International operations strategy of public sector organisations

Public sector organisations in many countries are internationalising their operations into other countries. This internationalisation frequently follows channels such as aid schemes offered by the country's government. An investigation was conducted to determine whether the four categories of stJ'ategy approach in Miles and Snow's typology could be used to categorise the internationalisation operation strategy approach of Australian public sector organisations. Qualitative data collected from eight Australian public sector organisations determined that a set of nine operations strategy dimensions identified from the literature applied to the internationalisation behaviours of Australian public sector organisations. The data also indicated that Miles and Snow's four categories of strategy could be used to describe the combined international operation strategy behaviours of Australian public sector organisations. In addition, it was found that the international operation strategy behaviours of Australian public sector organisations aligned with at least two (and in one case four) of Miles and Snow's strategy categories. Alignment with two of Miles and Snow's strategy categories was quite commonly identified in other empirical studies of this typology.

Influence operations and behavioural change

The intended outcome of Information Operations appears to be a favourable change (to the instigator) in attitudes or belief systems of the target, however, the relationship between attitude and behaviour is tenuous. Propaganda and other methods of ‘influence’ are difficult to assess as the cause and effect relationship is complicated. The short term effects of psychological warfare where force is used in conjunction with influence techniques can be easily assessed; at least at a superficial level. Even in the latter case, the actual causes and effects could be solely the force used or some other factors rather than the psychological techniques per se. Influence Operations attempt to win the hearts and minds of the target audience but, even if successful, the lasting effects of a campaign are problematic. It is further complicated because if a person has a particular view, it does not mean that the ensuing behaviours will reflect that view. Also, there is evidence that the use of force on one set of people produces attitudes and behaviours that instigate radical beliefs and behaviours in another set. So psychological warfare techniques on one group that may or may not produce compliant behaviour stimulates another group to empathise with the victims thus producing an overall practical negative influence. Influence campaigns cannot be separated from the physical environment in which they are executed. If good politics requires good influence campaigns then good influence campaigns require good politics to back them up. This paper will examine the relationships between short term influence campaigns and compare them with the more long term socialising effects such as early education, family and physical attributes that have on attitudes and beliefs which result in the development of such behaviours as terrorism.

Implications of short and long term critical flux experiments for laboratory-scale MBR operations

This paper evaluates the critical flux obtained by different techniques including tests with different flux step lengths (20 and 40 min and 7 days) and modes of operation (continuous and intermittent) under low and high MLSS concentrations. The paper also analyses a couple of long-term tests (flow rate of 40 and 20 L/day) to obtain the time required to reach the critical flux experimentally and compares those values with the results obtained numerically from a mathematical model. It was found that intermittent mode with membrane relaxation was useful in controlling the fouling of membrane and in restoring the membrane from fouling at lower MLSS.

Is proximity to a food retail store associated with diet and BMI in Glasgow, Scotland?

Background: Access to healthy food is often seen as a potentially important contributor to diet. Policy documents in many countries suggest that variations in access contribute to inequalities in diet and in health. Some studies, mostly in the USA, have found that proximity to food stores is associated with dietary patterns, body weight and socio-economic differences in diet and obesity, whilst others have found no such relationships. We aim to investigate whether proximity to food retail stores is associated with dietary patterns or Body Mass Index in Glasgow, a large city in the UK.
Methods: We mapped data from a ‘Health and Well-Being Survey’ (n = 991), and a list of food stores (n = 741) in Glasgow City, using ArcGIS, and undertook network analysis to find the distance from respondents’ home addresses to the nearest fruit and vegetable store, small general store, and supermarket.
Results: We found few statistically significant associations between proximity to food retail outlets and diet or obesity, for unadjusted or adjusted models, or when stratifying by gender, car ownership or employment.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that in urban settings in the UK the distribution of retail food stores may not be a major influence on diet and weight, possibly because most urban residents have reasonable access to food stores

Ethical considerations and guidelines in web analytics and digital marketing : a retail case study

Within the information economy customers utilise the media that interests them, view the news that affects them and read about the people that inspire them. Web analytics enables an organisation to collect customers' data as they interact with an organisation. Then with analysis of the captured data, organisations can offer a unique online experience, tailored to the customer's individual preferences and create direct marketing campaigns that target individual consumers. This paper discusses the ethical considerations of collecting customer data and highlights how ethical guidelines can better inform organisational behaviour.