Health care resource utilization and burden of disease in a U.S. Medicare population with a principal diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the knee

Abstract

Aims

To assess the prevalence, health care resource utilization (HCRU), and economic burden of disease among Medicare beneficiaries with a principal diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.     

Culture and compensation—unpicking the intricate relationship between reward and organizational culture

Interest in culture and reward came to public attention during the banking crisis. This article builds a framework for further research on the linkages between reward systems and organizational culture. From European viewpoints, there is interest in applying social frameworks to reward systems, complementing economic and psychological perspectives. The theoretical complexity of culture could be a barrier to research but, it is argued, Martin's (2002) three perspectives and Hatch's (1993) cultural dynamics model provide sound foundations. For reward practitioners, the main message may be to spend as much time evaluating how reward plans are received as in designing perfect plans. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Students,Patients, Citizens,and Believers as “Customers”: A Cross-National Exploratory Study

ABSTRACT

Executives in 94 large UK companies engaging in cause related marketing (CRM) completed a questionnaire concerning (i) their firms' approaches to the management and evaluation of CRM, (ii) the benefits perceived to accrue to the practice, and (iii) whether these businesses applied commercial rather than philanthropic principles when selecting CRM partners. It emerged that, in general, the sample firms employed mainly commercial criteria when choosing CRM projects, that selections were frequently influenced by employee opinion, and that most of the evaluation techniques conventionally used to appraise commercial sponsorship and advertising were also utilised to assess CRM programmes. Companies were reported to demand close and obvious links between their products and the activities of partner charities. Typically, they preferred to affiliate with well-known charities and tended to dislike “controversial” causes. In the main the respondents held low opinions of their charity partners' marketing abilities. The article concludes with a number of recommendations regarding the ways in which charities should formulate proposals when inviting businesses to participate in CRM programmes.     

From Artisans to "Factories": The Interpenetration of Craft and Industry in English Cheese-Making, 1650-1950

This article traces the uneven development of English cheese-makingfrom its early commercialization to the eventual triumph ofthe "cheese factory." The narrative shows how contemporary actorsinitiated and adapted to changes in technology, distribution,consumption, and regulation. It indicates that artisanal practiceshave both borrowed from and become integrated with industriallogics and strategies, exemplifying a process that Charles F.Sabel and Jonathan Zeitlin termed the "recombinablility andinterpenetration" of different forms of economic organization[World of Possibilities: Flexibility and Mass Production inWestern Industrialization (Cambridge, U.K., 1997), 2–3].International comparisons are introduced to clarify the reasonsfor England’s halting and idiosyncratic transition toindustrial-scale cheese-making.     

Yen carry trades and stock returns in target currency countries

The proliferation of carry trade – a strategy of simultaneously shorting a low-yielding currency and longing a high-yielding currency raises the concern on its impact on global asset prices. In this exercise, we examine the implications of yen carry trade for stock markets in a few selected target currency countries. Three alternative proxies for carry trade activity – a currency-specific profit measure, a currency-specific futures position variable, and the Deutsche Bank G10 Currency Futures Harvest Index – are used. It is found that the three measures of carry trade display various degrees of influences on stock returns in Australia, Canada, Britain, Mexico, and New Zealand. The empirical carry trade effect is robust to the inclusion of three control variables; namely the US stock return, the VIX Index that represents market volatility, and commodity prices. Further, the estimation results suggest that the three measures of carry trade share some common information about stock returns in target currency countries.     

Transforming policy through local wisdom

The powerful forces of technology, the global economy, and demographic changes are reshaping how people live and how communities function all around the world. Many observers are concerned about the impact of these forces on the quality of life in communities and people's ability to mitigate the negative impacts associated with rapid social and economic transformation. Indeed, confidence has waned in the ability of established institutions and governments to respond to these challenges. Local communities are meeting these future challenges by tapping the wisdom and energy of their neighbors and together, forging relationships and building upon the assets in their environments. In short, they are building community. Their work pushes government and more established institutions to think differently about how to create opportunities, achieve equity and improve lives. This essay illustrates how inserting the community building approach into policymaking can produce better policies that reflect the wisdom, experience and voice of local constituencies and proposes a strategy for improving policymaking by transforming the policy process itself into one that builds community.     

Analyzing the Effects of Market and Resource Orientations on Innovative Outcomes in Times of Turbulence*

Innovation and new product success are often a core precursor to superior performance. Although research has examined the resource‐based view (RBV) and market orientation (MO) individually, limited research has evaluated and compared their effect on innovation and new product success in one study. Furthermore, relative to MO, comparatively less research has been conducted to evaluate the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and the RBV to examine their effects on a firm's ability to innovate and succeed. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of environmental variables (i.e., market turbulence and technological turbulence) on the relationship between two strategic orientations and performance and to extend a previous study. Specifically, it aims to evaluate whether a focus on the customer or the firm will impact innovation, product quality, new product success, financial performance, and customer value in settings of varying environmental turbulence. Data were collected from more than 200 senior executives. LISREL was applied to evaluate the relationships under examination. Interaction effects were assessed using a nested goodness‐of‐fit strategy using a multiple‐group solution. Results depicted significant relationships between organizational learning and both resource and market orientations. Significant relationships also emerged between each strategic orientation and various performance indicators. Interaction effects were observed for market turbulence on customer value and market orientation as well as for resource orientation (RO) on innovation in times of high technological turbulence. The paper concludes with a review of theoretical and managerial implications to stimulate further debate. These results suggest that managers seeking innovation and new product success cannot afford to ignore the environment and do so at their peril. The provision of customer value is essential for positive financial performance. Thus, management needs to monitor environmental contexts so that they are able to adjust their investment in market orientation and the requisite processes that enable its implementation. Conversely, the effects of RO on performance are more robust across industry conditions, presenting an alternative avenue for management to achieve market superiority. The paper concludes with a review of theoretical and managerial implications to stimulate further debate.     

Employment- and growth effects of tax reforms

Since the mid-1990s almost all OECD countries have engaged in fundamental reforms of their tax systems. There is a trend towards higher social security contributions and lower tax rates on personal and corporate income. This paper explores whether these tax policy measures are effective means for reducing unemployment and accelerating economic growth. Using a Pissarides type search model with endogenous growth, we analyze how savings and the incentive to create new jobs are affected by revenue-neutral tax swaps between wage income taxes, payroll taxes, capital income taxes and taxes levied on capital costs. In our framework, cutting the capital income tax (reducing the double taxation of dividend income) financed by a higher payroll tax turns out to be superior, such a policy mix fosters both employment and growth. Most other tax reforms imply a trade-off between employment and growth.     

The accountability lens: A new way to view management issues

In this article, we contend that viewing organizations through an accountability lens (in terms of source, focus, salience, and intensity) helps illuminate issues of governance and ethical dilemmas common to most individuals at work. We also propose that disconnects between aspects of accountability may pressure individuals to behave unethically and seek to rationalize their behaviors. We suggest that accountability is not only an organizational requirement, but also a perceptual lens that can be used to observe and understand behavior in, and of, organizations. As such, we demonstrate herein how to make better sense of functional and dysfunctional behavior in organizations by applying the accountability lens. A key component of this accountability lens is the notion of an accountability environment: those aspects of an individual’s immediate work environment that directly affect the subjective interpretation and experience of felt accountability. The notion that individuals perceive and interpret their accountabilities subjectively is critical to understanding why multiple employees can behave differently (and sometimes unethically) under the same accountability conditions.