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The facility manager has selected an architect. He/she might be getting ready to start a great project ‐ but perhaps not. Facility managers are often put into the position of selecting and negotiating contracts for architecture services. This paper is based upon research sponsored by the American Institute of Architects. From input gathered at an owners’ forum last year, this paper focuses on potential improvement areas for architects. It also assists the facility manager to prepare and negotiate a contract that will help ensure the delivery of expectations. This is accomplished by: understanding what to put into the architect’s contract to protect an organisation’s interests and realise expectations; developing a contractual format that will minimise surprises; learning what many owners think are the most common shortcomings of an architect. The facility manager must learn how important it is to select the most suitable architect for their organisation and consolidate the learning by negotiating a contract that will protect the company’s interests and help to achieve the desired results.

Change in facility design is occurring frequently and designers are having to respond to uncertain requirements. Facility programming is described as one possible solution to the problem, being a structured process of problem solving which allows organised decision making. The five steps which make up the process are described and one result of its use in a recently completed facility in the USA is outlined.

There are many dynamics within the workplace that are beyond the control of the facility manager. Seeks to consider the drivers that influence the need for managers to consider outsourcing or when changing an existing provider.

A conceptual discussion and approach are taken.

Outsourcing of services is one of the dynamics of the work place. Regardless of the type of outsourcing effort, there is a structured process that will help assure success. There are fixed and flexible costs that need to be budgeted, including some hidden expenses. A well planned transition with all parties is essential.

Provides a focus for the facility manager considering outsourcing.

The research analyzes good practices in health care “management experimentation models,” which fall within the broader range of the integrative public–private partnerships (PPPs). Introduced by the Italian National Healthcare System in 1991, the “management experimentation models” are based on a public governance system mixed with a private management approach, a patient-centric orientation, a shared financial risk, and payment mechanisms correlated with clinical outcomes, quality, and cost-savings. This model makes public hospitals more competitive and efficient without affecting the principles of universal coverage, solidarity, and equity of access, but requires higher financial responsibility for managers and more flexibility in operations.

In Italy the experience of such experimental models is limited but successful. The study adopts the case study methodology and refers to the international collaboration started in 1997 between two Italian hospitals and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC – Pennsylvania, USA) in the field of organ transplants and biomedical advanced therapies.

The research allows identifying what constitutes good management practices and factors associated with higher clinical performance. Thus, it allows to understand whether and how the management experimentation model can be implemented on a broader basis, both nationwide and internationally. However, the implementation of integrative PPPs requires strategic, cultural, and managerial changes in the way in which a hospital operates; these transformations are not always sustainable.

The recognition of ISMETT’s good management practices is useful for competitive benchmarking among hospitals specialized in organ transplants and for its insights on the strategies concerning the governance reorganization in the hospital setting. Findings can be used in the future for analyzing the cross-country differences in productivity among well-managed public hospitals.

Presents a review on implementing finite element methods on supercomputers, workstations and PCs and gives main trends in hardware and software developments. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on the subjects retrospectively to 1985 and approximately 1,100 references are listed.

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.

All seventeen had graciously agreed to my proposal to gather for a small conference to seek consensus. A generous grant from the Pierian Press Foundation would cover all of our expenses for a long weekend at a resort hotel; the only condition of the grant was that we offer our results to Reference Services Review for first publication. Over the past five years each of the seventeen had in turn accepted my challenge to answer the following question:

Stubaital is among the top destinations in Austria, depending heavily on winter tourism. Families and individual tourists who seek hiking or skiing are the core target segments. After merging two DMOs that previously managed separate parts of the area, problems of cooperation and coordination between actors from different regions occurred. This was partly due to different interests rooted in different resource endowments. The main goal of the DMO has been to strengthen the summer season in order to reduce dependency on winter tourism. Destination governance therefore must foster cooperation and joint planning activities among the stakeholders. The Stubaital case illustrates stakeholders’ perceptions of power constellations and patterns of communication among stakeholders and their influences on destination development.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.