Collaboration risk management in IT-enabled asymmetric partnerships: Evidence from telestroke networks

Information technology (IT)-enabled partnerships can unlock previously unattainable value propositions between organizations that have resource, capability, and other asymmetries by allowing larger organizations access to niche and local resources while providing smaller organizations access to enhanced resources and capabilities. However, recent studies have shown that many IT-enabled asymmetric partnerships often fail because the organizations do not effectively manage the involved collaboration risks. Most organizations focus on the strategic aspect of whether partners behave cooperatively or competitively, while paying scant attention to the operational aspect of bringing together partner contributions through coordination. To examine this problem, we report on a case study of two hub-spoke networks that used telemedicine to facilitate expertise sharing and decision making about stroke treatment at emergency departments in rural hospitals (spokes) based on information exchanges with remote neurologists at academic medical centers (hubs). As a result, we contribute to the inter-organizational information systems literature by explaining how organizations in IT-enabled asymmetric partnerships manage collaboration risks. We demonstrate how partners in such relationships perceive and approach strategic cooperation and operational coordination risks differently. We also explain how collaboration interactions change over time as the partners manage risks based on needs and resource endowments. Drawing on these findings, we provide guidance to organizations on how to manage sustainable IT-enabled asymmetric partnerships in general, and telestroke networks in particular.     

DISCRIMINANT FUNCTION ANALYSIS OF SMALL FARMERS AND LANDLESS IN INDIA*

The small farmers and landless in India are faced with the vicious cycle of low incomes, low savings, low investment and uneconomic size of operational holdings and often are nonviable. Using data for the Haryana State of Northern India for 1977/78, the linear discriminant function was used to identify those factors which will make the majority of small farmers and landless in India a viable entity. Analysis of these data indicated that per hectare fertiliser use, area under high yielding crop varieties, operational size of holding and working capital are the factors which affect the viability of the small farmers and landless. As compared to the simple regression analysis discriminant function approach has been found an effective tool for discriminating the two social groups and for predicting the sponsored social change. However, the use of the discriminant function may be limited if the qualitative independent variable has more than two classes and its orderings are not in sequence.     

The nutrition transition and agricultural transformation: a Preston curve approach

The nutrition transition in diets and health is closely tied to other aspects of economic development, including agricultural transformation and urbanization as well as demographic change and epidemiological transition from infectious to noncommunicable disease. Over time, dietary patterns typically shift from widespread inadequacy of many foods and nutrients, especially for children and mothers, into surplus energy intake and rising obesity with continued inadequacy of healthier foods. Diet‐related diseases remain the largest single cause of premature death and disability in all regions. This article combines food availability and dietary intake data from more than 100 countries over 30 years with a wide range of other evidence to characterize the nutrition transition and its association with changes in agricultural production and the food environment, asking how future dietary patterns might be steered toward healthier outcomes as national incomes grow.     

Testing nonlinearities in economic growth in the OECD countries: an evidence from SETAR and STAR models

This study estimates the Self Exciting Threshold Autoregressive (SETAR) and Smooth Transition Autoregressive (STAR) models and examines the nonlinear and regime switching dynamics of economic growth for a set of 10 OECD countries. The null of linearity in SETAR model is tested using the recursive polynomial F test of Tsay and the bootstrap based supremum, average and exponential average Lagrange Multiplier (LM) tests of Hansen. The F test of Tsay rejects the null of linearity for all the countries, except Spain and Switzerland. The SETAR model of Hansen reinforces the evidence and suggests the rejection of linear model. The STAR model rejects the null of linearity against STAR nonlinearity for all the countries, except Denmark and Switzerland. The sequential F tests for the conditional nulls suggest the LSTAR nonlinearity for Australia, Belgium, France, Sweden and UK, and the ESTAR nonlinearity for Canada, Spain and the USA.     

How pervasive is the effect of culture on stock market linkages? Evidence across regions and economic cycles

We conduct a comprehensive study on the effect of culture on stock market linkages. With data on 25 national stock markets, a quantile regression model is used to estimate the determinants of market linkages using culture variable/s such as language, religion and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions while controlling for distance, economic and legal variables. Further, we test whether these effects hold across regions and if changes are detected during periods of market crisis. We also test if market liquidity, an indicator of market efficiency, diminishes the impact of culture on market linkages. The main conclusion is that culture preferences shape investor choices, which affects integration between stock markets. The equity markets with similar cultural traits tend to increase market linkages; however, we observe differences across regions. Furthermore, liquidity and economic uncertainty fail to have an impact on the significance of culture variable/s as determinants of market linkages.     

Access to Finance,Financial Development and Firm Ability to Export: Experience from Asia–Pacific Countries

With particular reference to Asia–Pacific countries, the present study examines how access to finance and financial development affects firms’ ability to enter export markets. Using firm‐level data from the World Bank Enterprises Survey, we found that access to finance plays a significant role in improving firms’ ability to export. In addition, development of the financial sector fosters export market entry. Among the financial development indicators, reach of the banking sector variable is most prominent. The present study suggests that improvements in access to finance and financial development (increases in the reach of the banking sector) enable firms operating away from capital or major cities to enter export markets easily. The present study supports policy intervention to strengthen access to the financial sector, which would encourage firms to export, and to facilitate export market entry for remotely located firms.     

Cost-effectiveness of second-line atezolizumab in Canada for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Aim: To assess the cost-effectiveness in Canada of atezolizumab compared with docetaxel or nivolumab for the treatment of advanced NSCLC after first-line platinum-doublet chemotherapy.

Materials and methods: A three-state partitioned-survival model was developed. Clinical inputs were obtained from the phase III OAK trial comparing atezolizumab with docetaxel in patients with advanced NSCLC who progressed after first-line platinum-doublet chemotherapy. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were extrapolated beyond the trial period using parametric models. A cure model assuming a 1% cure fraction was fitted to the OS data for atezolizumab. Outcomes for nivolumab were informed by a network meta-analysis (NMA) vs atezolizumab. Resource use and costs were informed by clinical expert opinion and published Canadian sources. Utility values were obtained from the OAK trial. The perspective of the analysis was that of the Canadian publicly-funded healthcare system. The base case time horizon was 10?years, and the discount rate was 1.5% annually for both costs and effects. Scenario analyses were performed to test the robustness of the results and all analyses were performed probabilistically.

Results: Atezolizumab demonstrated a quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gain of 0.60 compared with docetaxel at an incremental cost of $85,073, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $142,074/QALY. Atezolizumab dominated nivolumab (regardless of dosing regimen), based on modest differences in both QALYs and costs. Docetaxel was most likely to be cost effective at willingness-to-pay (WTP) thresholds below $125,000/QALY gained, while atezolizumab was most likely to be cost effective beyond this WTP threshold. In most scenario analyses, the results remained robust to changes in parameters. A reduced time horizon and alternative approaches to the NMA had the greatest impact on cost-effectiveness results.

Conclusion: Atezolizumab represents a cost-effective therapeutic option in Canada for the treatment of patients with advanced NSCLC who progress after first-line platinum doublet chemotherapy.     

Developing design principles for the digitalisation of purchasing and supply management

This paper develops an approach to evaluating designs for digitalisation interventions in purchasing and supply management (PSM), and identifies some fundamental design principles for such interventions. A set of advanced technologies for digitalisation and a theory-based set of seven value drivers for PSM are identified for the proposed grid to facilitate the design of applications and interventions for digitalising PSM. The grid relates the digital technologies to the PSM value drivers in a matrix-like manner, allowing the structured consideration of the space defined by these two dimensions. The proposed approach to the strategic evolution of digitalisation in PSM is tested and its utility is demonstrated in analyses of practitioner literature and multiple case-study-based perspectives on PSM digitalisation. Two fundamental design principles relating to the use of the grid, or to the filling of its space, are set out, thus the research provides new theoretical perspectives on the design of advanced forms of PSM digitalisation. The proposed grid may be used in application design, communicating current and future states of PSM digitalisation to stakeholders, and specifically in developing a future-oriented strategy with a digitalization element for the PSM function.     

Using factor analysis to explore principal components for quality management implementation

Quality remains or continues to be one of the top ranking strategic issues in all major organisations. However, today organisations are faced with increasingly sophisticated and informed stakeholder expectations. Standards by which organisations are judged are continuously evolving as are consumer’s expectations, needs and preferences. Thus, in such an environment, the alignment of quality with today’s business challenges, are widely criticized. There is a sense that quality has become outdated somewhere over the last two decades and that it is still predominately understood and practiced using the framework and direction provided historically by quality leaders such as Deming, Juran, Crosby and others. The above has resulted in many organisations struggling with the implementation of quality management. The purpose of this paper is to explore the current status of quality management practices in manufacturing related organisations in South Africa. It extracts principal components, for quality using factor analysis, in order to suggest key factors for quality management in present day, as practiced by the organisations that participated in this study.