Exploring chain, network and cluster collaborative practices:implications for SMEs

Collaboration among enterprises has been rendered as one of the most important issues in the business agenda, either as a result of the globalisation and deregulation of markets or as a result of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution. Both factors have created a business reality where success in the collaboration practices followed, may result in improvements in the competitive position of enterprises. This paper starts from the basic business activity of the individual enterprise, looks into the chain, network and cluster collaborative practices and analyses their characteristics and the implications for Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In addition, it provides insights regarding the opportunities, benefits, requirements and risks related to each collaborative practice. This paper finally argues that different collaboration practices are required, as enterprises and the industrial sectors where they operate, present distinctive characteristics.

Incorporating Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) practices into the planning context:the conceptual case for lot-scale developments

In recent decades, a number of sustainable strategies and polices have been created to protect and preserve our water environments from the impacts of growing communities. The Australian approach, Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), defined as the integration of urban planning and design with the urban water cycle management, has made considerable advances on design guidelines since 2000. WSUD stormwater management systems (e.g. wetlands, bioretentions, porous pavement etc), also known as Best Management Practices (BMPs) or Low Impact Development (LID), are slowly gaining popularity across Australia, the USA and Europe. There have also been significant improvements in how to model the performance of the WSUD technologies (e.g. MUSIC software). However, the implementation issues of these WSUD practices are mainly related to ongoing institutional capacity. Some of the key problems are associated with a limited awareness of urban planners and designers; in general, they have very little knowledge of these systems and their benefits to the urban environments. At the same time, hydrological engineers should have a better understanding of building codes and master plans. The land use regulations are equally as important as the physical site conditions for determining opportunities and constraints for implementing WSUD techniques. There is a need for procedures that can make a better linkage between urban planners and WSUD engineering practices. Thus, this paper aims to present the development of a general framework for incorporating WSUD technologies into the site planning process. The study was applied to lot-scale in the Melbourne region, Australia. Results show the potential space available for fitting WSUD elements, according to building requirements and different types of housing densities. © 2011 WIT Press.