Strategic Preferences Research Articles

Simulating incomes of radical organic farms with MERLIN: A grounded modeling approach for French microfarms

Microfarms are commercial soil-based market gardens with <1.5ha of organic vegetables per farmer seeking to make a living on that small acreage by combing high land-use intensity, low input and few mechanized practices with direct sells. Insights in their profitability are missing in literature. Our research objective was to build a simulation model of micro-farms' income and agricultural area based on farmers' expertise. An interactive development based on grounded modelling was implemented. This implied an inductive qualitative analysis and farmers' participation to collect data and to build and validate the model. With data collected on 20 micro-farms', a stochastic simulation model (MERLIN) was built, combining (i) two mixed models to predict yields and workload for 50 crops, and (ii) a crop-planning model. MERLIN generates cropping plans that match the complex and temporal commercial requirements for direct selling of vegetable boxes through community-supported agricultural schemes. The model was validated with various strategic choices, climate assumptions and annual workload. Our model was judged relevant and legitimate by agricultural practitioners because it was not prescriptive and corresponds to strategic preferences of organic farmers. Grounded modelling is promising to create generic knowledge adapted to radical organic farming systems, but some epistemological implications require further investigation, e.g. by taking benefit from the transdisciplinary framework developed in agroecological studies.

Integration of an Assessment Methodology for the Selection of Joining Technologies in Lightweight Engineering

The automotive sector is facing various challenges such as stricter environmental regulations for more sustainable products and processes or rising production costs. The resulting trend to lightweight engineering is leading to an increasing variety of materials, on the one hand. On the other hand, the specific characteristics of the individual materials are presenting restrictions for joining technologies. These restrictions are leading to a growing diversity of joining technologies and to a lack of transparency in regards to the impact of monetary (economic) and non-monetary (technological and ecological) criteria. To date, the selection of the optimum joining technology in lightweight engineering is based on the expertise of the developer. A standardized procedure for the assessment and selection of joining technologies does not exist. Hence, a statement about the potential of a technology cannot be made due to the non-transparency of its overall expenditure and benefit for individual applications. The extant literature presents several approaches for the assessment of joining technologies, mostly focusing on monetary criteria. However, none of the models discusses the difficulty of the limited data availability of product and process information in the early stage of product development in lightweight engineering. An essential part of this contribution is the consolidation of monetary and non-monetary criteria and integrating the research into the product development process for the assessment and selection of joining technologies. For this purpose, an assessment portfolio has been developed, which considers, besides monetary and non-monetary criteria also the strategic preferences of a developer to allow an optimized and sustainable decision-making of joining technologies in the early stage of the product development in lightweight engineering.

Patterns of strategic culture and the Italian case

The international relations literature has not produced a systematic typology of the different models of strategic cultures. This study aims to close this gap and contribute to the development and refinement of the concept of strategic culture by elaborating a typology that is based on current studies and researches. The typology is employed to analyse the strategic culture of the Italian political elite in the twenty-first century. Using an empirical analysis of the belief systems of the Italian party and bureaucratic elites, the study determines whether the model of Italian strategic culture, which has remained dominant since WWII, persisted during the post-Cold War period and the extent to which the current leadership has an image of international politics and strategic preferences consistent with this model.

Optimizing decisions in advanced manufacturing of prefabricated products: Theorizing supply chain configurations in off-site construction

Abstract Robust supply decision making is critical to the advanced manufacturing of prefabricated products. Previous related research focused on minimizing cost overruns in off-site construction supply networks by optimizing purchasing decisions. However, decision parameters such as strategic preferences to include or exclude certain suppliers and utilization of multi-supplier configurations are yet to be formulated and analytically solved. The proposed optimization models aim to enhance supply network performance with a smaller overall investment. Toward this aim, three research hypotheses on optimization of supply decisions and configurations are developed and tested. A real-world precast panel production project serves as the test bed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the mathematical programming and analyze cost implications of supply related decisions. The modeling method and results contribute to optimal decision making in advanced manufacturing of prefabricated products.

The alleged consensus: Italian elites and publics on foreign policy

The article compares the way Italian (governmental and political) elites and (organized and general) publics perceive the international system and conceive of the role of Italy in it by using anad hocsurvey conducted specifically for this study. In order to establish whether a horizontal (left-right) and vertical (top-down) consensus exists on foreign policy, special attention has been paid to divergence and convergence patterns in terms of threat perception, feelings towards the (American and European) allies, support for the main institutional mechanisms of coordination and cooperation, and willingness to use military power to defend the constituted order and the national interest, while controlling for the position and level of action of each actor within the foreign policy-making process as well as her or his ideological orientation. While tracing elites’ and publics’ attitudes towards a wide range of foreign policy and security issues, the article reveals the effect of ideological and situational factors on the strategic preferences of national policy-makers and public opinion. In doing this, it contributes to define both the substance and boundaries of the alleged consensus, based on shared norms and historical legacies, supposedly overcoming socio-economic and political cleavages in matters of foreign policy.

Productions and Perceptions of Apologies: Intercultural Comparisons

The productions and perceptions of apologies vary from one language to another in terms of linguistic realization patterns, strategic preferences, and evaluative opinions. Accordingly, these variations motivate the investigation of apology use and its perceptions in different languages. By comparing productions and perceptions of apologies among college students who speak Arabic, Russian, English and Chinese languages, the current study reports on the students’ various strategic preferences (i.e., explicit or direct apology strategies, less explicit or indirect apology strategies and strategy combinations) and their diverging tendencies to evaluate the im/politeness of apologies. The results have confirmed that although the concept of apology is universal, its applications and interpretations can be divergent across various language groups and within each language group. These observed discrepancies can be attributed to sociocultural influences (e.g., face need concerns and culturally-specific perceptions of sincerity), gender-related differences (e.g., explicit and indirect apology strategies used more frequently by females than males) and situational characteristics (e.g., positive vs. negative face threatened situations, and in-group vs. out-group memberships). In addition, the author believes that this synthesis study will provide certain implications for ESL/EFL teaching and learning by enhancing the awareness of intercultural communicators to better make inferences from the effects of the three responsible factors on their use of apologies.

Strategic Innovation and Consumer Preferences: An Analysis of Malaysian Hybrid Car Policy

This study analyzes the role of consumer choice in determining a strategic innovation policy. We establish an international Bertrand duopoly and conduct a choice modelling technique. The theoretical finding shows that an increase in investment in hybrid technology innovation increases the demand for hybrid cars. However, the empirical results show that consumers do not appreciate all attributes, only the hybrid battery, CO2 emission level and the sound of hybrid engines. We suggest that the government focus on the significant attributes in order to force not only the domestic automobile firm to innovate but the vendors as well.

Choice of Structure, Business Model and Portfolio: Organizational Models of Knowledge Transfer Offices in British Universities

AbstractThis paper addresses the gap in the knowledge transfer literature around how universities choose specific organizational models for their knowledge transfer offices (KTOs). Organization theory points towards strong interlinkages between strategy, structure and processes in organizations. This motivates an exploration of similar links within the organizational setup of KTOs. In doing so, the paper provides a unified theoretical framework around a university's choice of structure, business model and strategic preferences for their KTOs linked to university‐specific contextual factors. A qualitative approach is used wherein four very distinct British universities are examined as individual case studies. The authors find that strategic aims of the university around practitioner engagement, the quantity of applied research and research specialization are key factors in determining the organizational characteristics of the KTO. The theoretical framework derived from the cases makes two key contributions to the university knowledge transfer literature. First, it links the university‐level contextual factors to the local model of knowledge transfer. Second, it allows us to develop a set of generic models of knowledge transfer, which can potentially guide universities to develop their own specific models.

Różnice w korzystaniu ze strategii uczenia się języka angielskiego przez studentów: wnioski z badania

The present paper investigates the relationships between language learning strategies and their determinants, such as learners’ gender, their area of studies, and personality traits. It describes a study conducted on a group of 199 students of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. The results of the study indicate that a number of statistically significant relationships exist between strategy use and other individual variables, e.g. gender, level of proficiency, or learners’ area of studies. Moreover, the authors of the study make an attempt to identify and characterise students’ profiles in terms of their personal characteristics and strategic preferences so as to cast light on various paths to foreign language proficiency.

'Yes-Man' Firms: Government Campaigns and Policy Positioning of Businesses in China

We advance a theory of strategic preference expression in authoritarian systems, where business elites express dissent or conformity to the government based on material incentives. Their position-taking strategies vary depending on whether firms have the bargaining power to extract benefits or avoid punishment from the government. Using survey experiments with firm executives in China, we show that a government campaign treatment — a preface that signals the government’s commitment to opening further to inward foreign direct investment (FDI) — increases the percentage of firms reporting “benefit” from inward FDI between 14 and 36 percentage points. The executives of politically vulnerable firms (private owned) conform to the government’s position the most. Private firms with higher financial dependence on government conform more than their non-private counterparts. The executives of powerful firms (state-owned and foreign-owned) change their responses the least to induce policy concessions. We demonstrate a material origin of political desirability bias in autocracies.

The Logic and Illogic of an Israeli Unilateral Preventive Strike on Iran

The Israeli political leadership has invested massively in preparing a credible preventive strike option on Iran’s nuclear program. The article assesses this option in the context of Israel’s operational acumen and strategic preferences. It points out to a critical gap between the capacity to achieve the operational objectives and the strategic utility of a preventive strike. It then discusses the logical fallacies underlying Israeli leaders’ explanations of how this gap would be overcome, assessing the potential downsides of a strike.

Ulusal stratejiler çerçevesinde birlikte çalışabilirlik eylemlerinin değerlendirilmesi

Interoperability (IO) is an inevitable element in making business and operations at expanded efciency and productivity in the frame of information sharing. Public and business organizations and their systems should provide consensus as to the common language and the standards to be used to understand each other and to have an accurate interpretation of one another’s data and operations. Otherwise, incompatible and inefcient business operations may occur; and the need for human interference may arise or inaccuracies may emerge for a number of processes that could be carried out electronically from beginning to end. Since IO crosses horizontally many of the sectors, it should be considered by all parts. For this reason, in the recent term, a series of applied strategic preferences and activities at national level include, directly or indirectly, strategic preferences and activities related to IO. These actions touch upon all dimensions of IO, technical, semantic and organizational. In this study, within the context of the eservices, national strategies and action plans with the other several signicant activities have been examined, its general appearance from past to present has been expressed, and through these evaluations, recommendations in relation to future IO works have been given.

DISCURSIVE STRATEGY OF SCIENTIFIC REPORT AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION

This article provides rationale for making strategic changes to the content of the scientific report. The necessity to put in the discourse of the scientific report two formations of strategic preferences at once is justified: on the one hand, the description of the scientific results as a product of conceptualization of scientific experience, and on the other hand, - alignment of marketing strategies as a tool for its commercialization.The paper shows the basic tool conceptualization of scientific experience when describing the results of the study - The system of verb concepts in type of event. The semantic volume of verb concept allows to describe the content of the event, which is in mind represented by propositional structure of scenario. The results of the semantic analysis of the reports’ texts showed that out of the four types of scenarios used in the texts of the reports, only one describes the result of the research itself. With this description of extrapolation of research results from the reporting documentation to the marketing communication field becomes difficult enough.To resolve this problem, it is proposed to extent the context of scientific discourse through classification of scientific results, as well as through the inclusion of information of marketing type. The implementation of the strategy of extending the context will increase the pragmatic constituent of the discourse: it will provide the influence to the potential consumer of system of explicit and hidden meanings, revealing scientific and market value of the scientific product derived from the research.

Between Trump's America and Putin's Russia: Nordic-Baltic Security Relations amid Transatlantic Drift

With the ‘return of geopolitics’ in Europe signalled in earnest by Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, this article examines the implications of Donald Trump's unpredictable US security policy for regional security in Northern Europe. While Trump's public rhetoric chastising NATO creates uncertainties for Europe's security, his administration's policy has remained committed to NATO's deterrence efforts. Against initial expectations for US-Russia rapprochement based on realpolitik during the Trump era, controversies and the administration's security policy actions have brought some unexpected discord in relations with Russia. A realist ‘grand bargain’ between Moscow and Washington that marginalises Nordic and Baltic security interests has become a remote prospect. Despite these reprieves, enhanced Nordic-Baltic security and defence cooperation is increasingly necessary. Overcoming occasional divergence in strategic preferences for effective military cooperation will ensure that the Nordic and Baltic states can strengthen regional deterrence and improve political relations with the Trump administration in an era of possible ‘transatlantic drift’.

The Public Costs of Grand Strategy in the Trump Era

American grand strategy is at a crossroads. The preferred trajectory of president‐elect Trump, hardball isolationism and nationalism, runs counter to the American tradition of global leadership and liberal interventionism. Despite Trump's preference for a new grand strategy, it is far from preordained that he will successfully resist Washington's perennial pull of hegemony once sworn into office. Therefore, it is imperative to examine the strategic preferences of the American public, given that it has to bear the costs of this grand strategy. So what can one expect when the public is disinterested in supporting such an ambitious grand strategy?

Who drives China's renewable energy policies? Understanding the role of industrial corporations

This paper investigates the rise of a policy community in China's renewable energy sectors. After a decade of spectacular expansion of wind and solar energy industries, a PC that comprises both government and industrial actors is taking shape in China. The main finding of this research is that influential corporations, such as leading wind turbine and solar panel manufacturers or state-owned electricity utility companies, have played an important role in the renewable energy policy process by framing the strategic preferences and policy priority, and by negotiating and coordinating with state actors at both central and local level. Therefore, in China's climate governance domain, instead of a traditional perception of a state-led governance mode in which state officers are often believed to be the only crucial actors to steer climate-related policies, this study reveals that the government's autonomy in the policy process is increasingly constrained by the rising industrial interest groups who possess considerable resources and institutional power in China's renewable energy policy subsystem.

Sex differences on the competitive place task in the water maze: The influence of peripheral pool time on spatial navigation performance in rats

This study investigated sex differences on the competitive place version of the Morris water maze task to determine whether potential strategy differences would emerge during any phase of the study but in particular on the competitive place phase. Previous findings indicate that this version of the task is highly sensitive to measures that disrupt NMDA-dependent synaptic plasticity within the hippocampus during memory consolidation (McDonald et al., 2005). The present findings revealed significant sex differences during all phases of the study, including Phase I with standard place training to located a hidden platform/goal, Phase II mass training to a new place with the platform/goal relocated to the diagonally opposite quadrant and Phase III, competitive place probe test with the platform removed to measure spatial behaviour directed at either location. The findings showed no sex difference in escape latency and other standard performance measures during the first two phases, initial place acquisition and mass training to a new location. A very subtle male advantage in visiting both Old and New place locations during the third phase place competition test was observed, however, in the time spent swimming in the periphery of the pool, the pool wall (Zone C – outer third radial distance) was increased for females during all phases of the study, suggesting a general effect may have influenced place location search behaviour of the females. Increased peripheral pool time may represent a female preference for approaching the wall, a local cue. Alternatively, the possibility that increased peripheral swimming/thigmotaxis may represent hormonal influences interacting with strategic preferences were discussed, though no definitive conclusions about sex differences in cognitive-spatial performance or memory consolidation were inferred from the present findings. The findings suggest that mixed results reported in the literature by others may be due in part to an interaction with a persistent peripheral pool swimming response demonstrated in female rats.

The varying value of a friendly face: Experimentally induced stress is associated with higher preferences for friendship with people possessing feminine versus masculine face traits.

Social support can provide a buffer to the negative consequences of stress. Previous research suggests that stress can promote affiliative and cooperative behaviours in those who are stressed. Here we examined how stress might influence who we choose to affiliate with. We measured preferences for friendships with friendly appearing feminized faces versus less friendly appearing masculinized faces after individuals undertook a stressful laboratory task. Stressed individuals had increased preferences for friendships with people with feminine faces. These data demonstrate that individuals prefer more friendly appearing feminine faced people as friends when stressed than when not stressed. This preference is likely adaptive in directing individuals towards others who are most likely to provide social support when it is needed and so reflect strategic friendship preferences.

Selection of high-rate gas well completion designs applying multi-criteria decision making and hierarchy methods

Selecting the appropriate well completion design, equipment and installation techniques are frequent decisions required of oil and gas operators. Making selections from alternative completion designs can lead to enhanced well productivity, lower capital costs, less completion time and lower intervention/maintenance costs. However, typically there is a tradeoff of these benefits; with certain designs leading to lower costs and others leading to higher productivity or less risk of operational risks and costs. The decision often becomes a strategic one; imposing identified priorities of the operator upon the technical performance and cost assumptions made for each alternative. Multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM) offer a means of evaluating such decisions in a consistent and systematic way taking into account available information, assumptions and strategic preferences. MCDM is applied to three high-rate-gas-well-completion alternatives, i.e., mono bore (MB), big bore (BB) and optimized big bore (OBB), in order to aid the selection among them given certain strategic priorities. The MCDM techniques applied to gas-well-completion decisions are analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The criteria considered by these techniques include: time to run the completion, capital and operating costs involved, gas production rate achieved, and risk exposure associated with each well completion technique. The MCDM applied are particularly effective at providing insight to decisions when sensitivity analysis is conducted based upon different weights (i.e., strategic priorities) applied to the key technical attributes of the well completion alternatives.

An Operational Process for Organizational Foresight and Anticipation

A coherent theoretical framework is introduced that adopts Manoa School’s four alternative futures to help make sense and investigate the four building blocks of the future, which are trends, events, images, and actions in three layers of organization, region, and the globe in terms of social, technological, environmental, economic, and political areas. Qualitative system dynamics mapping also provides insight into the systematic interactions such as long chains of perceived causation, and identification of reinforcing and balancing loops in addition to the overall system behavior, and the underlying story, in each alternative future. Linking strategic foresight to concrete specific actions is accomplished by referring to a professionally developed horizon scanning and monitoring database. Each news item is analyzed through an operational process that (1) uncovers the dynamics of each scenario seen from alternative mental models of analysts; (2) assesses the eventual impacts on the value system, that is, strategic preferences, through searching for cause and effect chains that influence them; and (3) encourages creativity in suggestion of concrete necessary actions in each part of the organizational chart to sustain profitability, to achieve other values, and to prepare thoughtful practical responses to upcoming challenges and opportunities.