Stuart Barson, Robin Gauld, Jonathon Gray, Goran Henriks, Christina Krause, Peter Lachman, Lynne Maher, M. Rashad Massoud, Lee Mathias, Mike Wagner and Luis Villa
The purpose of this paper is to identify five quality improvement initiatives for healthcare system leaders, produced by such leaders themselves, and to provide some guidance on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify five quality improvement initiatives for healthcare system leaders, produced by such leaders themselves, and to provide some guidance on how these could be implemented.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-stage modified-Delphi process was used, blending the Delphi approach of iterative information collection, analysis and feedback, with the option for participants to revise their judgments.
Findings
The process reached consensus on five initiatives: change information privacy laws; overhaul professional training and work in the workplace; use co-design methods; contract for value and outcomes across health and social care; and use data from across the public and private sectors to improve equity for vulnerable populations and the sickest people.
Research limitations/implications
Information could not be gathered from all participants at each stage of the modified-Delphi process, and the participants did not include patients and families, potentially limiting the scope and nature of input.
Practical implications
The practical implications are a set of findings based on what leaders would bring to a decision-making table in an ideal world if given broad scope and capacity to make policy and organisational changes to improve healthcare systems.
Originality/value
This study adds to the literature a suite of recommendations for healthcare quality improvement, produced by a group of experienced healthcare system leaders from a range of contexts.
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Miriam Palacios-Callender, Stephen Andrew Roberts and Thomas Roth-Berghofer
The purpose of this paper is to explore the hypothesis that collaboration was a key characteristic of Cuban science to maintain their scientific capacity during a period of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the hypothesis that collaboration was a key characteristic of Cuban science to maintain their scientific capacity during a period of economic restrictions and an important feature of Cuban science policy and practice for the benefit of society.
Design/methodology/approach
Collaboration was studied through Cuban scientific publications listed in PubMed for the period 1990-2010. The search was carried out using the advanced search engine of PubMed indicating < Cuba > in the affiliation field. To identify participating institutions a second search was performed to find the affiliations of all authors per article through the link to the electronic journal. A data set was created to identify institutional publication patterns for the surveyed period. Institutions were classified in three categories according to their scientific production as Central, Middle or Distal: the pattern of collaboration between these categories was analysed.
Findings
Results indicate that collaboration between scientifically advanced institutions (Central) and a wide range of national institutions is a consequence of the social character of science in Cuba in which cooperation prevails. Although this finding comes from a limited field of biomedical science it is likely to reflect Cuban science policy in general.
Originality/value
Using bibliometric tools the study suggests that Cuban science policy and practice ensure the application of science for social needs by harnessing human resources through national and international collaboration, building in this way stronger scientific capacity.
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This chapter aims to contribute to the study of social protests around the world and particularly in Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s, with a focus on an Argentinean case…
Abstract
This chapter aims to contribute to the study of social protests around the world and particularly in Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s, with a focus on an Argentinean case. Throughout these years, Argentina like many other Latin American societies witnessed the growth and development of intense social and political struggles in concert with the armed insurgency. Did workers or other popular social sectors support guerrilla organizations in Argentina? What was the interconnection between working-class and armed insurgent struggle? This chapter examines these liaisons by studying the case of an industrial city that has been identified to be a paradigm of labor radicalization and political violence in Argentina—Villa Constitución. Through the reanalysis of documents and sources as well as interviews, we discuss established interpretations on armed and labor struggles that reveal a broader heterogeneity in the forms of social support to revolutionary violence. Solidarity among workers and armed militants appears in (1) the actions of militant workers at their workplaces, and (2) the armed actions organized by militants in support of worker’s fights.” These two groups reinforced each other's activism. But, by no means can we directly deduct from this that rank and file workers immediately identified their strikes with ideologically revolutionary objectives.
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The primary purpose of this study is to determine if the main character is a shapeshifter and, if so, how does the tale contribute to shapeshifting lore.
Abstract
Purpose
The primary purpose of this study is to determine if the main character is a shapeshifter and, if so, how does the tale contribute to shapeshifting lore.
Design/methodology/approach
The focus of the study is confined to a version of the tale that appears in Jane Yolen's Folktales From Around the World (1986) and on summaries of other versions of shapeshifting tales when needed. Support for the findings is provided by an examination of the observations and rhetorical techniques employed by what appears to be an unreliable narrator and selected knowledge and practices from a variety of academic disciplines.
Findings
The research findings neither confirm nor deny that the main character is or is not a shapeshifter.
Research limitations/implications
Instead, the critical reading confirms the traditional characterization of folktales as coming from diverse folk roots and disappearing or changing as they circulate through geographical space and narrative time.
Practical implications
It also implies that the tale has outgrown its practical and social folk roots and now extends far beyond that of traditional shapeshifting or literary folktales.
Social implications
By bringing to light the racial and gender fears, ignorance and emotional and physical violence that lurk just below the surface of the society from which serpent-woman emerges, the study creates a haunting vision of the embedded biases that lurk just below the surface of many societies.
Originality/value
To this author's knowledge, this is the first study of this tale to appear in publication. The findings need further investigation.
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Nicolas Salvador Beltramino, Domingo Garcia-Perez-de-Lema and Luis Enrique Valdez-Juarez
The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of the intellectual capital of SMEs on innovation and organizational performance in the context of an emerging country.
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of the intellectual capital of SMEs on innovation and organizational performance in the context of an emerging country.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample consisted of 259 industrial SMEs from the Cordoba, Argentina. The data were analyzed by partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM).
Findings
The study provides empirical evidence that the three components of intellectual capital generate positive and significant effects on innovation in processes and products. Structural capital is the component that has the greatest effect on innovation. It also showed a positive and significant relationship between innovation in processes and performance, contributing to the scarce empirical literature in the context of SMEs.
Research limitations/implications
The research exposes limitations that uncover a path for future. First, the work uses as the only source of information, the consultation at the highest level of the company. Second, the study covered only industrial companies. Future studies should focus on other sectors and countries.
Practical implications
The results may have important practical implications for SME owners and managers and offer a vision of the influence of intellectual capital on the innovative capacity of the organization.
Originality/value
The value of work lies in establishing the importance of intellectual capital in the environment of an emerging country such as Argentina, given the low level of knowledge that exists in this area.
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The situation risks turning into a severe constitutional crisis with the legislature and judiciary challenging one another. Morales has once again defied a judicial veto on his…
Columba Lisset Flores Torres, Luis Alberto Olvera-Vargas, Julia Sánchez Gómez and David Israel Contreras-Medina
Following the recommendation of the food and agriculture organization of the United Nations in agricultural innovation, for taking advantage of emerging technologies, in benefit…
Abstract
Purpose
Following the recommendation of the food and agriculture organization of the United Nations in agricultural innovation, for taking advantage of emerging technologies, in benefit of small-farmers, the present study explores one of the most ancient crops in the world that privileging the application of tacit knowledge, to become a succulent plant called agave, into the so-called drink of the gods, the mezcal. For this, the purpose of this study is to discover innovation opportunities and reconfiguring knowledge interaction dynamics of the agricultural artisan production of agave-mezcal from Oaxaca, Mexico, using emerging technologies
Design/methodology/approach
Following a qualitative-quantitative approach, the study was carried out with 44 mezcal producers from Oaxaca, Mexico, through face-to-face session, questionaries’ application and field visits, based on the model of socialization, externalization, combination and internalization (SECI) through Likert-scale questions, combining the non-parametric statistical analysis and digital compass, for the detection of technological opportunities
Findings
Basing on artisanal process, context-knowledge place, technological resources and SECIs model results, the opportunities must go in the route of labour in the logic of digital performance. In this sense, becomes relevant to develop an easy-use mobile application for improving the interaction of mezcaleros with external agents and another’s producers., A second proposal is the creation of mezcal-tech-hub, thinking as collaborative space, for promoting the interaction producer-to-producer and producer-to-external agent.
Originality/value
The value of the present study is the empirical description of knowledge dynamics interaction contained in the agricultural artisan production of agave-mezcal through SECI model; the identification of problems, failure or barriers contained in the knowledge interaction dynamics of the agricultural artisan production agave-mezcal; the proposal of innovation opportunities for reconfiguring the knowledge interaction dynamics of the agricultural artisan production agave-mezcal from a developing economy, using emerging technologies.
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Se Heine non giunse fino a Roma, in compenso vi arrivarono altri non meno illustri tedeschi, il cui genio si immortalò nel campo musicale. Per non parlare di Händel, che visit�…
Abstract
Se Heine non giunse fino a Roma, in compenso vi arrivarono altri non meno illustri tedeschi, il cui genio si immortalò nel campo musicale. Per non parlare di Händel, che visitò Roma nel 1707, nè di Gluck, che vi venne nel 1756, ricorderemoper il'700 — Wolfango Amedeo Mozart e — per 1'800 — Riccardo Wagner.
Gustavo Adolfo Yepes-López, José Luis Camarena, Julián Mauricio Cruz-Pulido, Luz Jeannette Quintero-Campos, Virginia Lasio, Jorge Rodriguez, Jack Zambrano-Vera, Consuelo Adelaida García de la Torre, María Matilde Schwalb-Helguero, María Ángela Prialé, José Solís-Sierra, Maruzella Rossi-Undurraga, Roberto Carvajal-Ramos, Pedro Javier Martinez, Victoria González-Gutiérrez, Rogelio Sánchez-Reyna, Griselda Lassaga and Nicolás Beltramino
This article aims to report on the development and validation of a bribery measurement index for the business sector, which, based on institutional theory, seeks to overcome the…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to report on the development and validation of a bribery measurement index for the business sector, which, based on institutional theory, seeks to overcome the limitations of traditional measurements, recognizing the dynamics that originate the phenomenon and identifying process components.
Design/methodology/approach
To construct the index, correlational and principal component analysis techniques were used, as well as rigorous statistical tests, validating the instrument in a sample of 2,963 companies in Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru.
Findings
The result was an instrument composed of two dimensions: (1) anti-bribery game rules, composed of regulations knowledge and anti-bribery efforts, and (2) bribery as a perceived habit, allowing an objective representation of reality due to its internal consistency, concurrent and discriminant validity.
Practical implications
This instrument is one of the few that focuses on measuring bribery in the business sector in terms of corrupt practices, applicable for both public and private institutions to promote game rules against bribery. Additionally, the proposed theoretical model can be used to measure other phenomena with similar characteristics.
Originality/value
This article empirically highlights different variables that make bribery possible. The results can be helpful in the design of strategies to prevent this type of behavior. It also highlights the importance of designing mechanisms to record information related to bribery and the different expressions of corruption in order to explain its different nuances.
Propósito
Este artículo informa sobre el desarrollo y validación de un índice de medición de soborno para el sector empresarial, que, basado en la teoría institucional, busca superar las limitaciones de las mediciones tradicionales, reconociendo las dinámicas que originan el fenómeno e identificando los componentes del proceso.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
Para la construcción del índice se utilizaron técnicas de análisis correlacional y de componentes principales, así como rigurosas pruebas estadísticas, validando el instrumento en una muestra de 2.963 empresas de América Latina, entre ellas Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, México y Perú.
Hallazgos
El resultado fue un instrumento compuesto por dos dimensiones: (1) reglas de juego antisoborno, compuestas por conocimiento normativo y esfuerzo antisoborno (2) soborno como hábito percibido, permitiendo una representación objetiva de la realidad debido a su consistencia interna, validez concurrente y discriminante.
Originalidad/Valor
Este artículo pone en evidencia empírica diferentes variables que hacen posible el soborno. Los resultados pueden ser útiles en el diseño de estrategias para prevenir este tipo comportamiento, también destaca la importancia de diseñar mecanismos para registrar la información relacionada con la lucha contra el soborno.
Implicaciones prácticas
Este instrumento es uno de los pocos que se enfoca en medir el soborno en el sector empresarial en términos de prácticas de corrupción, útil para instituciones tanto públicas como privadas para promover mejores reglas de juego en contra del soborno. Adicionalmente el modelo teórico propuesto puede ser utilizado para medir otros fenómenos con características similares.
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Gregory Jeffers, Rashawn Ray and Tim Hallett
Methodological traditions are like any other social phenomena. They are made by people working together, criticizing one another, and borrowing from other traditions. They are…
Abstract
Methodological traditions are like any other social phenomena. They are made by people working together, criticizing one another, and borrowing from other traditions. They are living social things, not abstract categories in a single system.– Andrew Abbott (2004, p. 15)