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We study the problem of finding optimal locations for a suite of defense assets in order to protect high-value tactical and strategic infrastructure across a vast geographical area. To this end, we present a multi-type with non-overlapping coverage requirement as an extension to the classical formulation for the maximal covering location problem (MCLP).

In our case study, we use open source geographic and demographic data from Canadian sources as inputs to our optimization problem. Due to the complexity of the MIP formulation, we propose a hybrid metaheuristic solution approach, for which a genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed and integrated with local and large neighborhood search operators.

Extensive numerical experiments over different instances of the proposed problem indicate the effectiveness of the GA-based solution in reducing the solution time by a factor of ten compared to the CPLEX commercial solver while both approaches obtain solutions of similar quality.

This research is limited to location planning of defense assets leveraging geospatial data of Canada. However, the diverse Canadian geography is among the most challenging given broad variability in population density and the vast size of the country leading to a large search space having substantial variability in fitness performance.

Our findings demonstrate that for large-scale location searches, the GA with a local neighborhood search performs very well in comparison to CPLEX but at a fraction of the execution time.

Our findings provide insight into how to make improved decisions for the placement of deterrence and defense systems and the effectiveness of a hybrid metaheuristic in addressing associated computational challenges.

This research investigates the types of critical business situations worked on by multinational corporations' senior managers and the competencies they employ to achieve desired outcomes.

The research is based on a database of N = 440 critical success incidents obtained from semi-structured interviews with a sample of 143 senior managers during competency-based consulting projects over a 25-year period from 1995 to 2019. Content analysis was used to categorise critical success incidents, by similarity of business intent, into groups labelled as critical business situations. Behavioural coding was used to identify competencies.

Nine critical business situations were found, and 10 competencies identified, accounting for 79% of behaviours displayed by the senior managers. Five competencies were found to be used more universally and five were more dependent on the specific critical business situation.

This research provides an overview of the initial stage of this topic. Further empirical validation including applicability in contemporary business contexts, testing of competency relationships with critical business situation criterion-referenced outcomes, and temporal and geographic usage will be presented in an accompanying study.

Knowledge of the specific competencies and their relative frequencies when displayed in different critical business situations provide the potential to give more targeted development suggestions to senior managers facing similar situations.

This study examines concurrently, both the business situations and associated competencies of senior managers, a group for whom extant research is significantly limited.

This study examines antecedents and impacts of HR competence and effective HR practices in organizations. People are an essential asset in organizations, but their potential is reduced without robust HR practices and competent HR professionals. Few studies have investigated causes of low HR professional competence and poor HRM practices.

This explanatory mixed-method study used survey data (N = 322), interviews and online statements. Data was collected in Vietnam, a country well suited to this study as it has considerable variation in institutional arrangements. It has legacies of Chinese, French and Soviet influence and more recently has adopted international reform models, such as new public management.

Agency accountability, autonomy and servant leadership promote HR competence, and consequently effective HR practices, and employee and employer outcomes (public service motivation, organizational commitment and organizational performance). Interviews triangulate findings from the survey data and explain barriers (rules, incentives, nepotism, corruption) to these quantitatively examined processes occurring. Strategic solutions for improving HR practices and professional competence are identified.

Practical implications of this research include a greater understanding of the importance of individual accountability and autonomy for executives, with the promotion of servant leaders through better screening and leadership development. Selection criteria should hinge on achievement, merit and the desire to serve the public interest. Competent HRM units should be developed and supported. Such units should focus on managing performance through ensuring line managers do basics such as setting clear goals, giving feedback, training and developing staff. Developing succinct appraisal criteria that reward good performers and sanction poor performers needs to be prioritized.

This study provides useful guidance on how to reform public administration systems so that reforms are more effective.

This study identifies both institutional and leadership antecedents to both HR competence and HR practices and their subsequent impacts. Its institutional and developing country orientation complements past studies that have been psychologically oriented and in the global north.

This study examined brand hate within the context of the (German) Bundesliga and (Australian) National Rugby League (NRL). The study pursued two research questions: (1) What types of brand hate were expressed towards the Bundesliga and the NRL? (2) To what extent did hateful comments attract more likes than non-hateful comments?

Brand hate was studied in the context of competition restrictions in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We analysed reader comments posted below online articles published in three German (119 articles and 8,975 comments) and three Australian online newspaper articles (116 articles and 4,858 reader comments). The data were analysed deductively.

Non-parametric tests found that all types of brand hate were expressed. Approximately 85% of the hateful comments were mild, or more specifically, cold (n = 445 or approximately 53%), or cool (n = 250 or approximately 30%), or hot (n = 20 or approximately 2%). Hateful comments attracted more likes than non-hateful comments.

This study advances our understanding of how negative brand perceptions underpin an extreme negative emotional reaction in the form of brand hate. The empirical evidence enables brand managers to better address disgusted, angry, or contemptuous consumers (or stakeholders) and consider whether the feeling is enduring, strong or weak, and linked to either aggressive or passive behaviours.

The rapid, yet low-profit, expansion of the production capacity of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) represents a remarkable phenomenon. However, the motivation behind this key operational decision remains underexplored, especially concerning the prioritization of sociopolitical and financial goals in operations management. Drawing on the multiple-goal model in the behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF), the authors' study aims to examine how SOE capacity expansion is driven by performance feedback regarding the sociopolitical goal of employment provision and how SOEs differently prioritize sociopolitical and financial goals based on negative versus positive feedback on the sociopolitical goal.

The authors' study uses panel data on 826 Chinese SOEs in manufacturing industries from 2011 to 2019. The authors employ the fixed-effects model with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors, which are robust to heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation and cross-sectional dependence.

The authors find that SOEs increase capacity expansion as sociopolitical feedback becomes more negative, but they may not increase capacity expansion in response to positive sociopolitical feedback. Moreover, negative profitability feedback strengthens SOEs' capacity expansion in response to negative sociopolitical feedback. In contrast, negative profitability feedback weakens their response to positive sociopolitical feedback.

The authors' study offers a novel behavioral explanation of SOEs' operational decisions regarding capacity expansion. While the literature has traditionally assumed multiple goals as either hierarchical or compatible, the authors extend the BTOF's multiple-goal model to illuminate when firms pursue sociopolitical and financial goals as compatible (i.e. the activation rule) versus hierarchical (i.e. the sequential rule), thereby reconciling their tension in distinct performance situations. Practically, the authors provide fine-grained insights into how operations managers can prioritize multiple goals when making operational decisions. The authors' study also shows how policymakers can influence SOE operations to pursue sociopolitical goals for public benefit.

The design of buildings is crucial to functionality and safety for senior citizens. People often refrain from talking about old age and its related support; however, it is inevitable. The paper aims to highlight the essentials of a home design that considers the aged citizens in Nigeria.

A qualitative research technique is used in the study. A closed-ended questionnaire and an interview were used to gather information on the requirements for aging-in-place basics in home design from middle-aged and elderly households.

Findings from the study revealed that a majority of the respondents considered old age as a phase of life to prioritize in home design. Lighting, furniture and fixtures and electrical installations are variously perceived by the respondents as aging-in-place essentials.

The study has far-reaching consequences for the built environment, particularly for homeowners. It is related to the third sustainable development goal (SDG), which seeks to secure the health and well-being of people of all ages.

The study's uniqueness and usefulness are highlighted in the gaps between present house design culture and the reality of senior citizen occupants' dwellings, as well as the appropriateness to satisfy changing demands associated with old age. It would encourage homes to develop the culture and duty of providing a sustainable home that is accessible to everybody and provides emotional and physical safety for the elderly.