Cost-effectiveness analysis of standalone trabecular micro-bypass stents in patients with mild-to-moderate open-angle glaucoma in Canada

Objectives: To estimate the cost-utility of two trabecular micro-bypass stents (TBS) implantation vs standard of care (SOC) in patients with mild-to-moderate open-angle glaucoma (OAG) in the Canadian healthcare setting.

Methods: The deterioration in visual field (VF) defect over a 15-year time horizon was tracked using a Markov model with Hodapp-Parrish-Anderson stages of glaucoma (mild, moderate, advanced, severe/blind) and death as health states. Meta-analyses of randomized clinical trials were conducted to estimate the pooled reduction in intraocular pressure (IOP) and medication use due to TBS and SOC. The rate of decline in VF loss was adjusted by the extent of IOP reduction to estimate transition probabilities. Healthcare resource utilization, unit costs (2017 CAD), and progression-related utility scores were obtained by literature review, and medication costs with wastage were obtained from IMS Brogan PharmaStat. The impact of parameter and methodological uncertainty on costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) was examined using probabilistic and 1-way sensitivity analyses.

Results: The meta-analysis showed an additional reduction of 1.13 medications/patient and an additional decrease in IOP of –1.10?mmHg at 36?months favoring TBS. TBS strongly dominated medication alone, due to higher improvement in quality-of-life (0.068 QALYs), fewer blind eyes (–0.0031), and a decrease in total healthcare costs of C$2,908.3 per patient over the time horizon (C$9,394.1 TBS vs C$12,302.4 medication alone). Sensitivity analyses showed that results were robust to the uncertainties in model inputs and assumptions. Time-to-dominance was 44?months (3.7?years).

Conclusions: The TBS procedure was cost-effective over SOC in a 15-year time horizon, with quality-of-life gains.     

Similarities and contradictions in the core logic of three strategy research streams

The logical foundations shaping three prominent streams of strategic management thought are summarized and then compared and contrasted. The intent is to determine whether these research streams are restatements of a single core logic using different terms to describe the same phenomena and relationships, or whether they provide alternate, and potentially competing, explanations for effective strategic action. Analysis reveals some concordant assertions, some similarities across pairs of frameworks, and some fundamental contradictions among the various logic sets. Since key elements in the fundamental premises of each research stream present logical contradictions with each of the other two, a strategy derived from an integration of these perspectives creates inconsistencies in a firm’s enacted context, its assumptions about strategy making, and its administrative arrangements. As circumstances change, a firm may be required to undergo a ‘core logic shift’ to maintain consistency between its strategy and its strategic context. When a shift becomes necessary, a firm needs to overcome structural inertia, competitive inertia, organizational momentum, and its current management logic to maintain internal consistency. Additional implications of the comparison of these three logics for both theory and practice are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Models of exchange rates : A comparison of forecasting results

In this note we compare the results of several published papers on exchange rate forecasting. With regard to univariate time series models, we confirm the result that such models, on average, do not outperform the simple random walk forecasting rule. This conclusion corrects results reported in this Journal by Alexander and Thomas (1987).     

Do remittances support consumption during crisis? Evidence from Kosovo

This paper focuses on the effect of remittances on per capita consumption over time in a context of conflict, war-to-peace transition and crisis. We use two household surveys from Kosovo with unique timing, one collected immediately after the civil war in 2000 and the other during the economic crisis in 2010. This territory, in which the tension among ethnic groups is the focus of international concern, is one of the top remittance-receiving countries in the world. We examine the effect of remittances not only at the average level of consumption, but also at various parts of the distribution of consumption using quantile regressions. We find that remittances alleviate poverty by enhancing the consumption level of the most vulnerable households, and the positive effect of remittances on consumption has remained constant between 2000 and 2010. This result may be connected with the resilience of remittances.     

Science and industry evolution: evidence from the first 50 years of the German laser industry

Small Business Economics - Industry evolution is driven by innovation. Scientific research is an important source of innovation-relevant knowledge. To trace its impact on industry evolution, we...     

Marktorientiertes Sportmanagement: Empirische Analyse des Einflusses der Marketinginstrumente auf die Markenstärke eines Sportevents

During the last two decades, sponsorship as a management and marketing tool has grown remarkably. This enormous economic potential, e.g. in form of sponsoring packages, makes it necessary for the organizers of sporting events to implement a systematic marketing strategy. The present study therefore attempts to measure the effectiveness of the marketing of sporting events using brand equity as an indicator. The theoretical modeling of the brand equity and the empirical examination are case-specifically conducted for the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. The elements of the marketing mix are used as drivers of the brand equity. The empirical examination identifies the product of the World Cup 2006 as the most effective driver of brand equity. Based on these results implications for the management are developed.