Contingent payments in selection contests

The early literature on research contests stressed the advantages of a fixed prize in inspiring R&D effort. More recently the focus has moved towards endogenizing the rewards to research activity in these tournament settings, since this can induce extra effort or enhance the surplus of the buyer. We focus on a research contest as a means of selecting a partner for an R&D enterprise, in an informational setting in which the established providers of R&D services know more about each others’ relative capabilities than does the buyer/sponsor. An alternative use of our model is in choosing between prospective patentees where the Patent Trading Office has less information on the patents than the competitors. This asymmetry creates a source of inefficiency if a rank order contest is used as a selection device; we show how the contest can be modified to improve selection efficiency, while maintaining its simplicity (as only ordinal information is required). The modification that we suggest involves endogenizing the prizes that are awarded contingent upon whether a contestant wins or loses the contest. Furthermore, the payment system and the selection mechanism are detail-free. This paper is part of the project “The Knowledge-Based Society” sponsored by the Research Council of Norway (project 172603/V10).     

Reflections on longitudinal action research with the English National Health Service

This paper reflects on a longitudinal collaborative action research programme between the Centre for Research in Strategic Purchasing and Supply and the UK National Health Service Purchasing and Supply Agency that has operated since 1995. During the collaboration, research has changed practice and practice has changed research. A framework for analysing change is introduced as a means of examining how supply strategy has changed during the course of the research. The framework is applied to three supply strategy cases of prosthetics, clinical waste and cardiology, illustrating how practice and research have changed and influenced the production of knowledge over time. The methodological, theoretical and managerial implications of such longitudinal action research programmes are reflected on.     

民办高职院校毕业生就业现状及对策研究

在目前严峻的就业形势下,通过对民办高职院校毕业生就业现状深入的分析,从就业环境、办学水平、毕业生素质三个方面提出促进民办高职毕业生就业的若干对策与建议。     

高校科普研究进展

高校为高等院校的简称。高校科普就是指高等院校的组织、机构和个人利用高校的设施、设备和人员开展的科普活动与行为。通过检索新世纪以来我国高校开展科普研究的文献,发现我国高校科普研究多集中于实践层面,理论研究较为少见。实践研究多是从高校科协工作、高校博物馆（档案馆、标本馆和图书馆）开放、高校科普教育基地建设工作和面向高校师生开展科普工作、高校科普创作的重要意义、实施策略（方式）以及机制等内容。高校科普基础理论研究的文章较少,主要体现在高校科协建设理论、高校科普内涵、科研科普的关系等内容。综合来看,高校科普研究内容较多,但是深入不够;实践研究多,理论研究少;实践研究多集中于方式方法研究,而机制和途经研究少;从发展的角度看,高校培养科普人才、高校科普志愿者研究、高校科普创作研究和高校科研科普关系研究将会成为未来的研究热点。     

A simple template for pitching research

In this article, I propose a simple new research tool – a template designed for pitching research. The two‐page pitching template begins with four ‘preliminaries’: working title, research question, key papers and motivation. Following this is the core of the template based on a ‘3‐2‐1 countdown’, namely THREE elements – idea, data and tools; TWO questions – What's new? and So what?; and ONE bottom line – contribution. The template ends with ‘other’ considerations. Finance and accounting examples are given to illustrate application of the template.     

Paying before consuming: Examining the robustness of consumers’ preference for prepayment

Prior research on consumers’ preference for timing of payment suggests that consumers prefer to prepay for certain kinds of purchases (e.g., vacations) and postpay for others (e.g., washer dryers). This research extends this finding by first comparing preference for timing of payment for products that vary by type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and durability (nondurable vs. durable) to reveal that it is only hedonic-nondurable products that elicit a preference for prepayment (study 1). The two studies that follow examine the robustness of the prepayment preference by (1) varying the favorability of the transaction (study 2), and, (2) by eliminating the choice of payment timing from the transaction (study 3). Results reveal that the preference for prepayment for hedonic-nondurable goods is robust when transaction characteristics are favorable but shifts when transaction characteristics are unfavorable. Furthermore, when the choice of payment timing is not offered, consumers become indifferent towards when they prefer to pay for hedonic-nondurable products. The implications of these findings for marketers and retailers are discussed.     

从美国专利看跨国公司研究开发国际网络化的本质

本文对取得美国专利权的19家电子行业的跨国公司研究开发的国际化程度和趋势进行了实证分析.论文确认了19家跨国公司研究开发国际网络化进程中的差异,同时对日本电子行业的跨国公司在基础研究层面的研究开发活动进行了分析.结论是:在"市场竞争的全球化"和"向IT时代转型"这样的外部竞争环境中,为了开发适合全球化市场的新产品,跨国公司必须要在企业内建立一个在世界范围内进行优秀研究开发人才最佳配置的全球网络体系.     

Conceptual underpinnings for transformative research in a service ecosystems context to resolve social issues – framework foundations and extensions

ABSTRACT

A number of services within society are designed to improve the well-being of its members and transform lives. Some services focus on the protection and support of vulnerable members of society, for example, those suffering the effects of drug use, mental health conditions, violence or poverty. Clients of such social services may also come from minority or marginalised cultural backgrounds. Typically, social services aim to reduce disparities and enhance individual and population well-being. A major challenge for social policy-makers and social service providers is to establish and maintain constructive engagement between the social services and those they are intended to serve. Some of these vulnerable clients are deemed ‘hard-to-reach’ (HTR) by policy-makers and service providers. Yet, the transformation of lives requires the involvement of the focal actor (client) and their service or activity system, as well as the engagement of other actors, such as the social worker embedded in their service or activity system. This paper aims to further unpack a novel approach, called integrative transformative service framework. This contribution extends its conceptualisation which fuses mainly three different approaches, namely Transformative Service Research (TSR), (Cultural-Historical) Activity Theory (CHAT) and (Regulatory) Engagement Theory (RET).     

广西研究开发经费投入特征、存在问题与对策建议

近年来,广西研究开发经费保持快速增长态势,增长率在西部排名靠前,研究开发经费与GDP比例提升明显,企业在研究开发活动中的主体地位日益凸显,但与国内多数地区相比仍有较大差距。从目前来看需要各级党委、政府加强组织领导和统筹协调,采取非常而适当的系列措施。本文对广西研究开发经费的投入特征、存在问题及对策建议进行系统分析。     

Value of information analysis in healthcare: a review of principles and applications

Background:

Economic evaluations are increasingly utilized to inform decisions in healthcare; however, decisions remain uncertain when they are not based on adequate evidence. Value of information (VOI) analysis has been proposed as a systematic approach to measure decision uncertainty and assess whether there is sufficient evidence to support new technologies.

Scope:

The objective of this paper is to review the principles and applications of VOI analysis in healthcare. Relevant databases were systematically searched to identify VOI articles. The findings from the selected articles were summarized and narratively presented.

Findings:

Various VOI methods have been developed and applied to inform decision-making, optimally designing research studies and setting research priorities. However, the application of this approach in healthcare remains limited due to technical and policy challenges.

Conclusion:

There is a need to create more awareness about VOI analysis, simplify its current methods, and align them with the needs of decision-making organizations.