Alternate signs of life: The growth of biotechnology industries in Shanghai and Bangalore

This paper explores the emergence of biotechnology centers in Shanghai and Bangalore by comparing their development to best practices in the literature for biotechnology cluster growth and development. Interviews with over fifty biotech companies and related institutions in China and India indicate that these regions are developing alternate models of low cost manufacturing and services that build on the current local base of knowledge and expertise. The ability to convert research into successful commercial activity was identified in both regions. The strong research capacity, private sector funding, and entrepreneurial environment deemed critical best practices were limited. New growth theory is used to explain these alternate approaches to technological and social change.     

"Quicker and sicker" under Medicare's prospective payment system for hospitals: new evidence on an old issue from a national longitudinal survey

Medicare's prospective payment system for hospitals (PPS), introduced in the USA in 1983, replaced cost reimbursement with a system of fixed rates which created incentives for hospitals to control costs. Previous studies found that elderly patients were discharged from hospital "quicker and sicker" under PPS and concluded that families were coping at home. We analyse a national longitudinal survey, the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and its Epidemiologic Followup Study, which includes data on more outcomes over a longer period than earlier studies. We find that the rate of admission to nursing homes from the community in the first weeks after a hospital discharge more than tripled under PPS, suggesting that families were not always able to cope. As another response to sicker patients, discharges directly to nursing homes from hospitals, which jumped initially under PPS, may have risen further when payment rates were tightened in the early 1990s. Hospital readmissions fell after the first few years. Our findings are strengthened by the fact that we control for patients' health using health information collected independently of hospital admission.     

A Global Mining Corporation and Local Communities in the Lake Victoria Zone: The Case of Barrick Gold Multinational in Tanzania

This case explores a Canadian mining corporation, Barrick Gold Corporation (Barrick), and the way it engages with the local communities that surround its mining activities in the Lake Victoria Zone, Tanzania. Following recent organized tensions within several local communities and heightened criticism from those communities [examples of recent discontent from local communities and workers at Barrick Gold Corp in Tanzania: http://www.protestbarrick.net/article.php?id=214; http://www.protestbarrick.net/article.php?list=type&type=12; http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1247233520081212; http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15263; http://www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/Tanzania_en/What_Really_Happened (accessed Feb- ruary 25, 2009)], as well as from local media, social lobbyists, and local not-for-profit organizations (NFOs), the case examines the way Barrick has responded to this situation by implementing global corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies in an attempt to strike a balance between its international business capabilities and its localization strategies. In spite of these efforts, tension between Barrick and the local communities within the company??s zone of operations has not abated. This issue has left Barrick??s senior management wondering what more the company could reasonably do to resolve the situation.     

Customer Centric Company

Literaturhinweise

Customer centric company     

中国乡城流动人口社会网络复杂性特征分析

借助社会网络等非正式制度方式实现再社会化是乡城流动人口融入城市生活的主要途径之一。对流动人口社会网络的分析不仅可以揭示其网络结构特点,也将为进一步研究流动人口再社会化过程提供理论基础。采用深圳市流动人口专项调查中的整体网络数据,借助复杂性科学,尤其是复杂网络的研究方法,系统分析了乡城流动人口社会支持网络与讨论网络的复杂性特征。在乡城流动人口社会网络中广泛存在小世界现象和无标度特性等复杂网络特征。复杂性科学可以为分析诸如乡城流动人口这样的复杂系统提供有效方法,也是拓展复杂性科学,尤其是复杂网络应用领域的有益尝试。     

Research engagement,impact and sustainable tourism

In this editorial, we reflect on how the Journal of Sustainable Tourism can contribute towards sustainable tourism researchers achieving more impact with their research. We propose some changes that can be tested in, and introduced gradually and collaboratively with, the community of the editorial board and authors. To support impactful mind sets, we will promote research that reflects diverse academic communities. To promote impactful research topics, we will encourage authors to frame their submitted articles against the Sustainable Development Goals, while research that is time sensitive will be fast tracked so it can contribute to current debates. To promote impactful methodologies, we shall favour articles that use mixed methods and action research, and those that conduct longitudinal, experimental, and evaluative research. To promote impactful partnerships, we will favour multidisciplinary approaches and research that has been co-created with stakeholders. To promote impactful communication and dissemination, we will continue to build an online community on social media for sustainable tourism researchers, we will promote articles in social media to raise their visibility, and we will provide free access to those articles that are deemed to have the greatest potential to impact positively on society.     

Decoupled Farm Payments and Expectations for Base Updating

The degree to which U.S. farm programs are decoupled from production has been a central issue in recent trade disputes. Several authors have suggested producer expectations for base acreage and yield updating in future farm bills create an incentive to alter planting and input decisions. This article reports analysis of the subjective expectations of producers for base updating and an analysis of the effect these expectations have on producer willingness to accept a buyout of the right to update. On average, producers think the chances of updating in the next farm bill are about 40%, but less than 17% indicate adjusting acreage or yields in anticipation of updating.