August Österle, Carina Diesenreiter, Barbara Glinsner and Eva Reichel
The purpose of this paper is twofold: First, it analyzes demand and supply-side factors that influence patient flows to and from Austria. Second, building on the empirical…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: First, it analyzes demand and supply-side factors that influence patient flows to and from Austria. Second, building on the empirical research and existing conceptualizations, the study offers a general extended framework to guide future comparative analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on multiple data sources including a literature review, secondary data, website analysis and semi-structured interviews with patients and health providers. Content analysis was carried out to identify common motives for seeking care abroad and providers' orientation towards medical travel.
Findings
Outbound medical travel is largely determined by factors of access, affordability and vicinity, while inbound medical travel is predominately driven by a lack of adequate medical infrastructure in source countries and quality, both in terms of medical and service quality. Providers distinguish themselves according to the extent they take part in medical travel.
Research limitations/implications
The findings emerging from a single country case study approach cannot be generalized across settings and contexts, albeit contributing to a better understanding of current medical travel patterns in Europe.
Originality/value
Unlike most recent contributions, this study focuses both on inbound and outbound medical travel in Austria and investigates patient flows for distinctive treatments and drivers. While analysis of the supply-side of medical travel is often limited to tourism studies, this study provides a critical insight into developments in Europe from a health policy perspective, acknowledging that diverse medical travel patterns in Europe coexist.
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Marie-Therese Christiansson and Olof Rentzhog
Despite many efforts within organizations toward business process orientation (BPO), research on real-world experiences remains in its infancy. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite many efforts within organizations toward business process orientation (BPO), research on real-world experiences remains in its infancy. The purpose of this paper is to redress the existing knowledge gap by analyzing a Swedish public housing company that has made notable effects regarding BPO and to explore lessons learned from the BPO journey (from 1998 to 2013).
Design/methodology/approach
The point of departure is principles in the BPO foundation, principles of successful BPM and effects in empirically based literature. The reconstruction of the narrative case study describes milestones and critical junctions, as well as effects based on quantitative and qualitative data.
Findings
Effects in BPO are demonstrated in terms of higher customer satisfaction, increased innovative ability, improved operational performance, higher employee satisfaction and, as a result of these, increased profitability. Theoretical constructs with implications for the theory building on BPO are suggested in a three-layer management framework – with capabilities and abilities emerging from the case study used as an illustrative example.
Practical implications
Lessons are learned regarding critical practices related to advancement in BPO. A strategy-building process based on eight design propositions is suggested to define the pre-conditions for BPO in an organization.
Originality/value
This is the first longitudinal case study to provide a comprehensive view and detailed insights of a BPO journey and top management performance toward a business process-oriented organization. Practitioners and BPM community get valuable insights into how the temporality and the context shape the BPO maturity process in terms of new organizational structure and roles during the journey.
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This paper considers cash for care as reflected in direct payments and the more recent development of individual budgets in England. While the momentum to roll out individual…
Abstract
This paper considers cash for care as reflected in direct payments and the more recent development of individual budgets in England. While the momentum to roll out individual budgets gathers pace in England, Wales has embarked on a more cautious approach in wishing to evaluate the impact of individual budgets on social services. The paper identifies some of the far reaching implications of cash for care in general and individual budgets in particular, for service users, carers ‐ both paid and informal ‐ and for the social work profession. The policy incoherence in relation to risk and safeguarding is highlighted. This paper supports the approach currently adopted by the Welsh Assembly Government in relation to the ‘rolling out’ of individual budgets. The Assembly's 10‐year strategy for social services focuses on the rights of citizens and the needs of communities. This paper argues that fulfilling that vision should not be wholly contingent upon an unproven extension into the field of individual budgets.
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N. Ela Gokalp Aras, Sertan Kabadayi, Emir Ozeren and Erhan Aydin
This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of factors that contribute to refugees’ exclusion from health-care services. More specifically, using institutional…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of factors that contribute to refugees’ exclusion from health-care services. More specifically, using institutional theory, this paper identifies regulative pillar-, normative pillar- and cultural/cognitive pillar-related challenges that result in refugees having limited or no access to health-care services.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on both secondary research and empirical insights from two qualitative fieldwork studies totaling 37 semi-structured meso-level interviews, observations and focus groups in three Turkish cities (Izmir, Ankara and Edirne), as well as a total of 42 micro-level, semi-structured interviews with refugees and migrants in one large city (Izmir) in Turkey.
Findings
This study reveals that systematically stratified legal statuses result in different levels of access to public health-care services for migrants, asylum seekers or refugees based on their fragmented protection statuses. The findings suggest access to health-care is differentiated not only between local citizens and refugees but also among the refugees and migrants based on their legal status as shaped by their country of origin.
Originality/value
While the role of macro challenges such as laws and government regulations in shaping policies about refugees have been examined in other fields, the impact of such factors on refugee services and well-being has been largely ignored in service literature in general, as well as transformative service research literature in particular. This study is one of the first attempts by explicitly including macro-level factors to contribute to the discussion on the refugees’ access to public health-care services in a host country by relying on the institutional theory by providing a holistic understanding of cognitive, normative and regulative factors in understanding service exclusion problem.
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Ragnar Schierholz, Lutz M. Kolbe and Walter Brenner
The bursting of the e‐bubble affected expectations with regard to mobile initiatives and willingness to invest in them very negatively. Business managers request detailed and…
Abstract
Purpose
The bursting of the e‐bubble affected expectations with regard to mobile initiatives and willingness to invest in them very negatively. Business managers request detailed and thorough analyses prior to engaging in mobile initiatives. The paper aims to present a method, with which mobile business can be introduced to the customer relationship management (CRM) field.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper follows the design science paradigm as outlined by March and Smith, and Hevner et al.
Findings
The findings provide a framework for the definition of a mobile CRM strategy derived from the corporate strategy, suggest a method for the identification and exploitation of the mobilization potential in CRM processes in line with the strategy, and provide guidance for the design of mobile information systems to support these processes.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed method extends the body of available methods with a method for the introduction of mobile ISs into marketing, sales and service organizations. As design research, it does not strive for statistical generalization. The level of detail given in the elements of the method is to be increased in further research.
Practical implications
The method helps to reduce risk and uncertainty of mobile CRM initiatives, since it provides a structured and consistent procedure for the definition of goals, the identification of potentials for the fulfillment of these goals as well as recommendations for the systematic exploitation of these potentials.
Originality/value
With the application of this structured method, an organization should be able to avoid the pitfalls of technology‐driven information technology initiatives which various companies have experienced, particularly with mobile technologies.
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Petri Ahokangas, Marko Juntunen and Jenni Myllykoski
This paper explores the transformation of international business models in the context of international ICT businesses where cloud computing has triggered a major paradigm change…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the transformation of international business models in the context of international ICT businesses where cloud computing has triggered a major paradigm change in the way software and hardware related services are offered to international customers.
Methodology/approach
Through comparative analysis of two cases, this paper examines the business model transformation processes in the cloud computing context.
Findings
The key challenges of the case companies were related to business model transformation as cloud computing was triggering a change in most of the business model elements.
Research implications
There is a need to define the concept of business model in a way that suits the cloud and internationalization.
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DRAWING of metals occurs in innumerable ways, both hot and cold. Here, however, we are concerned only with the cold drawing operations used to form vast tonnages of steel, and…
Abstract
DRAWING of metals occurs in innumerable ways, both hot and cold. Here, however, we are concerned only with the cold drawing operations used to form vast tonnages of steel, and large quantities of non‐ferrous metals, as tube and wire, and for the forming of sheet metals (especially by deep drawing).
Rieke Bärenfänger, Boris Otto and Hubert Österle
– The purpose of this paper is to assess the business value of in-memory computing (IMC) technology by analyzing its organizational impact in different application scenarios.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the business value of in-memory computing (IMC) technology by analyzing its organizational impact in different application scenarios.
Design/methodology/approach
This research applies a multiple-case study methodology analyzing five cases of IMC application scenarios in five large European industrial and service-sector companies.
Findings
Results show that IMC can deliver business value in various applications ranging from advanced analytic insights to support of real-time processes. This enables higher-level organizational advantages like data-driven decision making, superior transparency of operations, and experience with Big Data technology. The findings are summarized in a business value generation model which captures the business benefits along with preceding enabling changes in the organizational environment.
Practical implications
Results aid managers in identifying different application scenarios where IMC technology may generate value for their organizations from business and IT management perspectives. The research also sheds light on the socio-technical factors that influence the likelihood of success or failure of IMC initiatives.
Originality/value
This research is among the first to model the business value creation process of in-memory technology based on insights from multiple implemented applications in different industries.
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Pairin Katerattanakul, Soongoo Hong and Jinyoul Lee
To report a recently completed study on enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation in Korean manufacturing firms.Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was…
Abstract
Purpose
To report a recently completed study on enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation in Korean manufacturing firms.Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was conducted (with e‐mail invitation and telephone call reminder) to collect data from 306 Korean manufacturing firms.Findings – This study presents the issues related to ERP implementation in Korean manufacturing firms, including pre‐implementation activities, implementation experiences, ERP system configuration, benefits, and future direction. Additionally, the results are compared to those results from previous studies on US and Swedish manufacturing firms.Research limitations/implications – The study focused on one industry in one Asian country which perhaps limits the application of its generalized results to other industries or other Asian countries.Practical implications – The results of this study present and discuss both similarities and differences in ERP implementation issues among Korean, US, and Swedish manufacturing firms.Originality/value – This research is the first empirical study on the issues related to ERP implementation in manufacturing firms in the Asia/Pacific region. It is also the first study providing comparison results regarding ERP implementation in manufacturing firms in Asian, North American, and European countries.