Strategically Speaking

IF, as Chinese President Xi Jinping says, African countries are like running lions, South Africa is one of the leaders of the pride. The richest country in Sub-Saharan Africa has been strengthening ties with China. the second largest economy in the world, since the two countries established diplomatic relations in early 1998.

Evaluation of a software positioning tool to support SMEs in adoption of big data analytics

Big data analytics has been widely adopted by large companies to achieve measurable benefits including increased profitability,customer demand forecasting,cheaper development of products,and improved stock control.Small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs)are the backbone of the global economy,comprising of 90%of businesses worldwide.However,only 10%SMEs have adopted big data analytics despite the competitive advantage they could achieve.Previous research has analysed the barriers to adoption and a strategic framework has been developed to help SMEs adopt big data analytics.The framework was converted into a scoring tool which has been applied to multiple case studies of SMEs in the UK.This paper documents the process of evaluating the framework based on the structured feedback from a focus group composed of experienced practitioners.The results of the evaluation are presented with a discussion on the results,and the paper concludes with recommendations to improve the scoring tool based on the proposed framework.The research demonstrates that this positioning tool is beneficial for SMEs to achieve competitive advantages by increasing the application of business intelligence and big data analytics.

The International Security Situation in 2023:Seeking Order Change and Reshaping Amidst Turbulence and Uncertainty

CONTINUED TENSIONS IN RELATIONS AMONG THE MAJOR COUNTRIES,In 2023,the international and regional security situation underwent complex and profound changes,with security threats continuing to diversify and the use of force to settle disputes increasing.Conflicts and disputes in Eastern Europe,the Middle East,Africa and other regions are recurring and difficult to quell,and instability and uncertainty on a global scale have increased.Relations among major countries continue to be tense due to factors such as the regional turmoil and intensification of strategic competition among major countries by the United States.In its National Security Strategy released in 2022,the Biden administration characterized China as“the only competitor with both strategic intent and a growing capacity to reshape the international order”,and in its National Defense Strategy released that year,it further positioned China as“the most important strategic competitor”.

美日韩合作升级加剧地区紧张

In 2023, the United States, Japan, and South Korea continued to strengthen their strategic cooperation posture by attempting to control rule-making authority and pursuing the use of strength to gain strategic advantage. This has exacerbated regional tensions in Northeast Asia and increased camping confrontation.

高标准引领有色金属行业高质量发展

The standardization work of non-ferrous metals aims to meet national strategic deployment,market demands,and enterprise demands,to build and improve a new-type standards system.Remarkable achievements have been made in serving the high-quality development of the industry,ensuring the safety of industrial and supply chains,and enhancing China’s competitiveness.

Building a Business and Strategic Intelligence Policy as a Strategy for Promoting Congolese Business Progress and Healthy Economic Development in Eastern DRC

The aim of this study was to verify the existence of business and strategic intelligence policies at the level of Congolese companies and at the state level, likely to foster progress and healthy development in the east of the DRC. The study was based on a mixed perspective consisting of objective analysis of quantitative data and interpretative analysis of qualitative data. The results showed that business and strategic intelligence policies have not been established at either company or state level, as this is an area of activity that is not known to the players in companies and public departments, and there are no units or offices in their organizational structures responsible for managing strategic information for competitiveness on the international market. In addition, there is a real need to establish strategic information management units within companies, upstream, and to set up a national strategic information management department or agency to help local companies compete in the marketplace, downstream. This reflects the importance and timeliness of building business and strategic intelligence policies to ensure economic progress and development in the eastern DRC. Business and strategic intelligence provides companies with an appropriate tool for researching, collecting, processing and disseminating information useful for decision-making among stakeholders, in order to cope with a crisis or competitive situation. The study suggests a number of key recommendations based on its findings. To the government, it is recommended to establish the national policy of business and strategic intelligence by setting up a national agency of strategic intelligence in favor of local companies;and to companies to establish business intelligence units in their organizational structures in favor of stakeholders to foster advantageous decision-making in the competitive market and achieve progress. Finally, the study suggests that studies be carried out to fully understand the opportunities and impact of business and strategic intelligence in African countries, particularly in the DRC.

Tower Semiconductor Acquisition: Advancing Intel’s Presence in the Global Market

This paper delves into the economic event surrounding Intel Corporation’s high-profile acquisition of Tower Corporation.It aims to investigate the reasons behind Intel’s decision to acquire Tower,employ the SWOT analysis method to evaluate the event,and examine its impact on relevant stakeholders.The findings indicate that Intel’s acquisition of Tower was driven by objectives such as strengthening business areas,expanding market share,technological innovation and development,and future development strategy.Through the application of SWOT analysis,it becomes evident that the advantages of the acquisition lie in strengthening technical capabilities and expanding business segments,while simultaneously facing challenges such as integration complexities and pressure.The significance of this paper lies in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the strategic motivations and potential impacts associated with corporate acquisitions,thereby providing valuable insights for decision-making processes.The innovation lies in the comprehensive utilization of SWOT analysis to holistically evaluate the acquisition event,enabling a thorough assessment of its various aspects.For government and policymakers,they should strength regulation of corporate takeovers to ensure fair and transparent market competition,provide support and incentives,and strength cooperation to develop common policies and norms.As for enterprises,it is advised that strategic planning and comprehensive consideration should be formulated and carried out when making acquisitions.Also,stakeholders should actively participate in and monitor the process of corporate acquisition discussion and decision-making,and strengthen cooperation to ensure fair competition,maximizing the interests of all parties.

Practices and Reflections of CNOOC on Building World-Class Enterprises

At present,China is facing new strategic opportunities as well as risks and challenges in its development.Faced with the challenges brought by current global major risks,China urgently needs to build a group of world-class enterprises as ballast stones.Accelerating the development of a number of world-class enterprises is an important support for China to enhance its comprehensive strength and international competitiveness,and is crucial for the realization of the strategic blueprint for socialist modernization.After more than forty years of reform and opening up,Chinese enterprises have rapidly developed and grown stronger,with their position rising and their influence in the global market increasing continuously.However,Chinese enterprises are“large in size but not yet strong enough”.In this context,this paper systematically analyzes the practical significance and theoretical connotation of building world-class enterprises and the status quo of building world-class enterprises in China and takes CNOOC as an example to deeply analyze the practices of large central enterprises to build world-class enterprises at the levels of group and subsidiaries,providing a reference for Chinese enterprises to accelerate their progress towards world-class enterprises.

Strengthening Ties, Shaping Futures The strategic evolution of Malaysia-China relations

In the annals of diplomacy,few narratives are as compelling as that of Malaysia-China relations:a saga of cooperation and mutual respect that has endured for over five decades.Rooted in the historic visit of second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak to China in May 1974,this relationship has blossomed into a multifaceted partnership bolstered by visionary leadership and a commitment to shared prosperity.

Chinese Wisdom in the Three Global Initiatives

DURING his visit to Serbia in early May,Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a joint statement on the building of a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic,which makes Serbia the first European country to forge ahead in building such a community with China.This move marks an upgrade of their relations from the comprehensive strategic partnership established eight years ago.

Strategic Planning Practices of Hotels in Kenya

This study broadens perspectives of strategic planning procedures in hotels by analyzing hotel managers’perspectives on hotel strategy formulation and planning.The study was a descriptive quantitative study that targeted managers from various Kenyan hotels.180 questionnaires were returned from a sample of 280 hotel managers who had attended management development programs at a hospitality school.The primary goal of the study was to analyze two aspects of the strategic planning process:strategy formulation and strategic planning.The findings revealed that hotels in Kenya have developed methods and are keen on scanning their external environments.However,with the product offerings being so comparable,competitive analysis played an important role in the context.Creating a unique or specialty offering was not a popular option for most hotels.Cost-cutting was the most favored strategic inclination to achieve desired results.The balanced scorecard was underutilized in the sector.While managers were involved in the strategic planning process,other lower cadre employees were not,they were provided with the targets for the hotels’organizational goals to be achieved.The findings reveal that with similar products and services,the industry creates a hostile business climate with fierce rivalry and must invest in the most obvious alternative of cost reduction to survive.Alternative product innovation is not common in this industry for developing a differentiation approach that allows a property to control a market.

Research on Tax Risk Regulation and Strategic Management in the Context of Big Data

With the rapid development of big data,big data has been more and more applied in all walks of life.Under the big data environment,massive big data provides convenience for regional tax risk control and strategic decision-making but also increases the difficulty of data supervision and management.By analyzing the status quo of big data and tax risk management,this paper finds many problems and puts forward effective countermeasures for tax risk supervision and strategic management by using big data.

Exploring International Media and Information Literacy Initiatives: Insights From DW Akademie’s MIL Model

Media and Information Literacy(MIL)is one of the most important topics in today’s mediatized world.Under the leadership of United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO),many international organizations in the world,as foreign donors,annually announce many projects and grants for the promotion and development of the field of MIL in the countries of the world.One of the main actors of this movement is DW Akademie with different media and MIL projects several countries of the world.This research paper delves into the role of DW Akademie’s MIL model in shaping a media-savvy generation.The study explores the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of Deutsche Welle(DW)Akademie’s MIL model,analysing its effectiveness in fostering media literacy skills.The research employs a multi-faceted approach,incorporating case studies to assess the model’s impact across diverse demographics.The paper also considers the model’s alignment with global educational policies and proposes recommendations for its integration into broader frameworks.By investigating DW Akademie’s MIL model,this research contributes to the ongoing discourse on media literacy education,providing valuable insights for educators,policymakers,and researchers.The findings offer a nuanced understanding of the model’s position in cultivating a media-savvy generation poised to navigate the complexities of the information age.

The Recycling Of Strategically Advantageous Metals Of China Enjoys A Brilliant Future

Ⅰ.Current situation of the recycling of strategically advantageous metals of China(1)The recycling of tungsten According to the statistics,among the supply of our tungsten raw material,12%comes from waste tungsten and the rest 88%comes from primary tungsten ore.

关于后摩尔时代我国集成电路制造领域的一些思考

1.Background,As one of the fundamental and core industries of modern information technology,the integrated circuit(IC)is a basic and leading industry that is closely related to overall global economic and social development.The global semiconductor industry is poised for a decade of growth and is projected to become a trillion-dollar industry by 2030(Fig.1[1]).Technological level and industrial scale are important indicators for evaluating the degree of modernization and comprehensive national strength of a country or region.Hailed as the“industrial food”for a country,IC is the foundation for cultivating and developing strategic emerging industries and promoting the deep integration of informatization and industrialization.Demand for both cutting-edge chips and high-reliability chips continues to be strong in applications deployed throughout the field,from Industry 4.0 to automotive electronics,artificial intelligence,and so forth.As the focus of current international competition,IC also plays a broad and key role in promoting national economic development and social progress,improving people’s living standards,and ensuring national security.The current competition is not related to a certain technology node or single specific technology.Rather,this core competitiveness is the overall strength of the IC industry chain and relies on the ability to track the dynamic targets of industrial development,which fully depends on the support of the global high-end basic industry.

The status and development strategy of coalbed methane industry in China

To achieve the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality under the backgrounds of poor resource endowments, weak theoretical basis and other factors, the development of the coalbed methane industry of China faces many bottlenecks and challenges. This paper systematically analyzes the coalbed methane resources, key technologies and progress, exploration effect and production performance in China and abroad. The main problems are summarized as low exploration degree, low technical adaptability, low return on investment and small development scale. This study suggests that the coalbed methane industry in China should follow the “two-step”(short-term and long-term) development strategy. The short-term action before 2030, can be divided into two stages:(1) From the present to 2025, to achieve new breakthroughs in theory and technology, and accomplish the target of annual production of 10 billion cubic meters;(2) From 2025 to 2030, to form the technologies suitable for most geological conditions, further expand the industry scale, and achieve an annual output of 30 billion cubic meters, improving the proportion of coalbed methane in the total natural gas production. The long-term action after 2030 is to gradually realize an annual production of 100 billion cubic meters. The strategic countermeasure to achieve the above goals is to adhere to “technology+management dual wheel drive”, realize the synchronous progress of technology and management, and promote the high-quality development of the coalbed methane industry. Technically, the efforts will focus on fine and effective development of coalbed methane in the medium to shallow layers of mature fields, effective development of coalbed methane in new fields, extensive and beneficial development of deep coalbed methane, three-dimensional comingled development of coalbed methane, applying new technologies such as coalbed methane displacement by carbon dioxide, microwave heating and stimulation technology, ultrasonic stimulation, high-temperature heat injection stimulation, rock breaking by high-energy laser. In terms of management, the efforts will focus on coordinative innovation of resource, technology, talent, policy and investment, with technological innovation as the core, to realize an all-round and integrated management and promote the development of coalbed methane industry at a high level.

Research on strategic risk identification method of equipment system development based on system dynamics

Strategic management of equipment system develop-ment must attach importance to effective strategic risk manage-ment.Aiming at the identification of strategic risk of equipment system development,firstly,the source of strategic risk of equip-ment system development is analyzed and classified.Based on this,a causal loop diagram of strategic risk of equipment sys-tem development based on system dynamics is established.The system dynamics analysis software Vensim PLE is used to carry out the risk influencing factors analysis,risk consequences ana-lysis,risk feedback loop identification and corresponding pre-control measures,and achieves a good risk identification effect.

Deep Underground Energy Storage:Aiming for Carbon Neutrality and Its Challenges

1.Definition of deep underground energy storage Deep underground energy storage(DUES)is an important strategic practice for ensuring China’s energy supply,its national defense,and the realization of China’s strategic goals of achieving a carbon peak and carbon neutrality(CPCN).In 2021,China’s oil and natural gas consumption reached 712 million tonnes and 372.6 billion cubic meters,respectively,while its external dependence reached about 72%and 45%.China’s reserves only met about 30%of the requirements for a safe supply and peak shaving.

Big data in healthcare:Conceptual network structure,key challenges and opportunities

Big data is a concept that deals with large or complex data sets by using data analysis tools(e.g.,data mining,machine learning)to analyze information extracted from several sources systematically.Big data has attracted wide attention from academia,for example,in supporting patients and health professionals by improving the accuracy of decision-making,diagnosis and disease prediction.This research aimed to perform a Bibliometric Performance and Network Analysis(BPNA)supported by a Scoping Review(SR)to depict the strategic themes,thematic evolution structure,main challenges and opportunities related to the concept of big data applied in the healthcare sector.With this goal in mind,4857 documents from the Web of Science covering the period between 2009 to June 2020 were analyzed with the support of SciMAT software.The bibliometric performance showed the number of publications and citations over time,scientific productivity and the geographic distribution of publications and research fields.The strategic diagram yielded 20 clusters and their relative importance in terms of centrality and density.The thematic evolution structure presented the most important themes and how it changes over time.Lastly,we presented the main challenges and future opportunities of big data in healthcare.