Identifying Priorities through the Problem Structuring Method to Reduce the Dependencies on Ecosystem Services in Electricity Distribution

Abstract

Electricity distribution is a fundamental activity for society. However, mitigating actions on risks and dependencies of this activity still need to be discovered concerning Ecosystem Services (ES). This fact can negatively influence its prosperity, especially in the long term. Within this context, this paper aims to identify actions that mitigate the risks and dependencies on ES associated with a company in the electricity sector in Brazil that performs electricity distribution services. The identification was based on the collection, analysis, and interpretation of stakeholders’ perceptions of the activity through an adaptation of the Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA) problem structuring method. As a result, a structured vision of actions that mitigate ES risks and dependencies of electric power distribution, enabling management focused on the longevity of both the ES and the economic activity.

Solving the Problem of Reducing the Audiences’ Favor toward an Educational Institution by Using a Combination of Hard and Soft Operations Research Approaches

“…However, this approach falls short when it comes to handling strategic decisions due to their complexity. Conversely, some new studies only consider a soft approach to address strategic issues [22,[41][42][43][44], but their primary aim is to define and structure the problem for better understanding. However, review findings indicate little explicit recognition of the hierarchical nature of decision problems in the extant literature [17].…”