Tool #12-Improvement Project Technical Tool #13-Just-do-It Technical Tool #14-5S Sort Set in Order (Straighten) Shine Standardize Sustain A Sixth "S"-Safety Technical Tool #15-Poka-Yoke Technical Tool #16-Six Sigma/DMAIC Technical Tool #17-TPM (Total Product Maintenance) Technical Tool #18-Standard Work Technical Tool #19-5 Whys Technical Tool #20-Brainstorming Technical Tool #21-Fishbone Charts Technical Tool #22-Pareto Charts Technical Tool #23-Affinity Diagrams Technical Tool #24-Control Charts Technical Tool #25-PICK (Possible, Implement, Challenge, Kill) Chart/Impact/Effort Matrix Technical Tool #26-Theory of Constraints (TOC)/Bottleneck Analysis Management Philosophy Operating Principles Technical Tool #27-Project CharterSustainmentComparison of MethodsSome Success StoriesCase Study: Wipro (Continued)SummaryAppendix 6-A The JoHari Window Assessment Test Directions InterpretationJoHari Window TestReferencesAre We Working on the Correct Problem? Or Are We Creating More Problems?A Quick Review of A3 Problem AnalysisThe A3 StepsThe Two Case ExamplesCase #1 Project Charter Facilitator Activities Event Pre-Work Event Execution Contents of the A3 Post-Event ActivitiesCase #2 Project Charter Facilitator Activities RIE Event Pre-Work Event Execution Post-Event ActivitiesUsing the 9-Step A3 ToolThe Lean IT EventThe RIEThe Role of the FacilitatorLean TrainingLean ToolsHow the Lean Process Works Acceptance Stage Technical Stage Sustainment StageCase
Study: Wipro (Continued)Meaningful MetricsThe Role and Purpose of MeasuresThe Role and Purpose of Control SystemsAn Industrial Example-Managing Your Supply Chain Using Event ManagementDefining the Measurement SystemWhat is the Best Measure for your Organization?Measurement Reporting ToolsLEAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INTO THE FUTUREIT MaturityEvaluating Your World Class StatusIT Best Practices Summary.
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