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Even small improvements in storage operations can bring significant benefits in customer response time, increasing the level of service offered. However, a company cannot offer high level of service for all products. In this sense, one of the ways used to optimize the activities for order picking is the study of storage location assignment problem (SLAP). Thus, this paper proposed a multi-criteria decision model to perform the products classification and to solve the SLAP in a multi-layer warehouse. The ELECTRE TRI method is used to define the shelf level for each product, and the ELECTRE III method is used to establish a fixed location for each product on the shelf it belongs to. The great advantage of this model is that there is not trade-off among the criteria, and it is able to consider several criteria simultaneously. However, the main goal is not optimization, but the search for a storage operations performance balance, considering multiple criteria, allowing for a better inventory management when consideringprofitabilitycriteria,for example,andimprovement inthe order picking operations, through the demand and space required criteria. In addition, it considers the preferences of the decision maker.

This work aimed to study outsourcing strategies in public services and their relations with business continuity and resilience during budgetary constraints. A qualitative analysis was conducted using semi-structured interviews. This methodology was conducted with 51 public managers from the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Findings showed that, during budget cuts periods, in the short term, due to the urgency of decision-making, it is common for outsourced services to suffer reductions or interruptions first, which directly affects public services continuity. Only a long-term view is able to correctly analyse this situation, but this does not always occur when the main factor observed is the law of fiscal responsibility. Therefore, this work brings new light to the literature concerning the problem situation, and may be useful for the planning of outsourcing strategies in public services.

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Since climate change cannot be controlled, water resources must to be managed in order to adapt the relationship between water supply and water demand to these changes (Poustie et al., 2015). In this sense, water management related just on operational routines, i.e., actions for water catchment and distribution without worrying about water availability in future, has become unacceptable (Wang et al., 2014). Thus, there are two generic strategies to water scarcity: (1) develop new sources of supply, and (2) demand management (Araral & Wang, 2013; Omar, 2013). Demand management refers to solutions to reduce the quantity of water needed for a specific activity. This strategy seeks the efficient of water use by users (i.e. society or economic sectors), reducing and reusing water resources where possible (Brooks, 2006). In this sense, two mechanisms for regulating demand for water are most common: price and non-price mechanisms. The first occurs often through increasing block tariff; and the last includes public education, community mobilization, supply restrictions, and use of technical and engineering solutions (Araral & Wang, 2013). On the other hand, supply management aims, mainly, to increase the water availability. For this, some action should be taken to improve the water supply system, such as: modernization of equipment, expansion of the structure for both water catchment and water distribution, changes in operational and routine procedures (Wang et al., 2014).

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