Accessibility Indices: Pilot Study and Potential Use in Strategic Planning

The goal of this article is to find the CEO of Iraqi companies that use strategic planning and determine if they are capable of diagnosing the traits of strategic planning systems that improve these companies' capacity to successfully address crisis-related needs. The capacity of the company to successfully react to crisis needs and demands is enhanced by the use of strategic planning, according to a review of data from 64 enterprises utilizing statistical analysis. Furthermore, top and division or unit managers must be involved and committed for strategic planning to be successful. It also has to be planned with an external orientation and get more than just lip service from top and unit or division level managers. In other words, it must concentrate on how well the business responds to the needs of its crisis and it must recognize and take advantage of any future growth crises. Additionally, a CEO must possess a variety of qualities to engage in good strategic planning. Core Competence Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities are especially important for individuals who will be in charge of carrying out the final plan since it must be compatible with the crisis-management and decision-making approaches. The study's findings suggest that managers of Iraqi businesses should think carefully about the value of strategic planning during times of crisis. also Many CEOs lack knowledge, skills, and talents since they did not complete business universities or practical training programs. Managers must attempt to incorporate crisis management into the strategic planning process for their organizations. The conclusion encourages a firm's strategy approach to include crisis management procedures. This contributes to better performance and increased crisis management efficacy. Additionally, the board of directors must rely on advice from experts who can assist them strategize and prepare throughout a crisis, which improves their capacity to handle one effectively. One way to integrate and improve managers' ability to handle crises is to encourage the use of strategic crisis planning.

Strategic planning is core to public administration at all governmental levels. Evidence suggests that when conducted well strategic planning impacts several performance outcomes. Yet, public administration and strategy scholars have argued that strategic planning is not only a technical procedure. Its success is contingent upon the people involved in strategic planning. This study investigates strategic planning using user acceptance theory. It identifies whether formal and participatory strategic planning associate with ease of use and usefulness of strategic planning and, in turn, whether ease of use and usefulness associate with commitment to strategic plans. Results from PLS‐SEM analysis of survey data from 327 municipalities in three Northern European countries or regions (Flanders, Finland, Norway) corroborate the perspective of strategic planning as organizational behavior where design choices shape attitudes and behaviors. These findings support calls to consider strategic planning from a 3Ps perspective, namely connecting people–process–plan, to achieve outcomes.

Exploring the potential of mobile phone records and online route planners for dynamic accessibility analysis

IntroductionFacing the sluggish economic recovery, most nonprofit organizations are experiencing the unprecedented challenges of seeking sustainable funding and donations, retaining high- quality staff, effectively providing services, and attracting qualified volunteers (Mosley, Maronik, & Katz, 2012). Community-based small nonprofit organizations are more vulnerable to the constantly changing political, economic, financial, and demographic environment (Mara, 2010). Strategic planning can serve as management tool for capacity building of small nonprofits and help organizations develop strategic thinking and adapt to environmental changes (Bryson, 2011). Yet, strategic planning takes time and costs extra human capital and monetary resources that small nonprofits do not have (Mara, 2010). To address this dilemma, this study examines the application of strategic planning to small nonprofit organizations, which has been less studied.A large number of studies have examined the organizational and environmental factors influencing the use of strategic planning, strategy formulation and implementation, and the impact of strategic planning on organizational performance outcomes (Crittenden & Crittenden, 2000; Poister & Streib, 2005; Poister, Pitts, & Edwards, 2010; Siciliano, 2006; Stone, Bigelow, & Crittenden, 1999). Strategic planning has demonstrated potential for improving social performance and financial performance for small nonprofit organizations (Siciliano, 2006). Yet, most of the existing studies on strategic planning in the nonprofit sector have focused on the well-established nonprofit organizations, while few case studies have explored the benefits and challenges of utilizing strategic planning and management in smaller, less established organizations (Mara, 2000). Knowledge remains limited about the use of strategic planning in small nonprofit organizations. Hence, it is worthwhile to identify the role of strategic planning and management for small nonprofit organizations in their management and capacity building.This research examines the following questions: Can strategic planning help small nonprofits improve management and performance? What are the major challenges facing small nonprofit organizations when using strategic planning in their management practice? To answer these questions, we conducted an online survey and focus group studies of executive directors and senior staff of small nonprofit organizations in southeastern state in the United States. This research suggests that with leadership and other organizational support, small nonprofit organizations can use strategic planning to develop and sustain in an uncertain economic environment.Literature Review & BackgroundConsiderable literature has focused on the adoption and implementation of strategic planning in public, private, and nonprofit organizations (Allison & Kaye, 2005; Bryson, 2011; Moore, 2000; Morrisette & Oberman, 2013; Poister et al., 2010). This section begins with reviewing the impacts of strategic planning on public and nonprofit organizations, and then addresses the potential benefits of strategic planning for small nonprofit organizations. Next, it identifies factors influencing the use of strategic planning in nonprofit organizations and discusses the challenges facing strategic planning for community-based nonprofit organizations.Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit OrganizationsSince the 1980s, strategic planning has been widely adopted by public, private, and nonprofit organizations (Bryson, 2011; Heriot, & Loughman, 2009; Mintzberg, 1993; Moore, 2000; Poister & Streib, 1999; 2005; Poister, et al., 2010). According to Bryson (2011), strategic planning is a deliberative, disciplined approach to producing fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization (or other entity) is, what it does, and why (p. 7-8). There are core steps of strategic planning across large number of studies (Allison & Kaye, 2005; Bryson, 2011; Moore, 2000). …

Flood does not leave equal impacts on the transportation network links. Each link of the network demonstrates a different level of resistance against flood based on its hydrologic and structural design. The purpose of the present investigation is to determine vulnerability value and merge that with the accessibility index for strengthening the transportation network links against flood. The Golestan province was chosen as the case study. In this study, for evaluating of vulnerability value, the flood peak was determined based on the maximum daily discharge. In order to assess the flood peak for different return period's frequency analysis (HYFA) software was used. Finally, the vulnerability value as a result of destruction of the bridges due to flood was determined. For evaluating accessibility indexs, the roads network was modeled by EMME2 software and then, the network was loaded based on travel time and traffic volume. The accessibility indexs based on the travel time and traffic volume was determined and assessed before and after flood. The vulnerability value is utilized as a coefficient for the accessibility indexs in the study. According to the obtained values, the prioritizations of the different network links were prioritized in the occurrence of flood. Evaluation of prioritization of different links of road network has been determined based on vulnerability value multiplied by accessibility index. Generally, it can be concluded that merely using the accessibility index does not suffice in prioritizing the transportation network links against flood. Consequently, another index needs to be assessed simultaneously with the accessibility index. This index is in fact the vulnerability value of the destruction of the bridge due to flood. In the composed index, a merged form of these two proposals has been presented. Key word: accessibility indexes, bridges, flood peak, return period, vulnerability value, traffic volume and travel time

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the use, applicability and relevance of strategic planning as a process and tool when applied to exploring food security challenges, in the context of existing research on food security and food waste in the food supply chain. The issues associated with robust and resilient food supply chains within a circular economy are increasingly being seen as supportive of creating enhanced levels of food security but the authors argue that this is only sustainable when strategically planned as part of a cross-enterprise, information-rich and complex supply chain. The relevance of the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental (PESTLE) strategic planning tool is explored to establish whether it can play a role tacking the complexity of food insecurity (i.e. a lack of food security).Design/methodology/approachThis is a viewpoint piece therefore as a result, thought, normative literature and supposition are used as a means to ground and orientate the views of the authors.FindingsThe authors identify and conclude that strategic planning tools like PESTLE across enterprises may not be relevant in supporting the reduction of food insecurity. This conclusion is predicated on the heightened level of complexity surrounding the pursuit of food security and the simplistic categorisation of PESTLE factors in a linear fashion that underpin this tool. Rather, the authors’ call for the use of strategic planning tools that are able to capture a large number of inter-related factors holistically.Practical implicationsThis insight to the inter-related factors that contribute to food insecurity will allow policy developers, decision makers and others to develop their understanding of how strategic planning can support increased levels of food security within a circular economy and across cross-enterprises.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the literature through a new insight of how normative strategic planning tools need to evolve in a complex, inter-connected world of international business and geo-politics. In doing so, it is expected that this research will motivate others to develop their line of enquiry around uncovering and exploring those inter-relationships connecting PESTLE factors.

This article assesses whether municipal managers perceive strategic planning as most useful when integrated into mandatory area or financial-planning processes or conducted in processes with separate strategic planning documents. Despite being widely adopted in practice and being extensively debated in scholarly discourse for decades, current research has little empirical grounding for providing advice for policymakers and public managers on such common design choices. Multiple regression analysis of 128 Norwegian municipalities shows that using a voluntary separate strategic planning document was related to top management’s perceived usefulness of strategic planning. Integrating strategic planning into other management processes was also related to the perceived usefulness of strategic planning. Unexpectedly, using mandatory planning documents (such as four-year financial plans and long-term area plans) as the main strategic planning documents, formality and stakeholder involvement in the planning processes were not related to the perceived usefulness of strategic planning. Points for practitioners Planning, and in particular formal strategic planning, is often criticized both by scholars and practitioners as being useless when the environments are uncertain and turbulent, and for draining the organizations’ resources from other important management tasks. This article shows that many municipalities voluntarily produced separate strategic planning documents and that municipal top management found these plans more useful than using mandatory financial plans or area plans as their main strategic planning documents.

Currently, Japan is entering a phase of infrastructure improvement that requires repair of highways and bridges. However, large-scale renewal work that requires long-term road closure is rare. Therefore, this study analyzes the construction activities on the Hanshin Expressway, which involves road closures, to understand its impact on traffic conditions. Understanding the actual situation is useful for improving prediction models and calibrating simulations. This study focused on vehicle-trajectory data, where the ease of data collection, quantity, and accuracy have improved in recent years. The use of vehicle-trajectory data enables the changing behavior of each vehicle to be tracked when road networks are disrupted. This paper presents a method for detecting the impact of roadworks on vehicle trajectories by comparing normal conditions, lane restrictions, and road closures. Specifically, we proposed a special origin and destination (OD) identification procedure and a route-choice variety index corresponding to changes in the set of selectable routes based on road closures. Subsequently, this was used to identify the characteristics of susceptible ODs based on the traffic flow, travel time, and route choice. The results showed that detours were extensive and spread over many routes during OD trips sandwiched between construction sections. The different levels and types of impact caused by the characteristics of ODs could be useful for traffic management in upcoming renewal projects.

Since the early 1980s, strategic planning has been one of the hot innovations in public administration, promising public agencies the benefits of a rational and highly structured, future-oriented management technique borrowed from the best run private sector companies. Despite some critical assessments (e.g., Bryson & Roering, 1987; Halachmi, 1986; Mintzberg, (1994),[1] an outpouring of books and articles advocate strategic planning as an effective tool for improving organizational decision making and program performance in government (Behn, 1980; Bryson, 1988; Eadie, 1983; Nutt & Backoff, 1992; Olsen & Eadie, 1982; Wechsler & Backoff, 1986; Meising & Andersen, 1991). Strategic planning is defined as a systematic process for managing the organization and its future direction in relation to its environment and the demands of external stakeholders, including strategy formulation, analysis of agency strengths and weaknesses, identification of agency stakeholders, implementation of strategic actions, and issue management. Increasing numbers of government agencies are reported as having adopted some form of strategic planning (Wechsler, 1989). Like many public sector management innovations of the past, strategic planning seems to have been greeted by a high level of initial enthusiasm. There has been, however, little research measuring the extent to which strategic planning is actually used by governments, the nature of the methods and processes used in different agencies, the reasons agencies give for initiating strategic planning, their objectives for the planning process, or the outcomes they believe they have achieved. To remedy this lack of data and to provide answers to questions about the use of strategic planning in the public sector, we conducted a national study of strategic planning in state government.[2] We chose to conduct this study at the level of state government for several reasons, including the increasing importance of the states in the delivery of public services, the relative diversity of state agencies and their tractability as units of analysis when compared to the federal and local levels, and the great interest reported in strategic planning among state governments (Wechsler, 1989). Survey Results Extent of Utilization of Strategic Planning by States Most of the survey respondents (60 percent) reported that they currently use strategic planning in their agency, while 9 percent of the agencies planned to start strategic planning soon, but had not yet initiated it. Twenty-six percent of respondents said their agency had never used strategic planning and had no plans to use it, and about 5 percent of the respondents reported their agency had used strategic planning in the past but currently did not. The primary reason even for discontinuing strategic planning was a change in agency leadership. Other reasons included budgetary cutbacks and personnel changes in planning positions. Only two respondents said that planning was discontinued because it was perceived as a failure in the agency. While we are somewhat surprised both by the high utilization rate and by the low discontinuance rate, there are two plausible explanations for these findings. First, agencies not using strategic planning could be underrepresented in the survey. (In fact, where we have responses for an agency-type from every state, the utilization rate is somewhat lower.) Second, because the large majority of agencies have had fewer than five years of experience with strategic planning, the discontinuance rate is likely to increase in the future, as agencies have more experience and some get discouraged or as leadership changes occur. Despite the longevity of strategic planning practice in the private sector (Bracker, 1980), there is little evidence of extensive public sector use of strategic planning or references to strategic planning in the public administration literature before the 1980s (Behn, 1980; Olsen & Eadie, 1982; Walters & Choate, 1984). …

When multiple routes connect the same origin and destination (OD), passenger route choices are related to the operation and management of urban rail transit, including the design of the train plan, fare clearing, and passenger distribution. The passengers’ travel data from an automatic fare collection (AFC) system provides useful data for the analysis of passenger route choices. We propose an estimation method of passenger route choices based on AFC data, which includes passenger’s travel time and OD. In this paper, the AFC data used for analysis were mined to eliminate unreasonable individual travel data. In this study, the components of passenger travel times and their influencing factors are analyzed and the results indicate that the travel times are related to the route choices of passengers. Cluster analysis indicated that passenger travel times follow the logarithmic normal distribution. Based on this and a multi-route distribution sample, an estimation model for passenger route choice proportions is proposed. Furthermore, experimental results show that the data mining method has high accuracy and the result also supported the hypothesis about the travel time distribution. The model was applied to the Chengdu metro, which is one of the largest metro systems in the world, and the obtained results indicate that the model works well. In addition to the initial application, the estimation method provides a new method to calculate the route choice proportion for urban rail transit with maximum dependability and timeliness.

On the joint network equilibrium of parking and travel choices under mixed traffic of shared and private autonomous vehicles

Evaluating rail transit's comparative advantages in travel cost and time over taxi with open data in two U.S. cities

A common criticism of strategic planning is that it is of little use when the environment is turbulent and the future is unpredictable. The last decade has witnessed great environmental turbulence and uncertainty in many conditions that are important for public policy and administration. This study analyses survey data from 144 public sector organisations in Norway in 2020 on how strategic planning has been designed and used over the past 4 years and how managers perceived the usefulness of the strategic planning. Most of the central as well as local government organizations prepared strategic plans in addition to mandatory plans and the managers perceived the net benefit of the strategic planning as positive, even under the turbulent environments of the recent years. A multivariate regression analysis showed that a prospector adaptation, stakeholder participation, use of management tools and ease of use of the strategic planning process had the greatest positive correlation with the perceived usefulness of strategic planning.

The origin and destination (O-D) of public transit passengers are important for the planning and operation of the transit system. However, only 46% of public transit agencies have a smart card system in the US, and most of them require an entry-only tap, which prohibits identifying passenger destinations unless utilizing an estimation model. Therefore, there is a need for a cost-effective and automated solution to facilitate the majority of the US transit agencies in recognizing the origin and destination of passengers as well as capturing passenger transfers. This paper created a novel algorithm for transit agencies to count passengers with the consideration of transfers using a cost-effective Wi-Fi sensing–based approach. Two pilot studies were conducted in the city of Louisville, Kentucky on three different bus routes to explore the feasibility of the method. A Wi-Fi detector was installed in the bus to detect passengers, and a manual counting was performed to be used as ground truth data. After data collection, the proposed algorithms were applied to optimize the detection radius and to eventually find origins, destinations, and transfers. Analysis revealed that the proposed Wi-Fi–based approach is capable of recognizing 78.7% of the total passengers as well as detecting their boarding and alighting activities. The paper demonstrates the ability of the proposed method to detect passengers with a reasonable detection rate by using Wi-Fi technology on bus routes, which makes it feasible for transit agencies to conduct frequent and low-cost network-level passenger O-D studies.

Interest in the economy vs the environment debate has grown substantially since the publication of the 'Brundtland Report' by the World Commission on Environment and Development, in 1987. The concept of sustainable development, which advocates the importance of integrating economic development with the environment, is now recognised worldwide. It is apparent that sustainable development cannot be achieved unless changes are made to a wide range of institutional, technical, political and social systems. Within these systems are opportunities to achieve desired environmental goals and outcomes. Land use planners in particular, have a major role in influencing economic development outcomes by adopting the strategic planning process to identify and designate future land uses to meet the future needs o f the economy and the community. To date, this process has not included an adequate analysis of environmental and economic issues. This lack o f comprehensive strategic planning results in not only major environmental disasters, but also huge economic costs to the community of'cleaning-up' damage that could have been prevented. By addressing environmental and economic issues ex ante rather than ex post, using an appropriate planning technique in the strategic planning process, the planning profession would have a pivotal role in not only promoting economic development, but also in preventing potential environmental impacts. To date, planners in Queensland and, it appears, in Australia have failed to incorporate these principles into the strategic planning process. Aside from a number of'once-off studies undertaken for specific developments and studies, planning techniques have not been used to identify and designate land uses in strategic plans. The aim of this project is to illustrate the potential benefits of incorporating environmental and economic analysis into strategic planning to improve the land use decision-making process. In this project, a Modified UET Model has been developed that incorporates environmental and economic analysis, and is promoted for use in strategic planning. The Model is applied on two different case studies in Queensland as a means of demonstrating that by applying it in the strategic planning process, the economic costs could have been avoided. It is intended to show that the Modified UET Model is a simple, systematic planning process, which, if applied, can reap rewards by not only promoting economic development, but can prevent environmental damage. It would also put the planning profession in an influential role in terms of addressing the economy vs environment debate. The strategic planning process is not advocated as the solution to all development impacts on the environment, but it can potentially contribute substantially.