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The Great Lakes Futures Project (GLFP) created a space for dialogue among stakeholders regarding the basin's past, present, and future. The GLFP used scenario analysis to paint alternate futures and engage stakeholders in a discourse on how to move away from an undesirable future and toward a desired one. Here, we (1) synthesize the results of a process that helped stakeholders collectively understand challenges and identify barriers to more effective policy; (2) provide a set of principles as tools to help overcome these challenges and shape strategic policy formulation; and (3) recommend broad policy directions, using the principles as a guide, to move the basin toward one that thrives ecologically, socially, and economically.

espanolEste articulo describe los tipos y principios fundamentales de las fusiones y adquisiciones, politica estrategica adoptada por muchas companias de todo el mundo en su esfuerzo por expandir su negocio, entrar en nuevos mercados, sectores y paises, asi como por mitigar la competencia de otros rivales. Ademas de la descripcion de los diferentes tipos de fusiones y adquisiciones, se desglosan las motivaciones que subyacen a tales acciones, junto con los obstaculos y contra-incentivos que pudieran hacer fracasar tales acuerdos, asi como se estudia la importante cuestion de su financiacion. A continuacion, se lleva a cabo un breve analisis de las tendencias actuales en el curso de las fusiones y adquisiciones. Posteriormente, el articulo se centra en la ola de recientes adquisiciones en el sector bancario griego, destacando el caso de la absorcion del Emporiki Bank por el Alpha Bank. El analisis realizado proporciona cierta evidencia del efecto positivo en el valor de la cartera de los de los accionistas del Alpha Bank provocado por el anuncio de tal absorcion EnglishThis paper describes the types and main principles of mergers and acquisitions, a strategic policy adopted by many firms worldwide in their efforts to expand their business, enter new markets, sectors and countries as well as to mitigate the competition they face from rivals. In addition to the description of the various types of mergers and acquisitions, the motivations behind such actions are broken down along with the obstacles and counterincentives that can lead to the failure of such deals and the significant issue of financing a merger or an acquisition. A brief analysis of the recent trends in international mergers and acquisitions is subsequently provided. The paper goes on to focus on the recent wave of acquisitions in the Greek banking sector by highlighting the case of Alpha Bank’s takeover of Emporiki Bank. The analysis performed provides some evidence of a positive financial effect for Alpha Bank’s shareholders as a result of the announcement of that takeover

The implementation of the sustainable development goals requires the coordinated activities at all levels of government and administration, including the regional level. The Sverdlovsk Region, one of the leading regions of the Russian Federation, actively uses the mechanisms of the strategic management in making the socio-economic policy, however, the coordination of the traditional strategic priorities and goals of sustainable development of the UN is required. Comparison of the SDGs and strategic policy directions implemented in the Sverdlovsk region made it possible to identify three groups of SDGs: highly reflected in strategic documents, partially implemented and not yet reflected in making a regional strategy. Despite the high level of coordination of the SDGs and the strategic objectives of the region, there are the problematic areas, including the activities to combat poverty and gender policy. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2020.

This paper proposes age and periodic replacement last models with continuous, and discrete policies. That is, an operating unit is replaced preventively at time T of operation as a strategic policy, or at a number N of working cycles to satisfy successive job completion, whichever occurs last. Such policies are named as replacement last, and their expected cost rates and optimal policies are obtained. However, the focus of this paper is to compare replacement last with replacement first policies, which are formulated under the classical assumption of whichever occurs first. From the points of cost and performability, different comparative methods for continuous and discrete optimizations are demonstrated to determine in what cases we should adopt replacement last rather than replacement first. All theoretical discussions in this paper are made analytically, and are computed numerically. National Natural Science Foundation of China71371097; Qatar National Research Fundunder Grant No. NPRP 09-774-2-297; and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canadaunder Grant No. 104966-2010 Scopus

International collaboration has become a strategic policy initiative for building scientific competency in different countries. This is driven by increasing realisation that no country possess all the wherewithal to address complexities of scientific research, dedicate huge funding, and confront global challenges. Varied institutional mechanisms have been created by different countries for strategising international collaboration such as signing bilateral agreements, initiating dedicated programs with partner countries in different S&T areas. Some countries have further deepened their relationship by creating bilateral S&T organisations/specialised centres. The role of bilateral organisation in strengthening inter-country research and innovation partnership is not explicitly underscored in collaboration studies. The present study addresses this issue by taking up the case study of a bilateral organisation IFCPAR/CEFIPRA (Indo-French Centre for Promotion of Advanced Research/Centre Franco-Indien pour la Promotion de la Recherche Avancee) which was established by India and France in 1987 to support their science and technology partnership. Through this case study the paper draws insight of inter-country collaboration in S&T and show how its dynamics and structural aspects are affected by a bilateral organisation.

A decade of transformation that emerged following a period of inertia and insularity in Irish education, the 1960s is widely regarded by scholars as representing a paradigm shift in education policy. Marked by a more interventionist, strategic policy approach, this period resulted in significant democratisation of education, particularly at post-primary level. Based on an analysis of key primary sources, many of which are here examined for the first time, this article argues that this step change in policy, the impact of which should not be underestimated, would not have been possible without the deep-seated commitment of a number of politicians and policy advisers committed to the democratisation of post-primary education.

Although many policy process and diffusion theories follow the premise that scientific and technological knowledge plays a crucial role in a wide variety of policy fields, very few empirically assess the impact that institutional and process-relevant factors may have on the position of science within a process. The present study addresses the question of what role science plays in policy processes. To answer this, we apply the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) and investigate three complementary assumptions using a qualitative comparison of four cases: the ACF claims that scientific experts can take very different positions in the policy process, depending on how conflictive or consensus-oriented the relations among actors and coalitions are within a so-called policy subsystem. Put differently, the type of subsystem impacts on the position of science within the process. The results show that subsystem-specific factors impact upon whether scientific representatives act at the periphery of a process or as ...

Angke Kapuk Protected Forest (AKPF) which is formed by mangroves has many important benefits for environment. AKPF, as implied in Master Plan of Jakarta City (RTRW DKI Jakarta) serve as a guarded and protected area. AKPF condition which is more threatened needs strategic policy in management. Accordingly, this research was aimed to identify and analyze AKPF internal-external factors and to arrange AKPF management strategies. Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) and External Factor Evaluation (EFE) are used for identifying and analyzing AKPF internal-external factors. SWOT Matrix and QSPM are used for arranging management strategies and its priority.AKPF internal factors are strengths and weaknesses. AKPF external factors are opportunities and threats. Evaluation result shows, that AKPF internal factors have a score of 2.15. AKPF has not fully received the benefits for its strength. On the other hand, AKPF is greatly influenced by its weakness. AKPF external factors have a score of 2.20. According to the score, AKPFhas not received benefits from the various opportunities that exist. On the other hand, AKPFis still weak in the face of dynamic external environment. There are eight management strategies for AKPF, in which mangrove rehabilitation is the main priority. Keywords: AKPF, external factors, internal factors, management strategy

Observers saw US “pivot” to Asia announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2011 as a strategic policy to balance China's rise. But the Obama administration denied this, making the goals of the pivot unclear. President Obama added an economic element to the pivot with the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This complicated the pivot. Defence spending, needed to make it work, was cut. Currently it is difficult to discern where the pivot stands.

The Marine Corps Training Command or (Kolatmar) has the main task of carrying out plans and programs for building the capability of the training commands in the Marine Corps. The current problem is that the distance from the marine corps student education center in AAL, KODIKLATAL and PASMAR 2 soldiers in Surabaya is too faraway from Puslatpur in the Situbondo and Banyuwangi areas. The method used in conducting this research was a combination of SWOT Analysis with Analytical Hierarchy Process (ANP). IFE research calculation results were 3.29 while the EFE was 3.08, thus Putlatpur was placed in quadrant II in IE Matrix, the results of weighting strategy were by improving public facilities and supporting facilities of Puslatpur and Puslatpur organizations with support from the central government in increasing the ability of national defense (0.368707), fiscal increase of Indonesian Navy for the development of Puslatpur with support from the central government in enhancing the capability of national defense (0.179934), optimizing Puslatpur coastal's oceanography and logistical support for combat training with ANP processing (with a score of 0.104935), strengthening the legality of Puslatpur locations to avoid socio-cultural impacts in the surrounding community (0.072567), and reducing the socio-cultural impact of the community around the puslatpur with the Navy's strategic policy (0.029992).Keywords- SWOT, AHP, ANP, Internal, External

This paper aims to assess good governance and development nexus based on the Theory of Maqāsid al Sharī’ah (TMS). The central hypothesis of the paper is that good governance; with a specific focus on human rights and social justice has a significant relationship with human development including factors like education, health, and income all emerging from of the essentials of Sharī’ah. The paper employed survey questionnaire to collect data from 384 respondents comprising Muslims in South-western Nigeria. A stratified random sampling technique was used. The findings show that TMS is effective in predicting the direction of relationship between good governance and human development. The findings further show that the model is invariant across gender groups. This paper highlights the applicability of the constructs of TMS model into human development research. It also recommends strategic policy direction for the policymakers. Keywords: Deprivation, gender invariance, well-being, Maqāsid al Sharī’ah

En los primeros lustros del siglo, mientras la geopolítica resurgió a nivel mundial, el Estado argentino relegó la formulación de una geopolítica por condicionantes domésticos. Desde el 2001, las urgencias sociales pesaron en la agenda gubernamental. Con los Kirchner, se profundizó el proteccionismo y abrazó la integración sudamericana –pero no económica; se retomó el reclamo por las Malvinas, pero desguarneció las fronteras. Se explicitó el desprestigio de la geopolítica y la ausencia del Estado en la Triple Frontera. Desde 2016, Macri reformuló la política de seguridad por razones domésticas. Se reforzó el control fronterizo y acercó a EE. UU. No hubo política geoestratégica para la Triple Frontera.

Diplomatic activity between Franks and Muslim rulers during the period of the Crusades is well known to modern scholars, yet the question of their place as anomalous or as a shared strategic policy...

In Germany's compensatory mixed electoral system, alternative electoral routes lead into parliament. We study the relationship between candidates' electoral situations across both tiers and policy representation, fully accounting for candidate, party and district preferences in a multi-actor constellation and the exact electoral incentives for candidates to represent either the party or the district. The results (2009 Bundestag election data) yield evidence of an interactive effect of closeness of the district race and list safety on candidates' positioning between their party and constituency.

In late 2011 and early 2012, the Obama administration rolled out its most significant strategic policy decision: the ‘rebalancing’ of its foreign- and defence-policy priorities towards Asia. The ad...

This article aims to explore the credibility of future US extended nuclear assurance in Asia. Extended nuclear assurance, all too frequently confused with extended nuclear deterrence, faces a daunting series of challenges: a US strategic mainstream fractured on the roles and purposes of nuclear weapons; an Asia where assurance demands are high during a period of strategic uncertainty; and a US theatre- and tactical-range nuclear arsenal much depleted from its heyday. Meanwhile, nuclear latency is growing in Asia as more countries reach the technological level that the US attained in 1945, as nuclear skill sets become more prevalent, and as delivery vehicles appropriate to nuclear weapons become more typical in regional arsenals. The US now provides extended nuclear assurance to nearly 40 countries worldwide, agreeing to run nuclear risks on behalf of its allies and friends. The bulk of those assurances derive from the NATO alliance, but it is the non-NATO-related assurances-and settings-that seem likely to be the more controversial ones over the next decade or two. Asia is coming into its own at a time when extended nuclear assurance needs reinvigoration as a key ingredient in US strategic policy.

Planning and urban design professionals should ensure they engage children/young people in their work so planning systems and strategic policy can be more inclusive of the needs and aspirations of children/young people. Yet practitioners do not necessarily view children/young people as legitimate stakeholders, and professionals do not necessarily have the skills to be inclusive. To shift current policy and practice, planners and designers need to be better educated so they can facilitate children’s/young people’s contributions as well as advocate effectively for systemic change. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UNICEF Child Friendly Cities provide legitimacy and direction for current and future professionals about why engagement with children/young people should be a fundamental part of professional practice. However, it’s important that students and practitioners learn how to engage with children/young people ethically. A key starting point is the way in which education is constituted as ethical practice when conducting research and engagement activities with children/young people. Lansdown’s (2011) requirements for ethical engagement are applied to reflexively evaluate the design and implementation of a university subject, delivered in Victoria, Australia, that trains future planners about how to work with children and young people.

This paper discusses the development of archaeological policy and practice in the City of York, UK, between 1989 and 2015, looking in particular at the development of municipal policies and procedures by City of York Council. The paper looks at three specific periods of development: before 1972; 1972–1989; and 1989–2015. The landscape of archaeological practice in York before 1972 is detailed. The impact of the creation of York Archaeological Trust the development of the Jorvik Viking Centre is described. The designation of an Area of Archaeological Importance one of only five such designations in the UK is discussed. The problems inherent in the lack of any active role by local government are highlighted, with particular reference to the events at the Queen’s Hotel site in the historic core of York. The key post-1989 policy and practice initiatives of preservation in situ and targeted archaeological research projects implemented and overseen by a dedicated post of archaeologist within City of York Council are described in detail.

Contains fulltext : 167552.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Since the financial crisis we seem to be witnessing a re-invigorated refusal to acknowledge, analyse or rectify the gendered impacts of the EU’s strategic policies. This chapter examines how this ‘U-turn’ on EU commitment to gender equality has occurred, focusing on the contestation of gendered meanings and assumptions embedded in EU economic policy. Drawing on insights from Feminist Political Economy and a new approach, Gender Knowledge Contestation Analysis, findings shows how common disciplinary practices in economic policy and economics, obscure gendered impacts of economic policy and insulate them from contestation. Here, shifts in the balance between the EU’s ‘macro’ and ‘micro’ economic aims, have played a key role, as EU strategic policy has become increasingly dominated by abstract, rule-based macro economically conceived goals.

In a world of ever-increasing systems interdependence, effective cybersecurity policy design seems to be one of the most critically understudied elements of our national security strategy. Enterprise cyber technologies are often implemented without much regard to the interactions that occur between humans and the new technology. Furthermore, the interactions that occur between individuals can often have an impact on the newly employed technology as well. Without a rigorous, evidence-based approach to ground an employment strategy and elucidate the emergent organizational needs that will come with the fielding of new cyber capabilities, one is left to speculate on the impact that novel technologies will have on the aggregate functioning of the enterprise. In this paper, we will explore a scenario in which a hypothetical government agency applies a complexity science perspective, supported by agent-based modeling, to more fully understand the impacts of strategic policy decisions. We present a model to explore the socio-technical dynamics of these systems, discuss lessons using this platform, and suggest further research and development.

This article narrates a remarkable endeavor, a venture into the colonial ethnography of borderland mountain societies of today’s northern Vietnam, then upland Tonkin, from the unlikely cultural perspective of the military. This venture, commissioned by Governors Generals Paul Doumer and Paul Beau, was conducted a little over a century ago, yielding over four thousand manuscript pages penned by seventy different authors.First, I consider the logic of the militarization of the northern borderlands at the end of the nineteenth century, a strategic policy that triggered the launch of two surveys in 1897 and 1903. I then examine the methods used in the performance of these surveys and, building upon material from the original documents, I comment on the mindset of the officers who performed this task and on the strength of this material for anthropological research today.

In November 2012, registered voters of the United States will vote for President of the United States. The decision on which candidate a voter will support will be made based on many parameters, but this is a journal on Strategic Policy for Energy and the Environment. Therefore, this op-ed will focus on energy policy. My friend, Dr. Jorge Wong, Editor-in-Chief of AEE's Distributed Generation and Alternative Energy Journal, highlighted an excellent article in The American written by Kenneth Green and Elizabeth DeMeo (http://www.american.com/archive/2012/august/presidential-power-obama-vs-romney-on-energy), which I highly recommend reading before this Op-Ed. Jorge asked, “Which policy, or better, what parts of each policy (Romney's or Obama's) will make U.S. energy more reliable and secure in the long run, for both producers/providers and users?” I decided to write this op-ed touching on the three ways Green and DeMeo contrasted the candidate's energy platforms. This article is unlikely to change t...

Egészségfejlesztés folyóirat, Évf. 57, Szám 4 (2016)

This chapter is a study of the ecological policy process in the last four decades, showing the system input at the international, regional, and national levels. The international community and national governments were involved in an active process in the last decades, elaborating more concepts, objectives, and strategies on the issue of sustainable development. The main challenge the economy of Eastern Europe is facing nowadays is how to put economic development and sustainability on a dynamic equilibrium track, enabling its social system to provide functional well-being. The attitude of the individuals and enterprises plays a big role and they are very important actors in tackling this problem. The methodology of this study consists in applying the systemic approach in analyzing ecological policy input at all levels. In addition, the method of historical analysis and phenomenology plays an important role in studying the evolution of the process approached in this chapter. The systematization of all input made until today represents one of the achievements of this research. An important conclusion of this chapter consists in the idea that the economic policies of the countries from Eastern Europe must take into consideration all legal and strategic policy achievements and must try to continue to develop this process towards a transdisciplinary approach in all decisions and actions by transition to new levels of sustainable development.

As they struggle to be competitive in a global market economy, agricultural cooperatives in Atlantic Canada appear to be in overall decline, shrinking in both numbers and members. This strategic policy analysis looks at what new role the remaining agricultural cooperatives might play in a more regionalized marketplace. Using a mixed methods approach we gathered secondary data and interviewed key leaders and managers in the agricultural cooperative community in Atlantic Canada. Results suggest that while progress is being made to decommodify and develop new value-added products and regionally oriented supply chains, a transition to a more sustainable regional economic cooperative model is elusive and not likely to come about without a more localized rural cooperative system uniting all agricultural cooperatives, together with greater unity between the provincial cooperative councils.

This paper summarizes the accomplishments of IEC TC 78 over the last 31 years, discusses the change in direction taken in 1996 to better serve the global interests and needs of live working, introduces the Strategic Policy Statement of TC 78, outlines the market relevance of TC 78 products, and presents future plans presented in the TC78 SBP (Strategic Business Plan).

У даній статті автор простежив еволюцію політики США стосовно Афганістануз 11 вересня 2001 року та проаналізував геополітичну стратегію СполученихШтатів щодо цього регіону. Зроблено висновок, що головне завдання вторгнення в Афганістан так і не було виконано. Протягом 9 років США не змогли забезпечити мир і стабільність, хоча постійно збільшували свій військовий контингент у цій країні, В данной статье автор проследил эволюцию политики США в отношенииАфганистана начиная с 11 сентября 2001 и проанализировал геополитическуюстратегию Соединенных Штатов в отношении этого региона. Сделан вывод,что главная задача вторжения американских войск в Афганистан осталась невыполненной. На протяжении 9 лет США не смогли обеспечить мир и стабильность, хотя постоянно увеличивали военный контингент в этой стране, In this article the author traced the evolution of U.S. policy on Afghanistan starting9/11 and analyzed the U. S. geopolitical strategy concerning this very region. Theconclusion is made, that the main task of intrusion of the American armies to Afghanistan has remained not executed. During 9 years the USA could not provide the world and stability though constantly increased a military contingent in this country

This article describes how the governance arrangements of the 2.2 billion Euro water safety programme Room for the River are enabling a transition towards integrated river basin management in the Netherlands. We observe that in terms of integrating multiple objectives and spatial scales, the programme design and multi-level governance processes in the programme have enabled the establishment of integrated plans and designs. We conclude that Room for the River plays an important role in a transition to integrated river basin management in the Netherlands through practical implementation of the strategic policy vision for integrated water management. Also, through application of a mixed centralized–decentralized governance approach, the programme has tackled governance pitfalls related to centralized planning approaches that previously impeded integrated water management. Although several of the governance lessons of the programme are being adopted by, for example, the Delta Programme, we have identified a ...

Scenarios have proven useful tools for dealing with future uncertainty in an integrated and cohesive way. A key issue in scenario approaches, still under development, is the linking of scenarios at different spatial scales, in order to be better understood the interaction of processes across scales. The paper presents the AG2020 experience on linking EU-wide backcasting policy scenarios, exploring strategic policy directions for the EU agriculture in 2020 to regional policy scenarios in different EU rural contexts. This may lead to an in depth exploration of region-specific characteristics in different EU rural contexts that need to be effectively dealt within the European backcasting policy scenario framework; but also to a systematic assessment of the upcoming impacts of the EU-level scenarios to the local scale, i.e. down-scaling of the EU top-down scenarios and checking how they affect regions and rural localities in the EU.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an important strategic policy for organisations. A considerable amount of attention has been paid to the definition of CSR and yet research on the development of CSR definition has remained limited. Definitions have been hampered by a lack of clarity in theoretical frameworks and empirical methods for the CSR definition. Given that the empirical study of CSR definition development is in an undeveloped state, this research describes efforts to develop and identify CSR definition. A definition is developed based on a critical review of both the conceptualisation and practice of CSR. Based on Malaysian stakeholders, this research develops CSR definition as an essentially contested concept (ECC) and a multi-dimensional concept (MDC). What has been expressed is a set of ideals that are possible, are likely to be acceptable, and that pay due regard to the need for feasibility in regard to CSR definition. This paper should be seen as a response to a problem of the prolonged dilemma that the disciplinary boundaries of the contested concept of CSR often make it difficult to contend with.

This study uses historical data from the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) to examine the effect of strategic policy making on policy outcomes. Strategic policy making refers to the exploitation of futu...

Strategic-cultural studies continue to proliferate, but scholars still cannot agree on fundamental matters like what a strategic culture is and what it does. This article examines the debates about strategic culture at the philosophical level – especially the debate between Alistair Iain Johnston, who prefers a positivist approach, and Colin Gray, who champions interpretivism – and finds that most conceptual models suffer from one of two general problems (and some models exhibit both). Existing models tend to be stated in a manner which is too coherent, meaning they can't account for occasional strategic-behavioural inconsistencies, and/or they suggest too much continuity and cannot thereby adequately account for changes in strategic policy over time. Instead, a model is offered which treats a singular strategic culture as containing multiple co-existing strategic subcultures. These subcultures each present a different interpretation of a state's international social/cultural context – who a state's ‘frie...

Australia has long been a key ally of the United States in the Asia-Pacific, and it has welcomed US announcements of a ‘pivot’ towards the region in the face of a rising China. Canberra will lend political support, provide US forces with greater strategic depth, and offer selective military contributions, particularly in the eastern Indian Ocean and the Malacca and Lombok Straits. However, Benjamin Schreer and Sheryn Lee argue that, barring a dramatic change in the strategic environment, Australia will retain its focus on the immediate neighbourhood and will remain sceptical of attempts to construct an anti-Chinese coalition.

The present study examines the ingredients of strategic state intervention in growth driven by special economic zones (SEZs). Analyzing the experiences of Taiwan, South Korea, and India, the research reveals that essential components of a strategic SEZ policy include the spirit of experimentation with strategic policy making informed by a medium- to long-term vision, as well as a strong commitment, pragmatic approach, dynamic learning, and institution-building.

Problem statement: Although many studies have highlighted that certain cultures are evident in certain firms, there are only few studies done on ecotourism areas and little has been done to analyse how these cultures have affected the performance of these organizations. Approach: Conceptualizing organizational culture as the values and practices employed in an organization and considering tourist satisfaction as intangible performance we conducted a survey of all tourist resort operators located in a lake-based tourism area in Malaysia. The data wes analysed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test and Pearson product-moment correlation. Results: The results revealed that tourists are dissatisfied with the quality of service delivered to them and tourist satisfaction is significantly influenced by environmental friendly practices. Conclusion/Recommendations: The results imply that environmental friendly practices ranging from the issue of recycling, being compatible with local environment and culture and making minimal changes to the existing landform, should be the focus of the strategic policy in the future, to improve the planning and management of the resorts and the area promoted for tourism.