Absence Of Strategic Planning Research Articles

The Critical Role of Product Managers and Their Responsibilities in Software Startups: A Systematic Literature Review

In the high-paced, uncertain, and resource-constrained environment of software startups, achieving product–market fit and acquiring initial customers are critical yet challenging tasks. These challenges are often exacerbated by the absence of strategic planning, inefficient requirements selection processes, inadequate resource allocation, and insufficient market research, leading to an alarming 63% failure rate among software startups. The Product Manager (PM), responsible for product strategy, planning, and results monitoring, plays a pivotal role in navigating these complexities; however, the PM role is often undervalued and lacks a universally accepted definition. This study aims to enhance the understanding of the PM's role within software startups by conducting a comprehensive Systematic Literature Review (SLR). Employing a rigorous selection methodology, we reviewed 134 studies and identified 662 distinct PM tasks across 122 activities. Notably, only 7 studies (5.73%) specifically addressed the software startup context, revealing a substantial gap in the literature. Our findings indicate that while product planning and requirements prioritization are dominant topics, many critical activities remain underrepresented, underscoring the need for targeted research in these areas. By addressing the unique challenges faced by software startups, we pave the way for more targeted and effective PM strategies. Future research should consider adopting mixed-method approaches to deepen the understanding of PM practices and investigate underexplored areas such as go-to-market strategies, roadmap creation, and requirements selection within the startup context.

The tools of convergence theory in economic science and practice of regional policy in Ukraine

Modern economic approaches to understanding the impact of disparities on the economic development of the regions of Ukraine are analyzed. The study was conducted using elements of convergence theory. The study was based on gross regional product (GRP) per capita and the Gini coefcient by region for the period 2004 - 2019. Absolute convergence was chosen as the methodological basis. Sigma and beta convergence methods were used to determine the trend of convergence of economic indicators between regions. The dynamics of inequality of the Ukraine regions development in the period from 2004 to 2019 was tested: the years in which regional policy was conducted in the absence of strategic planning (2004 - 2005) and with its use (2006-2019). It is established that sigma convergence processes were not observed during the analyzed period, as evidenced by the upward trend in the values of the calculated coefcient of variation and Gini coefcient. The reliability of the obtained results is confrmed by data obtained from other sources of information (Regional Human Development Index, data from the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine). The calculation of the Gini forecast coefcient until 2027 did not confrm the decrease in the differentiation of the regions of Ukraine in the forecast period. The calculations showed that the average region needs 14.6 years to cover half of the distance that separates it from the steady state, which corresponds to a convergence rate of 3.37% per year. It was found that the current regional policy identifed trends in the study and developed forecasts are not taken into account, which complicates the achievement of the goal set in the State Strategy for Regional Development until 2027. It was found that the results do not allow conclusions about the effectiveness of regional policy. Therefore, further research is needed, in particular the identifcation and calculation of variables that reflect the impact of regional policy on regional imbalances. It is also advisable to take into account and check the presence of "club" convergence, i.e. by groups of regions within the country. Key words: convergence, regions, regional policy, development strategy, forecasting, level of development, economic growth, efficiency.

Using qualitative comparative analysis to uncover multiple pathways to program sustainment: implications for community-based youth substance misuse prevention

BackgroundIn order to achieve wide-scale impact in community settings, programs must be sustained. Theory and empirical evidence suggest that intervention characteristics, organizational context, capacity for program implementation, and processes related to implementation are associated with continued program delivery. However, few studies examine how combinations of these factors work together in different settings to influence program sustainment.MethodsUsing scales specified in the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool (PSAT), the current cross-sectional study aims to identify the necessary and sufficient conditions for the sustainment of the Strengthening Families Program for Parents and Youth 10-14 (SFP 10-14). Staff (n = 59) at SFP 10-14 implementation sites across Washington State completed an online survey reporting on their current level of SFP 10-14 sustainment. They also completed PSAT, with eight scales designed to assess conditions that consistently produce sustainment. Data were analyzed using qualitative comparative analysis.ResultsEnvironmental support was the only necessary condition for sustainment success. Four solutions sufficient to achieve sustainment were also identified. These included the combined presence of (1) environmental support, organizational capacity, and funding stability; (2) environmental support, organizational capacity, communication, and program evaluation, in the absence of strategic planning; (3) environmental support, organizational capacity, program evaluation, and partnerships, in the absence of strategic planning; and (4) environmental support, communication, partnerships, and funding stability, in the absence of program evaluation.ConclusionsEnvironmental support in combination with organizational capacity appeared to most consistently produce sustainment of SFP 10-14 programs in Washington State. Program providers will benefit from a focusing on enhancing those conditions to increase program sustainment.

History of Protected Areas in Argentina: A Seesaw of Shifting Priorities and Policies in a Developing Country

Abstract Protected Areas (PAs) are key to avoiding habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. Most research conducted in PAs has focused on the geological, biological or ecological aspects of sites, while few studies have examined the policymaking process. However, PA designation might reflect the political history of a country regarding environmental protection and whether PA designation is based on a strong conservation commitment or is instead propaganda yielding 'paper parks'. Argentina, the first Latin American nation to set land aside to protect it, provides a case study of the process of constructing a PA system, and certain elements apply to other developing countries. Its first national park was created in 1922, and the first law concerning PAs was promulgated in 1934. Since then, a succession of democratic governments interrupted by military regimes has modified parks and promulgated laws changing conservation priorities. The conservation goal of PAs was not always manifest in government policies. Despite the number of PAs (48 by 2019) and area covered (14,718,420 hectares total by 2019), most of these lands face the same challenges as PAs in many other developing nations, including limited budgets, lack of field staff, absence of strategic planning, insufficient political support and corruption. Since the return to democracy in 1983, new laws have been enacted based on experience gathered in other nations. However, existence of a law does not guarantee its enforcement. Environmental NGOs, the scientific community and a growing concerned citizenry nowadays constitute the most important forces supporting the conservation function of PAs and environmental conservation in general in Argentina.

An exploration of public libraries as dementia friendly places

Dementia can be a lonely, stigmatising and isolating illness. People living with dementia and their carers want to remain connected with their local communities and feel safe, welcome and valued. A growing community awareness of dementia has borne the concept of dementia friendliness and dementia friendly communities.Core features of dementia friendly communities are supportive, inclusive, welcoming and safe environments. Public libraries are widely valued as safe, accessible and welcoming community assets and in this sense are well placed to be part of dementia friendly communities. This study has sought to understand how publiclibraries contribute to Australian dementia friendly communities. A mixed methods approach with a sequential exploratory design was employed to answer two distinct questions: firstly, how are individual needs of patrons living with dementia and their carers being met; and second, is there alignment between dementia friendly public libraries and the ALIA Framework for Australian Public Libraries. From a review of international and Australian literature, features of dementia friendly public libraries were codified along two facets—services and enabling environments.
 This study found that dementia friendly public libraries offered a suite of services and enabling environments that benefit people living with dementia and their carers. Collectively, they enable social capital and contribute to personal development and wellbeing, informed and connected citizens, and ultimately stronger more inclusive communities—achieving five of the six ALIA outcome measures. Public libraries located in dementia friendly communities provided similar benefits, although some inconsistencies were evident with a shift to age-friendliness. Dementia friendliness is a reflective movement and public libraries in dementia friendly communities must continue to respond to the needs of that community. There was an absence of strategic planning by the public libraries assessed to provide for such need, and thus targeted, collaborative planning could be considered to enhance dementia friendliness and inclusivity.

DEVELOPMENT PRIORITY ON SEAWEED KAPPAPHYCUS ALVAREZII CULTIVATION IN AREA CLUSTER KOLONO DISTRICT KONAWE SOUTH

Cluster Kolono Konawe South, Southeast Sulawesi Province is an area that has the potential of the sea to be developed by seaweed cultivation activities Kappahycus alvarezii, with the benefit of creating regional economic improvement. So far, the development of commercial seaweed cultivation is still lacking so that people's income and local revenue are not optimal. One of the causes is the absence of strategic planning and policy in the development of seaweed cultivation. As a first step, it is necessary to determine the priorities for the development of cultivation K. alvarezii in the Kolono cluster area. The method applied in collecting research data is observation, interviews, and questionnaires. Policy priority scale analysis is determined by the Analytical Hierarchy Process (PHA). The results of the study showed that the cultivation activities of K. alvarezii in the Kolono cluster area, South Konawe District required improvements in several factors, namely the availability of human resources, improvement of the capital system, and the detection of an appropriate aquatic environment. To maintain/sustain the aquaculture business K. alvarezii, some strategic policies are needed. The practical alternative policy that can be done in the short term by the South Konawe District government in the Klater Kolono area is to conduct training and demonstration of cultivation K. alvarezii which includes cultivation design, site selection, planter preparation, seed preparation, maintenance, harvest and post-harvest techniques, processes sales and profit value and capital flow.

Challenges of India's power transmission system

•IPTS is dogged with several challenges that limit the efficient power evacuation.•The growth of entire power sector depends upon a robust and non-collapsible transmission network.•Absence of strategic planning by policy makers emerged as a primary causal factor.•Skewed focus of regulators towards generation has resulted in relatively low transmission investments.•Adequate investment is needed to execute re-planning of the entire Transmission sector.

Critique on Private and Public Nursing Education in Pakistan

Nursing education has direct relationship with quality based clinical practice and standardized care; however, private versus public education makes a difference among the graduates. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, nursing education has been facing numerous challenges with respect of lack of unified policies, absence of strategic planning, and constraint resources. This paper describes comparison between private and public (government) nursing academic institution in Karachi, Pakistan. This paper comprises similarities, differences, strengths, limitations, and challenges of both institutions including their bases and recommendation for possible solution particularly with reference of regulatory body Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

Tight budget constraints and the absence of strategic planning

Purpose This paper aims to identify the factors that affect facilities management (FM) service outsourcing. Design/methodology/approach Five focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted for this study. A total of 25 professional FM managers were invited to participate in the FGDs. The qualitative data collected from the FGDs were analysed with the coding method. Findings FM managers commonly regard that tight budget constraints and the absence of strategic planning are two important factors that affect FM service outsourcing. Tight budget constraints reflect that clients control their service providers by constraining budgets, which creates a series of inefficiencies in the outsourcing process and thus lead to adverse outsourcing relationships. A series of strategies are recommended to deal with the challenges posed by budget constraints and the lack strategic planning. Research limitations/implications Twenty-five Hong Kong-based FM managers were interviewed for this study. The empirical data collected mainly reflects FM service outsourcing in Hong Kong. It is important to test the findings with a bigger group of FM managers from other regions. Originality/value The managerial significance of FM service outsourcing has not yet been valued in practice. This study draws academic attention to FM service outsourcing practice and provides practical opinions from FM managers. Also, this study adopts the FGD method in data collection, which extracts to a maximum degree of authentic opinions from practitioners.

Challenges in Saudi Universities Shift Toward a Knowledge Society

Higher education in Saudi Arabia is facing several challenges posed by a set of transformations in society in general, and the economy in particular. As economies become increasingly knowledge-based, universities bear the burden of helping the community transform into a knowledge society. This paper focuses on the most important challenges facing Saudi universities as they shift toward becoming contributors to a knowledge society. Using a descriptive analytical approach, data was collected from several studies and published statistics. A range of challenges was discovered, the most important of them are a heavy reliance on government funding, poor productivity of faculty members, the gap between the outputs of universities and the labor market, the absence of strategic planning for higher education, the absence of a national strategy for scientific research, and the weakness of the relationship between undergraduate majors and the needs of the community.

Political Will and Strategic Planning in the Implementation of Universal Basic Education in Nigeria: The Obafemi Awolowo Example

In Nigeria, the introduction of Universal Basic Education is meant to reduce the problem of illiteracy, ignorance and poverty to the barest level; a goal it shares with the goals of the World Conference on Education For All. It is meant to aid rapid national economic and political development. Its implementation has become a major challenge; hence its success has been marginal across the country. Among the factors identified as hindering its success are lack of political will on the part of government, absence of strategic planning, inaccurate data, politicisation of the programme and improper funding. Back in 1955, the then Prime Minister in Western Nigeria Obafemi Awolowo introduced a similar programme, Universal Primary Education with strong commitment and determination. The same commitment, determination and political will that helped Awolowo meet the objectives of his programme are what the government can apply to sustain and advance the current Universal Basic Education programme.

Logística Integral: Una alternativa para crear valor y ventajas competitivas en las pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes) del Sector Calzado

En este documento se plantea la ventaja competitiva como el resultado que las empresas buscan lograr en un contexto global y de hipercompetitividad; para lograr esto se necesitan estrategias que impulsen esas ventajas competitivas en un ambiente cambiante y dinámico, una de estas estrategias es la logística integral, que busca el equilibrio de la estructura de la cadena de valor de negocio y lograr una interacción y operación eficiente de las áreas de una manera en que las actividades proyecten la creación de valor en las empresas pequeñas y medianas del sector calzado.Las operaciones de una empresa pequeña y mediana tienen un contexto particular en donde presentan ventajas y desventajas, que pueden consolidar o no a una empresa en el plano internacional; previo a esto se necesita plantear la aplicación de la Logística que impulse al cambio y a la consolidación de la creación de valor en el negocio. Se aplicaron sesenta (60) encuestas a empresas pyme adheridas a la cámara de calzado y con la base de datos de COFOCE (Coordinadora de Fomento al Comercio Exterior del Estado de Guanajuato), en donde además de aplicar la encuesta, se hacía un recorrido por las instalaciones y se platicaba de forma informal la realidad y contexto de la empresa, y que generaba también información cualitativa útil. Con ello, se pretendió conocer la realidad de las pequeñas y medianas empresas en León, Gto., identificar los aspectos necesarios para revertir esas desventajas identificadas, como la falta del desarrollo de una logística, la ausencia de planeación estratégica, aplicación de las tecnología de la información y comunicación, falta de competitividad internacional y la falta de creación de valor a lo largo de la cadena de valor del negocio.

The commissioning and provision of advocacy for problem drug users in English DATS: A cross-sectional survey

Aims: This study investigated the commissioning and delivery of advocacy for problem drug users. We aimed to quantify provision, describe the commissioning of advocacy services in Drug Action Teams (DATs) and to identify factors influencing advocacy provision.Methods: A cross-sectional survey of a randomly selected sample of 50 English DATs. The purpose-designed questionnaire comprising a mix of closed and open questions was completed through a telephone interview.Findings: An 86% response rate was achieved. Informants understood ‘advocacy’ as encompassing a range of activities including user involvement and peer support. A range of approaches classified as formal, informal and ad hoc were described. Whilst advocacy was identified as a need in 29 DATs (67%), formal, independent advocacy was commissioned in only four (9%). In eight DATs (19%), there was no advocacy provision of any kind.Conclusions: Advocacy is described by the National Treatment Agency as an essential element of effective drug treatment systems. However, provision in English DATs is inconsistent, poorly integrated with treatment systems and characterized by the absence of strategic planning. Clarification of the concept and purpose of advocacy as either a right adhering to citizenship or a means to achieve treatment targets is an essential first step towards systematic and meaningful integration of advocacy within the treatment system.

Which Internet Policy? Assessing Regional Initiatives in Spain

We examine the effect of public policy on the growth of Internet use. Using a decentralized country—Spain—as an example, we compare the 17 Spanish regions to test different Internet policy designs, taking into account the quality and number of specific programs promoted by regional governments, as well as the presence or absence of strategic planning in each region. We treat the percentage of Internet users as a dependent variable to compare its diffusion in different territories. Our findings show that educational levels and economic differences explain about half of the variations observed. Furthermore, the regional policies play a significant role in explaining regional variations. We investigate which public policy instruments are more significant for the development of the Internet, and find that focused policy intervention and complex policy initiatives are more significant than other policy instruments in explaining the increase in the percentage of Internet users.

Aspects of population, recreation, and management of the Australian coastal zone

Abstract Australia's population is heavily concentrated in the coastal zone. This residential preference is matched by a preference for recreation in the coastal environment. Although much of the settled coastline is subject to storm damage, development has often proceeded in unstable areas and in the absence of strategic planning and informed management. As awareness of problems in the coastal zone has increased, Australian state governments have adopted a variety of arrangements for coastal management. This paper updates earlier descriptions of these arrangements. Attention is focused on the role, importance, and problems of local government authorities in coastal areas. Some examples are drawn from a local government area on the south coast of New South Wales.