A strategic marketing approach to national development initiatives involving large scale collaborative ventures (LSCV)

This paper relates to government initiatives which aim at advancing their country’s economic development and investor attractiveness. It identifies large scale projects that involve collaboration between government and business (termed: large scale collaborative venture – LSCV) as one aspect of competing in the new economy. The study pursued the research proposition that a LSCV can be effectively facilitated by following a theory based process similar to what is used in corporate practice. An approach to managing such ventures is outlined, based on strategic marketing theory applied to a major project, the Multifunction Polis. It is proposed that such an approach may enhance the success of a collaborative venture and thereby help countries participate more successfully in global competition through such ventures.

From the account manager’s conscience to top-of-mind : account planning in Australia

What began as the “account manager’s conscience” has grown to be top-of-mind in Australian advertising today. Account planning is a hybrid discipline which uses research to bring the consumer voice to the campaign process during strategy generation, creative development and evaluation. In Australia, account planning is subjected to the “Vegemite Factor” where planners are spread too thinly across accounts and much of the market is dominated by freelance researchers and planners. This unique environment has shaped many different perceptions of account planning in Australia. These are compared with an international definition of account planning and the current research. While many basic tenants of the definition are shared by Australian advertising professionals, the difference appears to be in the ongoing nature, team approach and level of commitment. In Australia, account planners seem to be more facilitators of the strategic direction, than directors of it. Instead of exerting a sustained influence across the campaign, most energy appears to be expended at the start of campaign development, rather than extending through to its evaluation.

The strategic and operational dimensions of staff training and professional development for information professionals : what neXus2 has revealed

The paper seeks to continue the debate about the need for professionals in the library and information services (LIS) sector to continually engage in career-long learning to sustain and develop their knowledge and skills in a dynamic industry. Aims: The neXus2 workforce study has been funded by the ALIA and the consortium of National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA). It builds on earlier research work (the neXus census) that looked at the demographic, educational and career perspectives of individual library and information professions, to critically examine institutional policies and practices associated with the LIS workforce. The research aims to develop a clearer understanding of the issues impacting on workforce sustainability, workforce capability and workforce optimisation. Methods: The research methodology involved an extensive online survey conducted in March 2008 which collected data on organisational and general staffing; recruitment and retention; staff development and continuing professional education; and succession planning. Encouragement to participate was provided by key industry groups, including academic, public, health, law and government library and information agencies, with the result that around 150 institutions completed the questionnaire. Results: The paper will specifically discuss the research findings relating to training and professional development, to measure the scope and distribution of training activities across the workforce, to consider the interrelationship between the strategic and operational dimensions of staff development in individual institutions and to analyse the common and distinctive factors evident in the different sectors of the profession. Conclusion: The neXus2 project has successfully engaged LIS institutions in the collection of complex industry data that is relevant to the future education and workforce strategies for all areas of the profession. Cross-sector forums such as Information Online 2009 offer the opportunity for stimulating professional dialogue on the key issues.

Planning for smart urban ecosystems : information technology applications for capacity building in environmental decision making

Since the industrial revolution, our world has experienced rapid and unplanned industrialization and urbanization. As a result, we have had to cope with serious environmental challenges. In this context, an explanation of how smart urban ecosystems can emerge, gains a crucial importance. Capacity building and community involvement have always been key issues in achieving sustainable development and enhancing urban ecosystems. By considering these, this paper looks at new approaches to increase public awareness of environmental decision making. This paper will discuss the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), particularly Webbased Geographic Information Systems (Web-based GIS) as spatial decision support systems to aid public participatory environmental decision making. The paper also explores the potential and constraints of these webbased tools for collaborative decision making.

Multi-objective mission flight planning in civil unmanned aerial systems

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are emerging as an ideal platform for a wide range of civil applications such as disaster monitoring, atmospheric observation and outback delivery. However, the operation of UAVs is currently restricted to specially segregated regions of airspace outside of the National Airspace System (NAS). Mission Flight Planning (MFP) is an integral part of UAV operation that addresses some of the requirements (such as safety and the rules of the air) of integrating UAVs in the NAS. Automated MFP is a key enabler for a number of UAV operating scenarios as it aids in increasing the level of onboard autonomy. For example, onboard MFP is required to ensure continued conformance with the NAS integration requirements when there is an outage in the communications link. MFP is a motion planning task concerned with finding a path between a designated start waypoint and goal waypoint. This path is described with a sequence of 4 Dimensional (4D) waypoints (three spatial and one time dimension) or equivalently with a sequence of trajectory segments (or tracks). It is necessary to consider the time dimension as the UAV operates in a dynamic environment. Existing methods for generic motion planning, UAV motion planning and general vehicle motion planning cannot adequately address the requirements of MFP. The flight plan needs to optimise for multiple decision objectives including mission safety objectives, the rules of the air and mission efficiency objectives. Online (in-flight) replanning capability is needed as the UAV operates in a large, dynamic and uncertain outdoor environment. This thesis derives a multi-objective 4D search algorithm entitled Multi- Step A* (MSA*) based on the seminal A* search algorithm. MSA* is proven to find the optimal (least cost) path given a variable successor operator (which enables arbitrary track angle and track velocity resolution). Furthermore, it is shown to be of comparable complexity to multi-objective, vector neighbourhood based A* (Vector A*, an extension of A*). A variable successor operator enables the imposition of a multi-resolution lattice structure on the search space (which results in fewer search nodes). Unlike cell decomposition based methods, soundness is guaranteed with multi-resolution MSA*. MSA* is demonstrated through Monte Carlo simulations to be computationally efficient. It is shown that multi-resolution, lattice based MSA* finds paths of equivalent cost (less than 0.5% difference) to Vector A* (the benchmark) in a third of the computation time (on average). This is the first contribution of the research. The second contribution is the discovery of the additive consistency property for planning with multiple decision objectives. Additive consistency ensures that the planner is not biased (which results in a suboptimal path) by ensuring that the cost of traversing a track using one step equals that of traversing the same track using multiple steps. MSA* mitigates uncertainty through online replanning, Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and tolerance. Each trajectory segment is modeled with a cell sequence that completely encloses the trajectory segment. The tolerance, measured as the minimum distance between the track and cell boundaries, is the third major contribution. Even though MSA* is demonstrated for UAV MFP, it is extensible to other 4D vehicle motion planning applications. Finally, the research proposes a self-scheduling replanning architecture for MFP. This architecture replicates the decision strategies of human experts to meet the time constraints of online replanning. Based on a feedback loop, the proposed architecture switches between fast, near-optimal planning and optimal planning to minimise the need for hold manoeuvres. The derived MFP framework is original and shown, through extensive verification and validation, to satisfy the requirements of UAV MFP. As MFP is an enabling factor for operation of UAVs in the NAS, the presented work is both original and significant.

The planning of airport regions and National Aviation Policy Issues and challenges in the Australian experience 2008-2009

The planning of airports has long been contentious because of their localisation of negative impacts. The globalisation, commercialisation and deregulation of the aviation industry has unleashed powerful new economic forces both on and offairport. Over the last two decades, many airports have evolved into airport cities located at the heart of the wider aerotropolis region. This shifts the appropriate scale of planning analysis towards broader regional concerns. However,governments have been slow to respond and airport planning usually remains poorly integrated with local, city and regional planning imperatives. The Australian experience exemplifies the divide. The privatization of major Australian airports from 1996 has seen billions of dollars spent on new airside and landside infrastructure but with little oversight from local and state authorities because the ultimate authority for on-airport development is the Federal Minister for Transport. Consequently, there have been growing tensions in many major airport regions between the private airport lessee and the broader community, exacerbated by both the building of highly conspicuous non-aeronautical developments and growing airport area congestion. This paper examines the urban planning content of Australia’s national aviation policy review (2008-09) with reference to current and potential opportunities for all-of-region collaboration in the planning process.

The strategic mindset of Australian manufacturing managers : some missing links

Manufacturing managers have a measurable mindset (or frame) that structures their response to the manufacturing environment. Most importantly, this frame represents a set of assumptions about the relative prominence of concepts in the manufacturing domains, about the nature of people, and about the sensemaking processes required to understand the nature of the manufacturing environment as seen through the eyes of manufacturing managers. This paper uses work in the area of text analysis and extends the scope of a methodology that has been approached from two different directions by Carley ( Journal of Organizational Behavior , 18 (51), 533-558, 1997) and Gephart ( Journal of Organizational Behavior , 18 (51), 583-622, 1997). This methodology is termed collocate analysis. Based on the analysis of transcripts of interviews of Australian manufacturing managers mind maps of the concepts used by these managers have been constructed. From an analysis of these mind maps it is argued that strategy plays a minor role in their thinking second only to the improvement domain, whereas design and related concepts play a dominant role in their day-to-day thinking.

Analysing strategic alliances in building construction

Building construction is a highly competitive and risky business. This competitiveness is compounded where conflicting objectives amongst contracting and subcontracting firms sets the stage for an adversarial and potentially destructive approach. There is a need for change in the construction industry—not only to a more cooperative approach to build mutual trust, respect and good faith—but also from a confrontationist and adversarial attitude to a harmonious relationship. It is necessary to change the culture to create a win-win situation. “Strategic Alliances” is one such concept. A strategic alliance is a cooperative arrangement between two or more organisations that forms part of their overall strategies, and contributes to achieving their major goals and objectives. This paper begins with an overview of the Australian building construction industry, then reviews the literature and describes an analysis framework comprising six attributes of strategic alliances—trust, commitment, interdependence, cooperation, communication, and joint problem solving. Given the trend towards greater emphasis on broader contracting firm performance criteria, indicators are proposed as a component of the tender evaluation process for public works.

A planning support system for airport city development

Many airports around the world are diversifying their land use strategies to integrate non-aeronautical development. These airports embrace the “airport city” concept to develop a wide range of commercial and light industrial land uses to support airport revenues. The consequences of this changing urban form are profound for both airport and municipal planners alike and present numerous challenges with regard to integration of airport and regional planning. While several tools exist for regional planning and airport operational planning, no holistic airport landside and regional planning tool exist. What is required is a planning support system that can integrate the sometimes conflicting stakeholder interests into one common goal for the airport and the surrounding region. This paper presents a planning support system and evaluates its application to a case study involving Brisbane Airport and the South East Queensland region in Australia.

Strategic infrastructure asset management : a conceptual framework to identify capabilities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that can be used to identify capabilities needed in the management of infrastructure assets. Design/methodology/approach – This paper utilises a qualitative approach to analyse secondary data in order to develop a conceptual framework that identifies capabilities for strategic infrastructure asset management. Findings – In an external business environment that is undergoing rapid change, it is more appropriate to focus on factors internal to the organisation such as resources and capabilities as a basis to develop competitive advantage. However, there is currently very little understanding of the internal capabilities that are appropriate for infrastructure asset management. Therefore, a conceptual framework is needful to guide infrastructure organisations in the identification of capabilities. Research limitations/implications – This is a conceptual paper and future empirical research should be conducted to validate the propositions made in the paper. Practical implications – The paper clearly argues the need for infrastructure organisations to adopt a systematic approach to identifying the capabilities needed in the management of strategic infrastructure assets. The discussion on the impact of essential capabilities is useful in providing the impetus for managers who operate in a deregulated infrastructure business landscape to review their existing strategies. Originality/value – The paper provides a new perspective on how asset managers can create value for their organisations by investing in the relevant capabilities.