scholarly journals Critical factors that impact on the efficiency of the Lagos seaports

Author(s):  
Francis Ojadi ◽  
Jackie Walters

Background: Since the past two decades, the Lagos seaports have experienced vessel and storage yard cargo congestion, resulting in dwell times of about 30 days for containerised imports and high trade logistics costs.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the critical factors that impact the operational efficiency of the Lagos seaports with a view to improving liner trade activities.Method: The study adopted an operational-based approach to understand the dynamics of the various interfaces of the port value chain. The research paradigm adopted for the study was therefore a combination of constructivism and post-positivism paradigms, which entailed the exploration and understanding of the various stakeholders in the port value chain. The epistemology of the research relied on the use of the exploratory sequential mixed method research technique (i.e. the qualitative approach followed by the quantitative approach) at the operational level of port operations.Results: The result of the research showed that significant challenges exist and that some of these challenges cut across all functions of port operations. Challenges are experienced in the areas of corruption, trade fraud, transport infrastructure deficits, the absence of a supply chain culture and shortcomings in the execution of the ‘contract of customs’. Additionally, these factors include the deficiencies in services and facilities provided by state agencies and government-appointed service providers and private sector companies such as truckers, inland container depots, Inland Container Depots (ICDs) and terminal operators.Conclusion: Specific recommendations are made to address the issues identified which, if implemented, could significantly address the current inefficiencies observed in the Lagos seaport’s operations.

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina B. Gibson

This article examines means of enhancing the value of mixed method research for organizational science. Conclusions are based on a comprehensive analysis of 69 mixed method articles published in four empirical journals between 2009 and 2014, detailed case comparison of four illustrative articles, and personal interviews with lead authors for each case. Findings provide three key contributions. First, documenting the prevalence of mixed methods over the past six years in a broad selection of journals, five approaches to mixed method research are identified—including three novel approaches not yet elaborated on in prior treatises on research methods, expanding the feasible options for mixed method scholarship and bolstering confidence in considering such approaches. Second, themes pertaining to enhancing the value of mixed method research are revealed, including elaboration, generalization, triangulation, and interpretation. Finally, findings uncovered four sets of practical techniques by which this value can be increased. Together, these contributions provide guidance for those endeavoring to utilize a mixed method approach in organizational science.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 237802311772883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirna Safi

The author analyzes the implementation of diversity policies in France within a traditionally colorblind institutional and cultural context. Using a mixed-method research design, the author focuses on a specific diversity program, gathering qualitative and quantitative data on persons involved in its implementation as well as on its recipients. The author also collects qualitative materials covering institutional actors (governmental services and state agencies) and field actors (associations and economic organizations). The analyses aim to investigate two main questions: (1) What are the population categories targeted by diversity programs, and how are they referred to in the colorblind political and legal context of France? (2) How do the program’s recipients signal categories that make them eligible, and how do they interpret their disadvantage in the job market? The findings highlight the limits of diversity policies in the French colorblind context as they fail to empower both their makers and their recipients.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dennis Ngāwhare-Pounamu

<p>The Travelling Mountain Narrative is the origin myth of Taranaki maunga and the foundation on which Taranaki tribal tradition and identity is constructed. The story pattern of the Travelling Mountain Narrative relates the journey of Taranaki maunga and Te Toka a Rauhoto to Te Tai Hauāuru. This thesis establishes that the origin myth was sourced in the historical migration account of the ancestor Rua Taranaki and mythologised over multiple generations. Te Toka a Rauhoto is the tangible connection between the past and the present and is represented by the sacred stone located at Puniho Pā. Informed by mātauranga Māori paradigms, a literature and qualitative mixed method research framework collated a wide variety of information about the Travelling Mountain Narrative and the tūpuna of the Kāhui Maunga, the early inhabitants of the Taranaki region. Exploring the way myth and history intersects with the lived reality of a contemporary tribal community this thesis contributes to the critical analysis of these tribal traditions. This thesis also highlights how participating and contributing to the pā, hapū and the iwi throughout the duration of PhD research also offered insider insights into the modern retention of ancient knowledge.</p>


Author(s):  
Johanna A. Badenhorst-Weiss ◽  
Beverley J. Waugh

Background: Supply chains in South Africa operate in a challenging business environment. This environment influences the efficiency and effectiveness of South African businesses and supply chains. These factors further influence the competitiveness of products produced in the country, the economic growth and development of South Africa.Objectives: The purpose of this study was two-fold: Firstly, to obtain insight into the main business environment risks and other factors, from a logistics perspective; and secondly, to demonstrate the use of methodology not often used in logistics research − the sequential mixed method.Method: The explorative study was conducted amongst logistics service providers and cargo owners in 2013 by means of a sequential mixed method study, consisting of a survey to determine the importance of risk factors in the business environment, followed by a qualitative study in the form of a focus group discussion to obtain richer data and insight into these risks and factors. The results of these two methods were integrated with industry literature.Results: It was found that increasing transportation costs, operational management of infrastructure and human resources-related problems pose the biggest challenges in the logistics industry. In addition, it was found that the mixed method research study has application possibilities in logistics research.Conclusion: The factors identified as particularly problematic for the logistics industry, namely ineffective operational management of infrastructure, the general conditions in the labour market and increasing costs (to some extent) are outside the control of individual organisations. However, organisations can control how they react and mitigate these risk factors. It is shown that these factors and risks can change overnight. The use of the explorative mixed method in obtaining qualitative and quantitative inputs and integrating it with existing literature proved to be a workable and usable methodology.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Gutbrod

&lt;p&gt;The EU weather value chain has developed vigorously, with private services growing at a 20% p.a. rate over the past decade. Growth has also happened amongst national services, and the sector of instrument providers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study uses a value chain model of five steps : 1. Instrument Supply, 2. Networks, (for operation of Measurements &amp; Observations), 3. Data processing, 4. Products (Mass distribution) and 5. Tailored services.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study analyses the entire value chain in selected countries, mainly United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, Italy and Czechia, including all steps from instrument to service providers, including national and private services, and quantifies their evolution over the period from 2010 to 2019. It uses annual reports, press articles and other sources to estimate development of value creation, in terms of annual budgets, revenues, profits and employment. It also attempts to identify the sources of uncertainty for the assessments and propose techniques to reduce this uncertainty.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Further, it classifies the value creation by value chain step and market segment, and attempts to differentiate between domestic and export of products and services.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study further compares the value creation by inhabitant, GDP, area and other social parameters, to create parameters which can be used for characterising the value chain, and developing a better understanding of causal factors enhancing the development of the weather value chain in selected countries. These parameters are then compared with those of more other highly developed value chains in the USA and Japan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In a final step, the study makes some projections about future evolution of the weather value chain and recommendations for the future development of a more productive and beneficial value chain.&lt;/p&gt;


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dennis Ngāwhare-Pounamu

<p>The Travelling Mountain Narrative is the origin myth of Taranaki maunga and the foundation on which Taranaki tribal tradition and identity is constructed. The story pattern of the Travelling Mountain Narrative relates the journey of Taranaki maunga and Te Toka a Rauhoto to Te Tai Hauāuru. This thesis establishes that the origin myth was sourced in the historical migration account of the ancestor Rua Taranaki and mythologised over multiple generations. Te Toka a Rauhoto is the tangible connection between the past and the present and is represented by the sacred stone located at Puniho Pā. Informed by mātauranga Māori paradigms, a literature and qualitative mixed method research framework collated a wide variety of information about the Travelling Mountain Narrative and the tūpuna of the Kāhui Maunga, the early inhabitants of the Taranaki region. Exploring the way myth and history intersects with the lived reality of a contemporary tribal community this thesis contributes to the critical analysis of these tribal traditions. This thesis also highlights how participating and contributing to the pā, hapū and the iwi throughout the duration of PhD research also offered insider insights into the modern retention of ancient knowledge.</p>


Author(s):  
Klairung Ponanan ◽  
Wachira Wichitphongsa

Chinese government has developed transport infrastructure rapidly under Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) strategy. The BRI strategy is China's economic development strategies for expanding trade and cultural influence towards countries in western and eastern regions, including ASEAN. The development of BRI strategy is consists of two main components i.e., (i) the Silk Road Economic Belt, follows the historical overland Silk Road through Central Asia, Iran, Turkey and eventually to Europe, and (ii) the Maritime Silk Road, originates in the South China Sea, passing through the Malacca Strait, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea and extending into the Mediterranean Sea (Chris & Elizabeth, 2015). Due to the BRI strategy, more than 6000 trains made the journey from China to Europe in 2018, which is an increase of 72% compared to 2017. China has sent more than 11,000 freight trains to Europe and back since the BRI strategy was announced in 2013. Railway networks have been constructed under the BRI strategy for connecting 48 Chinese cities with 42 cities in Europe through Asia. There are many railway infrastructures under the BRI strategy. The China – Laos railway (Vientiane–Boten railway) is one of project under the Silk Road Economic Belt that has been developed for serving as a key infrastructure for the economic corridor between the two countries. In nearly future, this railway will be helped to boost trade, investment and tourism for Lao PDR. and south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Vientiane–Boten railway, especially transportation time will attract both travelers and Logistics Service Providers (LSP), which can be reduced time of journey compared with road mode. In this paper, modal shift potential of travelers and freight on Kunming-Bangkok Highway (R3A), AH2, AH8, AH9, AH10, AH12, AH13, and AH18 have been investigated by considering behavioral aspects of long distance travel. Keywords: Mode Split Model, Modal Shift, Vientiane–Boten railway, Travel Behaviour


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (29) ◽  
pp. 3508-3521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochen Jia ◽  
Mijanur R. Rajib ◽  
Heng Yin

Background: Application of chitin attracts much attention in the past decades as the second abundant polysaccharides in the world after cellulose. Chitin oligosaccharides (CTOS) and its deacetylated derivative chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) were shown great potentiality in agriculture by enhancing plant resistance to abiotic or biotic stresses, promoting plant growth and yield, improving fruits quality and storage, etc. Those applications have already served huge economic and social benefits for many years. However, the recognition mode and functional mechanism of CTOS and COS on plants have gradually revealed just in recent years. Objective: Recognition pattern and functional mechanism of CTOS and COS in plant together with application status of COS in agricultural production will be well described in this review. By which we wish to promote further development and application of CTOS and COS–related products in the field.


Author(s):  
Rudra Sil

This chapter revisits trade-offs that qualitative researchers face when balancing the different expectations of area studies and disciplinary audiences. One putative solution to such trade-offs, mixed-method research, emphasizes the triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods. CAS, as defined above, essentially encourages a different form of triangulation—the pooling of observations and interpretations across a wider array of cases spanning multiple areas. This kind of triangulation can be facilitated by cross-regional contextualized comparison, a middle-range approach that stands between area-bound qualitative research and (Millean) macro-comparative analysis that brackets out context in search of causal laws. Importantly, this approach relies upon an area specialist’s sensibilities and experience to generate awareness of local complexities and context conditions for less familiar cases. The examples of cross-regional contextualized comparison considered in this chapter collectively demonstrate that engagement with area studies scholarship and the pursuit of disciplinary knowledge can be a positive-sum game.


Author(s):  
Chien-Chang Chou

Navigational safety is an important issue in maritime transportation. The most frequent type of maritime accident in the port and coastal waters is the ship collision. Although some ship collision models have been developed in the past, few have taken account of wind and sea current effects. However, wind and sea current are critical factors in ship maneuvering. Therefore, based on the previous collision model without wind and sea current effects, this study further develops a ship collision model with wind and sea current effects. Finally, a comparison of the results for the proposed collision model in this study and the ship maneuvering simulator is shown to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed mathematical model in this paper, followed by the conclusions and suggestions given to navigators, port managers, and governmental maritime departments to improve navigational safety in port and coastal waters.


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