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In between university level assessments, the BYU Library conducts internal reviews of each library department, describing its value to the library and university, and providing recommendations for improvement. The process used a team of library employees in departments not under review and an external reviewer to conduct the internal review. Using a case-study approach, the development of an internal review system, its meta-evaluation at the end of its first cycle, and the on-going efforts to improve the internal review process are described. Using a graduate level evaluation class followed by a task force, changes were made to the internal review process that has standardized assessment, allowed flexibility for each department, and solidified training for both the department under review and the review team. Each of the findings and recommended changes helped to address the internal review's first-round weaknesses and struggles. The result is a stronger, consistent process that provides additional training and guidance for each internal review. This article is a case study that describes a library wide process used by an academic library to describe the value of each department and to provide feedback for improvement between university reviews. The process engages all library employees as each department is reviewed and helps to create a culture of assessment. This article reviews the history and progress of a LIR to evaluate an academic library's value and to provide data for improvement. The process may be used or adapted by other libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appreciative inquiry is a strength-based organisational transformation approach developed in 1987 by David Cooperrider at Case Western Reserve. It is based on the idea that organisational change is more effective when the approach focuses on the positive attributes and experiences within an organisation instead of the challenges. Several studies have been conducted on applying appreciative inquiry in the strategic planning process at higher education institutions to discover the impact of appreciative inquiry on organisations and individuals. This study examines how the use of appreciative inquiry in a higher education institution's strategic planning process influenced participants' emotional, social and professional experiences. We found that using appreciative inquiry in the strategic planning process may improve contributor social experiences and attitudes towards an organisation, which could lead to higher retention rates through greater contributor satisfaction levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Albert S. Cook Library at Towson University was charged with developing a new strategic plan under new library leadership and in the midst of remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article details Bryson (2018)'s Strategy Change Cycle as an approach for an academic library for conducting bottom-up strategic planning. Additionally, the project details department break-out activities that were used to help library employees stay engaged in an activity that had to be conducted remotely and in the midst of telework fatigue. This work is framed within the context of moving to a model of strategic management instead of one-and-done strategic planning as well as considering how to integrate a Critical Management Studies lens to make sure all feel included and empowered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic planning's popularity in public organizations cannot be denied, with legislative initiatives even making it mandatory for certain public organizations. Due to strategic planning's continued popularity in practice, recent years have seen a surge in research on the topic. A synthesis of said research is necessary to identify empirical, conceptual, theoretical, and methodological challenges that remain to be tackled. Drawing from a systematic review of 75 studies through a Strategy-as-Practice lens, this paper contributes to public management theory, research, and practice in three significant ways. First, it provides a structured synthesis and integration of a growing and disparate body of literature, offering a roadmap for future research on strategic planning in public organizations. Second, it proposes a middle-range theoretical framework that captures the complex and dynamic nature of strategic planning in public organizations, providing insight into how strategic planning is conducted and why it may or may not work in certain contexts. Finally, it offers practical relevance for public managers and other public professionals by providing an overview of the various strategic planning choices available and how to optimize them according to their unique contexts and desired outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the minimal role of statutory city-regional planning in Finland, the Finnish state promotes inter-municipal, integrated planning of land-use, housing and transportation in the biggest city regions by a strategic planning instrument and a contractual policy tool called MAL procedure. MAL procedure includes MAL agreements, where the central government agrees to fund transportation infrastructure, while the municipalities in the city-regions commit to certain planning principles. MAL policy has advanced sustainability goals in planning, but it has also been argued to be prone to legitimacy problems as MAL negotiations take place behind the backs of citizens. The article discusses the structure of the MAL policy, assessing the ways in which this structure supports the legitimacy of the policy. It focuses on the interplay of strategic and communicative rationalities in the MAL procedure, starting from the observation that the theorists of strategic planning have focused predominately on communicative rationality as the legitimacy basis of planning. This paper aims to show that from a broader, structural perspective, both rationalities – and the way in which they interact – have a role in maintaining the legitimacy of planning. The article builds on theoretical studies and interviews with actors engaged in the MAL procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how managers test strategies, focusing on their understanding of the strategic planning process, and aims to develop a framework for integrating cutting-edge technologies in strategy testing. We used elite interviews with top hotel managers in Turkey and a hermeneutic approach to establish this framework. Results indicate that managers have limited knowledge of strategy testing, which is not yet recognized as a distinct phase in strategy development. Scenario planning and AI-driven methods are only minimally adopted in the industry. We introduced a “techno-human” model that integrates AI and human-oriented decision-making for strategy testing. Our paper contributes significantly by analysing top managers’ use of testing methods in strategic management and highlighting an overlooked area in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many libraries engage in strategic planning, but few studies have examined whether planning processes are effective and result in meaningful action. This research argues the practice of shared leadership in libraries will result in more effective strategic planning processes. The author explores research into shared leadership and its positive impacts on organizations, job performance and satisfaction, and employee commitment. She surveyed employees of academic libraries to learn their perceptions of shared leadership characteristics in their libraries and of recent strategic planning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial governance involves studying the relationship between trade, and politics, resolving tensions, and harmonizing various social forces within a spatial domain within the framework of democratic governance models. The importance of this approach in space management stems from the increasing delegation of government responsibilities and powers to the non-governmental sector. Political space managers need to use strategic plans to achieve sustainable development and spatial justice. The general objectives of this research are an understanding of strategic planning and to apply it in one of the aspects of regional development, to explain the steps and process of strategic planning, and also how to determine and prioritize strategies. This research is descriptive in nature and applied-developmental in terms of purpose. The method of collecting information is a library, face-to-face interviews with experts, personal observation, and questionnaire completion. SWOT analysis method has been used to determine the importance and weighting of internal and external factors and to formulate strategies. A quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) has been used to measure the attractiveness of each of the desired strategies. The results of the study indicate that conservative strategies are proposed as executive strategies in the Central District of Arak County, Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been two events in the planning at Athens over the last twenty years: the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Greek debt crisis (2008–2018). We analyse here whether any form of planning other than classic strategic planning was used for these events. The Olympics are a mega event and are often seen as the Holy Grail, an ideal way to boost a city's appeal. A debt crisis implies a policy of austerity. The article’s objective is to explore whether an exceptional strategic planning was implemented for these two exceptional events, side-by-side to the classic strategic planning. This planning method and the way it was rolled out bear the marks of intense private sector involvement, a top-down decision-making process, together with urgency, derogations from the usual project rules, and a focus on a return on investment and limited risk-taking. Planning like this can lead to a contradiction with the spatial priorities of traditional planning, or to a legacy turned more towards the qualitative improvement of the city, by a concern for developing its international attractiveness, rather than to giving priority to adaptation to local needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic planning is integral to government performance management reforms in both China and the United States. How do the two countries differ in their planning approaches? This study examines this issue by using Charles Lindblom's theory of synoptic and strategic planning. It shows that China relies on centralized, elite-led synoptic planning, rooted in its Communist legacy, while the United States, with its focus on social interaction in policymaking, places value on preference-guided and consultation-based strategic planning. This study highlights the pivotal role of strategic planning in serving political objectives, shaping its strengths and weaknesses as a management tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many accounts of the formation of American and British grand strategy during World War II between the fall of France and the Pearl Harbor attacks stress the differences between the two sides' strategic thinking. These accounts argue that while the Americans favored a 'direct' Germany-first approach to defeating the Axis powers, the British preferred the 'indirect' or 'peripheral' method. However, a review of Anglo-American strategic planning in this period shows that before official U.S. wartime entry, both sides largely agreed the British 'peripheral' approach was the wisest grand strategy for winning the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the hierarchy of goals and objectives that were adopted to reduce homelessness in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) strategic plans during three successive presidential administrations after passage of the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010. Based on a document review and interviews with current and former federal officials, the analysis reveals that HUD's strategic goals, strategic objectives, and agency priority goals for homelessness that were written in each presidential administration reflected the preferences and ideology of politically appointed leaders particularly in response to the emergence of a national policy of Housing First. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an intensive, long-term oriented and deliberative process, strategic planning is generally viewed as an essential practice in the public sector, yet mostly in relatively stable or non-crisis contexts. However, emerging crisis types (such as 'creeping crises') come with a novel mixture of features that disrupt conventional norms of public administration, crisis governance and policy-making. Drawing on the theories of creeping crises, strategic planning and empirical observations, the author explains how such crises create windows of opportunity for intra-crisis strategic planning. In such crisis conditions, practitioners should dedicate sufficient time to undertake intra-crisis strategic planning to drive crisis policy-making and crisis governance, rather than engaging in ad hoc and stopgap crisis responses. This article discusses how emerging types of crises provide opportunities for strategic planning as a form of intra-crisis response. The article supplements existing literature and approaches to strategic planning that conventionally emphasize its value in relatively more stable conditions or mostly as a platform for pre-crisis preparedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This column provides an overview of the newly updated Proficiencies for Assessment in Academic Libraries (approved June 2023) and outlines the steps and rationale for each phase of the revision process. It is our hope that you will not only apply and share these assessment proficiencies in your own organizations and practice but also consider how you might adapt the strategies for inclusivity and transparency that were used to update the Proficiencies in your own work such as strategic planning, updating or revising programs, or creating new services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of strategic planning's role in enhancing higher education institutions' sense of strategic direction and outlining measurable goals. The study particularly reflects the practical experience of setting up a strategic plan within a community college at a Saudi Arabian university, providing academic insight into implementing that plan. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the University's strategic plan implementation required conducting six unstructured interviews and examining a University document. A university can develop a programmatic framework within which to define new directions and programmes and evaluate its own capabilities against those of competing universities. A strategic planning framework can help universities and their colleges identify and follow a five-stage practical planning process. The authors emphasise the importance of actively involving stakeholders in decision-making while developing a strategic plan. This study may serve as a catalyst for further research on strategic planning at other universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article illuminates how local government uses strategic planning in a context characterized as neo-liberalist-oriented housing market, to frame the broad varieties of planning and policy-instruments they possess to reach the goal of more inclusive housing markets. In line with other studies showing how European cities take passive, active, reactive and protective roles in their housing policies, our study of four Norwegian front-runner cities shows that their roles vary. Two of the cities, Tromsø and Oslo, have taken the most explicitly stated proactive role – by having a clear redistributional goal of ‘affordable housing’ and have established operational units in their organization (or by public-private companies) to implement it. All the cities have worked systematically with a more comprehensive housing policy, which have increased their ability to integrate their policy areas and use their different policy tools in a coordinated effort for more inclusive housing markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper departs from research illustrating that the development effects of high-speed rail (HSR) vary between cities being locations for stations and assumes that strategic planning and geographical contexts matter. It gives an overview of general planning through local authorities for a coming HSR and its station locations in four Swedish cities and settlements. The results show that, although Sweden represents a planning system with strong mandates for local authorities, strategic planning takes form through multi-level governance. The paper discusses how this condition the integration of visions for growth and environmental issues for the general planning on the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic planning was incorporated into urban planning processes towards the end of the twentieth century. It was propelled by the 'Barcelona model', intrinsically related with the hosting of the 1992 Summer Olympics. Since then, the Olympic Games have been increasingly seen as powerful tools to catalyse development. They are perceived as provoking an Olympic Effect that has been characterized in literature as an intensified impact of development policies when implemented in the context of the event. Furthermore, the catalytic character of the Games and its associated city-branding potential are often seen as the primary reasons why cities bid for hosting it. This paper argues that the definition of Olympic Effect shall be established in strategic planning practices before both the catalytic effect on development projects and the augmented impact in territories and communities. For that, candidatures of cities bidding to host the Games are qualitatively analysed. The results contribute to the recognition of the increased presence of a strategic vision in Olympic candidatures, the characterization of strategic planning in the context of the Olympic Games, the identification of its role in the city's overall strategic planning processes, and the definition of the Olympic Effect as a resource for urban strategic planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of the status of strategic planning in academic libraries. It discusses the trend towards “dialogic” (e.g. Appreciative Inquiry) rather than “diagnostic” (e.g. SWOT) approaches to strategic planning—a trend aligned with a dialogic movement in organization development. The authors explain the difference between dialogic and diagnostic methods and what made Appreciative Inquiry (AI) a good choice for strategic planning at Oviatt Library, California State University, Northridge (CSUN). In the final section, the authors present a case study of the Oviatt Library project with information about the planning process including staffing for the project. Although focused on academic libraries, the information about strategic planning frameworks and processes is applicable to any type of library. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study examines how two major strategy formulation approaches influence city governments' decision to collaborate. Collaboration with governmental and nongovernmental actors gives rise to varying levels of risks, which can be managed by using the appropriate strategy formulation approach. Using data from a national survey of cities, we find that formal strategic planning catalyzes cross-sectoral collaboration but is not associated with government-to-government collaboration. Logical incrementalism has a consistently negative relationship with collaboration regardless of sector. The findings indicate that collaboration can be limited by city governments' capacity to undertake formal strategic planning and their propensity to engage in incrementalist decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multimodal transportation (MT) is a coordinate system for integration of different transportation systems. Today, MT in ports is more pronounced due to problems of shipping costs, road congestion, environmental concerns, and traffic safety. Too many parameters in MT development make it as a big challenge. It needs decision-making procedure to define MT development strategies. To respond to this need, internal and external criteria associated with transportation industry should well be known based on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). Shahid Rajaei port as the best representative of large international ports of Iran, faced with many challenges in MT development was studied. The components in port development were found through qualitative study and questionnaires among the port experts. Weights of the experts in decision-making procedures were obtained through their specialty, age, education, and work experience. The four-dimensional SWOT model was created to categorize the internal/external conditions of the port. To this end, the experts were asked to answer the questionnaires according to the Likert spectrum and the components of the SWOT model were graded through fuzzy analysis. Based on the SWOT components, experts created MT development strategies. The AHP method was used to rank the strategies. The superior strategies in MT development were: (1) sustaining the fame of the port through its facilities, (2) upgrading the knowledge/skills of local employees to have more contribution in the port, (3) increase of financial incentives and (4) development of the port infrastructures. Since there are many similarities in the infrastructures and challenges of this port with other major ports in the world, the results is applicable for other ports in the world that need MT development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the implementation of a novel concept in Norwegian planning and building law (PBA), the Regional Planning Strategy (RPS), which was introduced before the 2011-2015 electoral period. How the RPS was understood and implemented is the focus of this analysis. This article presents new knowledge of how new strategic elements unfold within a country’s legal framework through its implementation in practice. We add to the planning-theory dialogue by discussing translation by regional re-contextualization in the implementation of a new element in regional strategic planning (Røvik 1998, 2002). A study of the implementation of the RPS over three ‘generations’ (2011-2022) reveals interesting and surprising differences. Drawing on translation theory, we find that the translation, contextualization, and re-contextualization of the PBA with respect to the implementation of RPSs were diverse in 2011/12, that there was a convergence in the second generation, and that diversity reappears in new ways in the third generation. This article confirms how a new idea like RPS develops in regional planning processes is dependent on the central government’s need and ability to manage the counties’ RPS work, as well as the counties’ need and ability to make regional adjustments and to set their own political priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there have been academic discussions regarding the strategic and relational shift in spatial planning, and the potential of digital geospatial planning support systems (PSS) in this regard, the integration between these two has been given less attention. Understanding the obstacles associated with this integration is crucial to enhance strategic spatial planning and the utilization of geospatial PSS in this respect. To address this gap, the authors examine the tensions that arise when the planning systems of three municipalities in Norway intersect with the potential capabilities offered by a 3D digital twin. The authors found that the study findings not only supplemented those of studies concerned with the implementation gap, but also provided more general insights into possible obstacles for a strategic turn in spatial planning. In conclusion, they identify five key tensions in the Norwegian planning system that affect the uptake of a 3D digital twin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined whether participation of frontline employees (FEs) in a firm's strategic planning using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis mitigates managers' budget slack creation and whether it improves budget evaluation. Using a lab-in-the-field experiment in an agro-processing firm in Ghana, we found that FE participation in strategic planning enhanced managers' identification of the number of internal and external factors affecting the firm, enabling the firm to better understand the environment in which the budget process is undertaken. We also found that FE participation reduced managers' budget slack creation and bias in their performance evaluation. In an additional analysis, we found that FE participation improved managers' budget allocation, effectively redirecting the firm's resources to units where they were most needed. Overall, the results showed that FE participation in strategic planning improved the managers' information environment, thereby positively influencing their choices and actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article expands upon research into task planning effects by looking at how the addition of planning prior to group discussions may positively and negatively influence performance. 24 Japanese university students performed three weekly discussions in groups of four. Prior to each discussion, they undertook either no planning, strategic planning or an oral rehearsal with a partner outside of their group. Discussion were recorded and transcribed, and performance assessed using 14 measures related to participation, complexity, accuracy, fluency and discourse complexity. One-way repeated measures ANOVA results showed significant statistical effects on performance by both types of planning, especially with students who spoke less often than others within discussions. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons showed that rehearsal significantly improved participation (words spoken) and fluency (speech rates and pauses), while strategic planning reduced pauses and enabled students to give more reasons within speaking turns. However, strategic planning also resulted in students referring to the turns of others less often during discussions. These findings show that the addition of planning for group discussions can have a positive impact on participation and fluency, but that strategic planning may negatively affect how often students will directly address the turns of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to a lack of funding during the 2007–2009 recession, many library systems reduced or eliminated professional and library support positions. Traditional outcome measurements were not sufficient to convince tax-depleted legislatures to allocate more funds to libraries. In response to the crisis authors recommended cost-saving measures and tactics for perception management. Studies have shown that the demand for library services increases during times of economic hardship. The production of a strategic plan justifying budget requests is necessary in those times, and should be accompanied by efforts to secure endowment and donation opportunities. This column provides a table or “blueprint for successful strategic planning” that matches goals, actions and measurement criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes an example of a unit level strategic plan, its formation, and its effects in implementation. The argument is presented that unit level strategic plans can help libraries by giving individuals specific goals that are tailored to their strengths and make up for the unit's weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Column Editor's Note This column focuses on the closely related topics of strategic planning and assessment in all types of libraries. The column examines all aspects of planning and assessment including (but not limited to) components, methods, approaches, trends, tools and training. Interested authors are invited to submit articles to the editor at wvdole@ualr.edu. Articles on both theory and practice and examples of both successful and unsuccessful attempts in all types of libraries are invited. In this issue, Anne Marie Casey, Dean of Retention and Student Success at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, reminds us that real life challenges such as staff resistance and reallocation of campus space have serious impacts on planning. She presents a case study of one library's attempt to deal with these challenges by using a variety of methods, including active employee input, appreciative inquiry, and scenario planning to encourage staff buy-in. For the most part, these attempts proved successful. Strategic planning is often considered a managerial tool. The management of an organization surveys the environment and develops a plan that they introduce to the organization as a whole. Most modern organizations seek employee involvement in the planning process and feedback to some degree with varied results. But for one academic library, employee involvement in the development and execution of the strategic plans has been a vital part of the processes. The Hunt Library at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has been developing strategic plans for several years with active input from the librarians and staff. This case study chronicles the different approaches the library staff have used to create new plans. One method was to hold a set of retreats where all library staff provided ideas for new initiatives to explore and old processes to retire. Another involved the SOAR approach, which uses appreciate inquiry to determine strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results. A third method employed scenarios to encourage staff input into the next strategic plan. Each of the different approaches yielded interesting results; some failures and many successes. Some processes were more positive than others but they all included mutually agreed-upon strategies that guided the library as it planned future innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the correlation between contemporary strategic planning and socio-spatial disadvantage, utilizing data from five censuses conducted within the Adelaide metropolitan region. To assess how these two dynamics manifest across Australian cities, we introduce a vulnerability assessment methodology. Taking a historical perspective, the study delves into how ongoing socio-spatial transformations have impacted the Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD) over several decades. Employing mixed methods, we analyse the temporal progression of the IRSD from 1991 to 2021 and interpret the implications in the context of contemporary strategic plans. The research findings reveal that strategic plans in metropolitan Adelaide have become linked to the establishment of five interconnected/consolidated regional centres, as well as the relocation of areas of disadvantage from the traditional inner cities to the middle and outer suburbs. This has led to residents experiencing enduring socio-spatial vulnerability for several decades. The investigation illustrates the evolving nature of urban disadvantage in post-industrial Australian cities. This article introduces an innovative method for evaluating strategic plans, specifically monitoring progress in achieving their objectives. This could guide future plans to uplift disadvantaged suburbs from a state of permanent vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era when uncertainty and complexity are more tangible than ever, decision-makers are under pressure to turn from short-term politics and departmentalization to safeguard not only current wellbeing but also the wellbeing of future generations via longer term planning and visioning. In regions, as multilevel governance systems, no actor has the power to determine the decisions of others. Place leadership demands the mobilization of different actors to define an effective strategy for future development, by combining institutional, interpretive and network power in a dynamic manner. This paper reflects on how leadership and power shape shared vision in regional foresight processes, and the role of academic knowledge. We conduct an in-depth single case study analysis of 'Euskadi 2040', the visioning initiative launched by the Basque regional government in collaboration with the research institute Orkestra. We articulate five main contributions of research institutes: facilitating the systemic character of the vision; incorporating academic action-oriented knowledge; supporting the divergence from traditional linear planning paradigms towards flexible learning-centred approaches to policy; promoting an interinstitutional and multi-agent shared discourse; and lastly, leveraging knowledge transfer within international networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To foster high levels of inclusiveness, the principles of DEI should be incorporated in every aspect of a library, from interactions with customers to hiring and staffing processes. Without a structured approach, this task can seem overwhelming. This paper demonstrates how Vaughan Public Libraries enshrined DEI into its Strategic Plan, enabling staff to build it into their decision-making, and how the library remade processes to generate understanding and be more representative of the diversity within its community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business strategy literature argues that firm survival and growth in any competitive environment depend on the adaptation of suitable competitive business strategies. Despite the growing interest in strategic management within the fish farming industry, there is a notable lack of empirical evidence exploring how the competitive environment influences companies’ business strategy and performance. This paper examines the direct effect of competitive strategy and the moderating effect of competitive intensity on business strategy-performance relationship. Using hierarchical regression to analyze 306 samples gathered from fish farming firms of south-Benin, empirical evidence shows that competitive strategy including cost-leadership, and both product quality and marketing differentiation strategies impact positively firm financial performance. This research highlights the relative importance of product quality differentiation strategy. In addition, findings indicate that competitive intensity structure contribute to firm success. Surprisingly, findings show that competitive intensity does not significantly moderate the effect of cost-leadership and product differentiation strategies. Besides, the effect of marketing strategy on firm performance becomes more negative under high competition in the domestic market. Study recommends that firms should gain organizational economic outcomes by pursuing cost-leadership strategy and product differentiation strategy whatever competitive intensity states in the domestic market of fish farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWhile the importance of student success is widely recognized across universities, the path to achieving it remains amorphous. Academic libraries are working to define their role in student success by documenting their contributions, but they face challenges in communicating their value to the university. Through a content analysis of strategic plans, this study investigates how libraries and their corresponding universities prioritize student success, how libraries describe their contributions, and which campus units universities associate with student success. Findings reveal a tension between libraries’ ambitions to be a key player in student success and universities’ recognition of the library’s contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic plans are widely used by municipalities as a means of directing their own activities, but relatively few studies have examined factors associated with cities' decisions to embed sustainability principles within them. Drawing from literature on planning processes and organizational capacity, this paper tests whether perceived staff support for sustainability initiatives influences the integration of sustainability into strategic plans, and whether administrative capacity has a moderating effect on this relationship. This study presents new findings about how cities are advancing sustainability objectives and about the role that designated sustainability offices can play in the strategic planning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic planning in academic libraries can help libraries develop and grow as an organization. The planning process can also be an opportunity to communicate the value of the library to the institution. This column reviews recent writings about strategic planning in academic libraries. Some publications present traditional techniques and strategies that focus on process and assessment, but tell unique stories based on experience. Other publications introduce new techniques for examining the value of an academic library, including using Critical Management Studies, prototyping, and organizational psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to share a framework composed of key practices put in place to enhance stakeholder engagement in participatory governance processes. The experience was gained through the authors' involvement in three Portuguese practice-based cases on participatory local strategic planning where the framework was successfully applied in overcoming the major risks of these participatory processes identified in the literature. A preliminary evaluation of the applied framework's strengths and weaknesses is provided, envisioned to support similar initiatives. The quality and diversity of the stakeholders involved, together with the group dynamics applied, were recognized as the main strengths, since they promote equal participation, knowledge sharing, new ideas and consensus reaching, with stakeholders being highly committed with the planned objectives and actions. In two cases, the plans supported successful applications to 2014–2020 European Structural Funds' policy instruments, resulting in the allocation of important funds to local entities, vital for territorial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses strategic planning in library management and the use of the agile methodologies used in software development to successfully complete this planning. Topics discussed include where strategic planning fits in management theory, the importance of leaders to show leadership during the planning process, and the importance of including measurable goals and objectives as part of the planning process.

This article does three things. It reconstructs the narrative about the foundation of South Australia in the 1830s as a strategic planning process. It then deconstructs that analysis to explore the issues it addresses and the outcomes. Finally, it reviews the South Australian experience to see if there are valid comparisons to be made with current practice and what lessons it might offer in that regard. In doing that it briefly reviews one present methodology of strategic planning most akin to that followed in South Australia, and one strategic planning exercise that could learn from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the global economy digitalization impact on public tax administration and analyzes the use of strategic approaches to the formation of fiscal policy in Russia in their relationship with the corresponding approaches of foreign countries. Using the comparative legal method, the study examines the issue of determining the impact of various management tools on improving the efficiency of the state budget. A macroeconomic assessment of the effectiveness of the digital tax administration is carried out and its institutional development stages are highlighted. Digital technologies ensure the taxes and other obligatory payments collection increase, reducing labor costs for tax control, and reducing an administrative burden on business. The main digital transformation approaches of the modern tax system are considered, new innovative developments and digital technologies in Russia are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the debut entry of the journal's column dedicated to the administrative concerns of strategic planning and assessment in library institutions. Questions are raised discussing the close relations between strategic planning and library assessment while highlighting their distinctions. Definitions are offered for both processes along with advice for directly linking the two tools for integrated administrative decision making.

Effective strategic planning can help a library focus on a common sense of purpose and can steer the library in directions that respond to a changing environment. The University of Florida Libraries embarked on a series of strategic planning activities in June of 2001. The process of thinking strategically has produced a renewed interest in dependable information about users' perceptions of our service quality, and LibQUAL+TM emerged as one of the key contributors to this process. Our experience with LibQUAL+TM and with strategic planning has been gained simultaneously. We have found that it provides a structure to support further communication with our users. LibQUAL+TM will continue to shape our thinking as we move toward more strategic management methods that enable us to make informed decisions regarding our allocation of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers a theory-based evaluation of the ongoing reforms in the Finnish spatial planning regime. The paper argues that Finnish planning is moving in a reactive and market-driven direction. This development is not being brought about solely through a direct decrease in public discretionary powers in planning, but is also unfolding indirectly through a process of rescaling in the spatial planning regime. These processes increase municipal autonomy in relation to other planning scales, despite problems observed in the municipality-centred market-driven planning orientation. The resulting reduction in manoeuvring room in public planning is conceptualized in the paper as expanding vacuums of strategic planning. Building on concepts from the literature on state transformation theory and scale theory, the paper draws together theoretical and empirical conclusions from several case studies conducted in close-to-administration projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we match originally collected survey data from school board members in the state of Michigan with hard measures of school district outcomes to test two hypotheses regarding the relationship between strategic planning prioritization and organizational performance. We find that school board members who place a higher priority on strategic planning oversee school districts with comparably higher levels of academic performance. The findings demonstrate a correlation between board governance behaviors and organizational outcomes broadly, and between strategic planning prioritization and outcomes specifically. The results are of interest to practitioners and scholars of strategic planning and public sector governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of strategic planning and task structure (personal, narrative, and decision-making tasks) on L2 writing outcomes. One hundred and twenty intermediate English as a foreign language learners were randomly divided into strategic-planning and no-planning-time groups. The strategic-planning group performed the three tasks in a simple-complex sequence, whereas the no planning group completed the tasks in a random sequence. Their essays were analyzed using complexity, accuracy, fluency, and lexis measures. The results revealed that strategic planning with simple–complex sequencing resulted in positive effects on the four constructs of L2 written production, as compared with no planning with random sequencing. Additionally, task structure positively influenced syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, and one subconstruct of accuracy, but not fluency. The structured and less structured tasks (i.e., personal and narrative) through the provision of planning time produced greater accuracy and lexical complexity, whereas the unstructured task (i.e., decision-making) through the provision of planning time favored syntactic complexity. Finally, the results showed that the interaction between strategic planning and task structure led to substantial effects on syntactic complexity and one subconstruct of accuracy. These findings give additional support to the limited attentional capacity hypothesis and the tradeoff hypothesis. Methodological and pedagogical implications of the findings for task design and implementation condition in L2 writing are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the systematic, structural, procedural and reputational differences associated with the use of budgeting for strategic planning across public sector institutions in Canada. Data obtained from a survey of 38 universities across Canada along with publicly available hand-collected data supports a heterogenous mix of budgeting practices across higher education. Our results show institutions rely on budgeting for multiple reasons including control, strategic planning, communication, and regulatory compliance. The findings indicate the adoption of performance management by some institutions, but not others based on systematic differences including budget model, institutional size, decentralization and reputation. The results support a contingency perspective of organizational practices in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of Higher Education, necessitating a rapid shift from in-person to remote teaching and learning. This study investigates the experiences of doctoral students in an online Sino-Nordic summer school on aging, implemented during the pandemic. A survey was conducted to collect and analyze data on participants' experiences and perspectives. Findings reveal three thematic areas: doctoral students' learning needs and preferences, contextual factors affecting their learning experiences, and their adaptations to online summer school. Student participants gained diverse insights and expanded their networks, but also faced challenges such as limited social interaction and scheduling conflicts. While some students embraced the online format, most preferred in-person participation as a supplementary or alternative approach in future summer schools. Recommendations for future improvements are creating an empowering learning environment, improving strategic planning and communication among organizing institutions, involving students and stakeholders in training design and implementation, maximizing the use of online features and tools, and optimizing time management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on the nature of strategic planning in the contemporary world after modernism. The governance of relational strategies is paralleled by relational, "fuzzy" governance involving overlapping sets of agencies and actors (Allmendinger & Haughton, [3]). The end of modernist era uniform state provision of services (Brenner, [5]) has also been followed by increasing privatisation of infrastructure provision. The increasing flexibility built into strategic plans is partly a response to uncertainty, but also a means of increasing the scope for the private sector to insert future investment proposals in general (Balz, [4]) and for infrastructure in particular. [Extracted from the article]

How do political agendas impact on strategic planning practices? This article shows that recent changes to the framework for managing government priorities have made Lithuania's strategic planning system more politically responsive by mobilizing political attention, leadership and state funding to major government commitments. However, these changes have not yet translated into any longer term outcomes because policy implementation practices did not change very much. The authors explain the effects of reforms introducing strategic planning in Lithuanian government. The Lithuanian case has implications for other administrations. For example, reforms promoting a more effective management of government or strategic priorities are more likely to succeed if the design of the strategic planning systems matches political agendas. Appropriate frameworks and mechanisms need to be employed for the management of important government commitments within strategic planning systems, such as the Lithuanian system for managing government priorities. In addition, strategic management tools, knowledge and capacities need to be constantly reviewed and developed in public sector organizations at different levels of government to better achieve policy aims and objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide is a major public health concern, impacting societies worldwide. This study was an analysis of national suicide prevention strategies of various SEAR countries. To date, only five out of eleven countries constituting the Southeast Asia Region have developed their national suicide prevention strategies. It is desirable that future revisions with the aim of addressing the lacunae in the strategies are undertaken by the respective nations for effective prevention of suicides in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analytical framework for analyzing how multimodal resources of emotion expression are semiotically materialized in discursive interactions specific to political discourse. Interested in how political personae are emotionally constructed through multimodal meaning-making practices, our analysis model assumes an interdisciplinary perspective, which integrates facial expression analysis – using FaceReader™ software –, the theory of emotional arcs and bodily actions (hand gestures) analysis that express emotions, in the analytical framework of multimodality. The results show how the multimodal choices that political actors make during discursive interactions allow them to build their political brand and make connections with the audience on an emotional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]