A blogger in their midst

It was five minutes before show time, and only 15 people had wandered into the conference room to hear Lancaster-Webb CEO Will Somerset introduce the company's latest line of surgical gloves. More important, sales prospect Samuel Taylor, medical director of the Houston Clinic, had failed to show. Will walked out of the ballroom to steady his nerves and noticed a spillover crowd down the hall. He made a "What's up?" gesture to Judy Chen, Lancaster-Webb's communications chief. She came over to him. "It's Glove Girl. You know, the blogger," Judy said, as if this explained anything. "I think she may have stolen your crowd." "Who is she?" Will asked. Glove Girl was a factory worker at Lancaster-Webb whose always outspoken, often informative postings on her Web log had developed quite a following. Will was new to the world of blogging, but he quickly learned about its power in a briefing with his staff. After Glove Girl had raved about Lancaster-Webb's older SteriTouch disposable gloves, orders had surged. More recently, though, Glove Girl had questioned the Houston Clinic's business practices, posting damaging information at her site about its rate of cesarean deliveries--to Sam Taylor's consternation. This fictional case study considers the question of whether a highly credible, but sometimes inaccurate and often indiscreet, on-line diarist is more of a liability than an asset to her employer. What, if anything, should Will Somerset do about Glove Girl? Four commentators--David Wein-berger, author of Small Pieces Loosely Joined; Pamela Samuelson, a professor of law and information management at the University of California, Berkeley; Ray Ozzie, CEO and chairman of Groove Networks; and Erin Motameni, vice president of human resources at EMC-offer expert advice.     

与葛文谈话:鹿特丹电影节与当代独立电影制作

葛文:很高兴今天这么多人来听我的讲座,我很乐意和大家分享我的工作,并且谈谈我对中国独立电影,甚至非独立电影的看法。通常我在介绍电影的时候,总是忘了跟人们说我是谁。一场放映即将开始,我说这     

A multidimensional analysis of supply chain integration in canadian manufacturing

Supply chain management is a key element in companies' competitiveness. We surveyed 512 Canadian manufacturers, most of which were small or medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Our survey was structured around four dimensions of supply change integration, namely: nesting, collaboration, financial incorporation, and distancing. In this paper we describe the use of supply chain management practices and show that their use is dependent on the nature of the business partners (i.e., upstream or downstream positioning of partnership in chain logistics of businesses studied), business field (i.e., sector of activities in which the business operates), and organizational size. Our findings suggest that supply chain practices were used more intensively with clients than with suppliers. They also show that practitioners and scholars need to qualify the concept of integration which is often used in a one‐dimensional perspective. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The drive to survive: independent medical practice

The "hospital of choice" for independent physicians will have the following characteristics: Adequate capital for investment in human resources, technology, and facilities. A strong and sustainable market position based on affiliated primary care practices. The ability to engage physicians as business partners. The availability of performance management information.     

Integration: from structural to functional

Because of trends that are driving increased consolidation in the healthcare industry, community healthcare systems in the future will have fewer independent medical practices. Hospitals and physician practices can be structurally or functionally integrated, but those that are structurally integrated only, do not function as integrated health systems. For successful integration, leaders from many disciplines need to engage in a partnership and be willing to create conditions for a functional integration.