Strategy and Command

In Strategy and Command, David Horner provides an important insight into the strategic decisions and military commanders who shaped Australia's army history from the Boer War to the evolution of the command structure for the Australian Defence Force in the 2000s. He examines strategic decisions such as whether to go to war, the nature of the forces to be committed to the war, where the forces should be deployed and when to reduce the Australian commitment. The book also recounts decisions made by commanders at the highest level, which are passed on to those at the operational level, who are then required to produce their own plans to achieve the government's aims through military operations. Strategy and Command is a compilation of research and writing on military history by one of Australia's pre-eminent military historians. It is a crucial read for anyone interested in Australia's involvement in 20th-century wars.

Airline effective operations strategy during COVID-19 pandemic: across regional worldwide survey

Purpose This study aims to identify the effective operational strategies for airlines in a pandemic that allow them to recover and bounce back smoothly. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted quantitative methodology based on secondary data published by the airlines related to operational and performance indicators. The total number of airlines surveyed was 145. The sample of study covers all the following regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. The data analysis of this research passed through several phases to compare the situation before and during pandemic period. Findings The effective operational strategy patterns during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic comprise three hybrid strategies and one scheduling strategy. It appears from these strategy models that four strategic alternatives are available for international airlines to adopt, while two strategic alternatives are available for regional airlines. The strategy alternatives for regional and international airlines are all effective, but those of the international airlines are the more effective ones. Originality/value Previous studies rarely adopted the theory of operations strategy configuration (emphasizing taxonomies-based perspective) and the organizational resilience theory (emphasizing capability-based perspective) to identify the effective airlines operations strategy patterns in a pandemic, that allow airlines to recover and bounce back smoothly by analyzing the practices of airlines from different geographic regions worldwide.

Analysis of the Components of the Operations Strategy with a Service Approach

El objetivo de este artículo fue aportar luces sobre la cuestión de cuáles son los componentes de la estrategia de operaciones que pueden favorecer el control del servicio y la orientación al cliente, para lograr paulatinamente altos estándares en la entrega del servicio, acordes con los cambios en el mercado y con la cadena de valor de la compañía. Para esto, se realizó una investigación exploratoria que usó el método inductivo a través de análisis factorial exploratorio con el modelo Promax de rotación oblicua. Las indagaciones de tipo exploratorio se realizaron a 43 empresas a través de un muestreo a conveniencia en departamento del Valle del Cauca (Colombia). Se buscaron, principalmente, empresas del sector servicios, de alguna consolidación en el mercado y que facilitaran la aplicación de una encuesta presencial y de calidad al personal de dirección. Como resultado, se dejan las bases para un modelo conceptual que aporte al control de la estrategia de operaciones, de modo que sea posible concebir el valor para el cliente desde una estrategia de operaciones que parte de los atributos de calidad del servicio y se fundamenta en los factores subyacentes hallados en el modelo explorado, tales como: el control del servicio, la gestión de las instalaciones orientadas al cliente, sistemas de información y tecnologías asociadas. Como perspectiva, se plantea la necesidad de análisis factorial confirmatorio, con mayor tamaño de muestra para organizaciones de servicio con trayectoria en el mercado.

Performance assessment of the operations strategy of credit unions

PurposeIn this study, the performance assessment of credit unions is developed, seeking to demonstrate how the content of their operations strategy is present in the structuring of unique models of organisational performance assessment. The main objective is to compare sources of knowledge through the content analysis of the service operations strategy as proposed by the literature and validated by specialists.Design/methodology/approachThis research is a qualitative study that uses the knowledge of specialists to frame a performance assessment structure applied to credit unions. The research strategy is based on multicriteria analysis, and the selected techniques are based on the MCDA-C procedure, that is, the processes of structuring, evaluating and recommending improvements.FindingsThe research results provided: a data set external to the context that serves as theoretical support for the comparisons made; the structuring of 4 unique organisational performance assessment models carried out through the MCDA-C procedure; conceptual interpretation using the lens of the operations strategy in the cognitive maps of the assessment models, which identifies the operations strategy carried out; and comparison of the result models that show their uniqueness.Originality/valueThe comparison between the origins of knowledge is highlighted, and the demonstration of the content was proposed by the literature and by specialists to evaluate the performance in operations. This was then compared with the content constructed with credit union managers in structuring models based on the singularities of the respective contexts. The theory was compared to practice, and it was demonstrated how the content of the operations regarding the performance could be used in decision contexts.