Business Plan and Industrial Development

Writing of business plans ensures performance of a business and contributes to enabling countries to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). The latter are intended, in part, to promote industrialization, and improved human living and working standards. This chapter identifies and analyses the importance of business plan for family-owned food processing small and medium enterprises (Fo-SMEs). It advocates for the establishment of an “integrated planning” strategy to link Fo-SMEs and government support system for business development. Business-planning forecasts industrial production based on consumers' demands. Integrated planning ensures sustainability of Fo-SMEs, farmers' economic growth, and consequent achievement of SDGs. Tanzania Fo-SMEs serve as a useful lesson for developing economies. Future studies should consider Fo-SMEs' succession planning framework.

Integrated zone picking and vehicle routing operations with restricted intermediate storage

The competitiveness of a retailer is highly dependent on an efficient distribution system. This is especially true for the supply of stores from distribution centers. Stores ask for high flexibility when it comes to their supply. This means that fast order processing is essential. Order processing affects different subsystems at the distribution center: orders are picked in multiple picking zones, transferred to intermediate storage, and delivered via dedicated tours. These processing steps are highly interdependent. The schedule for picking needs to be synchronized with the routing decisions to ensure availability of orders at the DC’s loading docks when their associated tours are scheduled. Concurrently, intermediate storage represents a bottleneck as capacity for order storage is limited. The simultaneous planning of picking and routing operations with restricted intermediate storage is therefore relevant for retail practice but has not so far been considered within an integrated planning approach. Our work addresses this task and discusses an integrated zone picking and vehicle routing problem with restricted intermediate storage. We present a comprehensive model formulation and introduce a general variable neighborhood search for simultaneous consideration of the given planning stages. We also present two alternative sequential approaches that are motivated by the prevailing planning situation in industry. Numerical experiments and a case study show the need for an integrated planning approach to obtain practicable results. Further, we identify the impact of the main problem characteristics on overall planning and provide valuable insights for the application of these findings in industry.

Women in the Stone Sector: Challenges and Opportunities from an Educational Point of View

In the era of Industry 4.0, gender discrimination still exists especially in be male-dominated workplaces, such as the stone sector. Combating gender discrimination in the stone sector is a demanding task that calls for integrated planning and targeted interventions. This paper presents the results of the “WinSTONE” Erasmus+ project, aiming at the development of suitable training tools for the integration of women in the stone industry. Based on the main challenges, as well as on the emerging opportunities for women in the sector, a training methodology is being developed to deal with the actual needs.

Gastronomic tourism

The article examines the concept and features of gastronomic tourism, its history and its importance in the modern world. It is noted that gastronomic tourism meets all the requirements in the transition from a service economy to an experience economy. The basis of gastronomic tourism is an authentic product identified by territorial characteristics and can attract tourists to the region. The uniqueness of gastro tourism is highlighted as it links such as policy development and integrated planning, product development and packaging, promotion and marketing, distribution and sales, and operations and services in tourism destinations, which are key core activities in the tourism value chain. Ancillary activities related to the gastronomic product include transport and infrastructure, human resource development, technology and systems of other ancillary goods and services, which may not be associated with the leading tourism business but have a significant impact on the value of tourism. The article discusses in detail the strategic plan for the development of gastro-tourism, which includes the following phases: analysis and diagnosis of the situation; general strategic planning; operational planning; informing and disseminating the plan.

Integrated Land Transport and Land Use Planning Opportunities for Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Urban New Zealand: A Case Study of the Wellington Region

<p>The New Zealand Government has the desire to be the first carbon neutral country in the world. Climate change policy has identified transport as a key contributor resulting in the goal to halve per capita domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. In order to reduce CO2 emissions whilst achieving core land transport outcomes, this study focuses on the Wellington region and explores the available frameworks for integrated planning in land transport and transport-related land use. Legislation and regional policy is reviewed and international best practice in integrated planning is identified. Perspectives from practitioners in land transport and land use planning in New Zealand are given. Integrated planning in urban transport and design is well established in many developed countries but is not prevalent in New Zealand. Recent and proposed legislation and policy in land transport management and climate change aim to rectify this but the policy and planning landscape remains complex. Transit oriented development aligns well with regional policy outcomes and could contribute to CO2 emissions reductions in the long term. A reprioritisation of land transport investment away from fossil fuel dependency to support low carbon transport via active travel modes and freight movement by rail and sea is recommended.</p>