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Article
Publication date: 1 April 1999

Andoni Arcelay, Elena Sánchez, Luis Hernández, Gabriel Inclán, Maite Bacigalupe, Jon Letona, Rosa María González and Ana Elisabeth Martínez‐Conde

The Basque Country Public Health Service has moved in the last years from considering quality as an attribute of patient care to thinking that all management can be subject to…

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Abstract

The Basque Country Public Health Service has moved in the last years from considering quality as an attribute of patient care to thinking that all management can be subject to improvement. Consequently, its general management team has promoted and supported a self‐assessment experience of all their centres by means of the European Quality Model. This strategy has been facilitated by the Basque Country Government, which has strongly encouraged total quality management in companies, and has created the Basque Foundation for Quality Promotion, a key institution in this whole process. A total of 26 centres of the Public Health Service concluded a self‐assessment process. As the main result of this, different improvement areas were detected, and various necessary actions were implemented in the centres assessed. Advantages, troubles and future work lines to extend and improve the use of the EFQM model in the health sector are discussed.

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 August 2019

Kasturi Sudam Patil and Elizabeth Rufus

The paper aims to focus on implantable antenna sensors used for biomedical applications. Communication in implantable medical devices (IMDs) is beneficial for continuous…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to focus on implantable antenna sensors used for biomedical applications. Communication in implantable medical devices (IMDs) is beneficial for continuous monitoring of health. The ability to communicate with exterior equipment is an important aspect of IMD. Thus, the design of an implantable antenna for integration into IMD is important.

Design/methodology/approach

In this review, recent developments in IMDs, three types of antenna sensors, which are recommended by researchers for biomedical implants are considered. In this review, design requirements, different types of their antenna, parameters and characteristics in medical implants communication system (MICS) and industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) bands are summarized here. Also, overall current progress in development of implantable antenna sensor, its challenges and the importance of human body characteristics are described.

Findings

This article give information about the requirements of implantable antenna sensor designs, types of antennas useful to design implantable devices and their characteristics in MICS and ISM bands. Recent advancement in implantable devices has led to an improvement in human health.

Originality/value

The paper provides useful information on implantable antennas design for biomedical application. The designing of such antennas needs to meet requirements such as compact size, patients’ safety, communication ability and biocompatibility.

Article
Publication date: 26 March 2024

Samira Joudi, Gholamreza Mansourfar, Saeid Homayoun and Zabihollah Rezaee

Considering the standards developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), this study aims to examine whether the link between material sustainability and…

Abstract

Purpose

Considering the standards developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), this study aims to examine whether the link between material sustainability and financial performance depends on the extent to which the company is oriented toward stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the predictions, 13,942 firm-year observations from 43 different countries are used, covering the period from 2010 to 2019. Using a hand-mapping approach to match the indicators suggested by the SASB with those of the ASSET4, the authors realize that there are 170 material sustainability indicators among 466 indicators of the ASSET4. The authors use three different methods to verify if the materiality matters, including the alphas obtained from the Fama and French factor models, comparing the average abnormal returns of the portfolios and the bootstrapped Cramer technique.

Findings

The findings show that companies investing in material sustainability activities perform better than those investing in immaterial activities. Also, consistent with the theoretical foundations, the authors find that the effect of investing in material sustainability activities is more pronounced in stakeholder-oriented countries than that in shareholder-oriented countries. The results are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests.

Research limitations/implications

Owing to COVID-19 in late 2019, data from 2020 to 2022 have not been used to obtain reliable results.

Practical implications

The results obtained in the current research provide valuable guidance for investors to make investments considering the degree of materiality of sustainability activities in different industries. It also helps managers to increase the company’s financial performance, make efficient decisions related to investment in sustainability activities and find investment strategies on the material sustainability issues in their industries.

Social implications

This study provides a clearer understanding of investment in sustainability activities in different industries by separating material and immaterial sustainability activities in stakeholder and shareholder-oriented countries, and the results obtained can change the perspective of investors and company managers regarding investing in such activities in different countries. Investing in more materiality sustainability activities than the immateriality dimension can be new opportunities for companies to achieve predetermined goals, help retain and attract business partners or be a source of innovation for new product lines or services. Internal morale and employee engagement may increase while increasing productivity and firm performance. This discussion opens the way for future research.

Originality/value

This study provides insight into the effect of investing in material and immaterial sustainability activities in different industries on the company’s performance in shareholder and stakeholder-oriented countries.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. 24 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

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