Process mapping — Re-engineering the opening student account process: The case of Lloyds TSB Bank

The paper focuses on the operational process in a local consumer service company, which in this case is a branch of Lloyds TSB Bank. The study conducts a critical analysis of the operational process of opening a Lloyds TSB student account. It concentrates on Lloyds TSB Bank's historical background, its operations and the services that it offers to consumers: particularly the opening student account process. The process of opening a student account is documented in a flowchart that highlights operational steps, the visibility line between front-end and back-room staff. This flowchart has allowed for the identification of both potential and actual bottlenecks in the process, which will prevent a quality service encounter for the customer. After outlining these problematic areas, the adopted methodological approach yields a redesigned flowchart illustrating these changes. Further, this paper proposes a re-engineered process and provides useful managerial recommendations for improving the opening student account process. Finally, it outlines future research direction in this area.     

Employment protection: Do firms' perceptions match with legislation?

Drawing from harmonized surveys of firms around the world, we compare employers' responses with actual labor legislation. Employers' concerns about labor regulations are closely related to the relative stringency of labor laws. Medium and large firms, as well as innovating firms, are those most negatively affected by onerous labor regulations.     

Separating Leadership from Pay

Performance management and incentive systems can play an important role in shaping a company's culture and promoting internal collaboration. Yet, in an uncertain and rapidly evolving world that rewards organizations for agility, performance management systems based on a single individual overall rating are being viewed with growing skepticism; and the once common practice of tying pay directly to such ratings is being reconsidered—and in many cases abandoned. But when carrying out this process of “separating leadership from pay,” companies must commit to providing employees with extensive ongoing feedback, as well as significant opportunities for development and growth that are not linked directly to financial rewards. In place of traditional bonus schemes whose payoffs are tied to individual performance measures, the authors also recommend the use of company‐wide bonus plans—similar in spirit to the General Motors plan described earlier in this issue—that reflect a philosophy of “sharing success” that aims to encourage and reinforce a culture of collaboration and agility. But for compensation plans built around sharing success to be effective, careful attention should be given to the “quality” of the results achieved. This can be accomplished by supplementing the use of Key Performance Indicators—such as, for example, economic profit—with the use of so‐called “boundary” KPIs—such as the percentage of satisfied clients—for which a minimum threshold must be met.     

A cost-effectiveness analysis comparing the originator follitropin alfa to its biosimilars in patients undergoing a medically assisted reproduction program from a French perspective

Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness (CE) of the originator follitropin-α (Gonal-F) in patients undergoing a medically assisted reproduction (MAR) program in comparison to its biosimilars Bemfola and Ovaleap in a French context.

Methods: A CE model was developed for France with a National Health Service (NHS) perspective. Clinical, safety, and dosage data were derived from pivotal clinical trials that compared Gonal-F to Ovaleap and Bemfola. Costs pertaining to drugs, hospitalizations, specialist visits, and examinations were retrieved from the French Programme de Médicalisation des Systèmes d'Information (PMSI) hospital database, literature review, and French clinical experts using 2017?Euro tariffs. In order to test the robustness of results, deterministic one-way sensitivity analyses were carried out on the main variables to assess the impact of treatment cost, probability of birth, ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) rates, and dosage.

Results: The average incremental cost per live birth with OHSS and without OHSS was €259.56 and €278.39, respectively, for Gonal-F compared to the pooled biosimilars (i.e. Ovaleap and Bemfola). GONAL-F had an incremental efficacy of 0.06 over the pooled biosimilars. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for Gonal-F with OHSS ranged from €3,274.80 to €4,877.76 compared to the pooled biosimilars, owing to the additional live births reported with Gonal-F. Sensitivity analyses also supported results from the base case analyses, with Gonal-F being cost-effective or the dominant strategy in most cases.

Conclusion: Gonal-F seems to be a cost-effective strategy compared to its biosimilars Ovaleap and Bemfola, irrespective of the incidence of OHSS events, but further data are needed to confirm these results.     

Attitudes and Preferences of Kosovar Consumer Segments Toward Quality Attributes of Milk and Dairy Products

ABSTRACT

The dairy market is one of the fastest growing agri-food sectors in Kosovo, yet the farm structure is fragmented. The level of productivity is lower compared with European Union levels and shows potential for improvements. The consumption of dairy products is expected to rise due to income growth and segmentation of consumers that would reflect different preferences for low-fat or zero-fat products, products with natural additives, and so on. On the market level, a significant share of the consumed milk and dairy products is imported. This study aims to better understand attitudes and preferences of Kosovar consumer segments toward milk and dairy products. A quantitative survey with 300 consumers was conducted in major Kosovo cities. Applying a reduced version of the Food Related Lifestyle instrument identified three distinct consumer segments: the conservative consumer segment, the socially oriented foodie, and the information-seeking eco-consumer. The latter two segments are especially open to trying new food products and actively search information about food. All three consumer segments show strong consumer patriotism by believing that domestic milk and cheese are safer than imported products and are of higher quality. This indicates the strong market potential for dairy farmers and companies in the Kosovo, which should develop new food products having these segments in mind. The authors explore the strategies that farmers and companies should use to better target these consumer groups and gain greater access to desirable segments.     

The strategic value of e-HRM: results from an exploratory study in a governmental organization

This paper presents results from an exploratory study in a governmental organization on the strategic value of electronic human resource management (e-HRM). By applying the organizational capabilities approach, and by means of mixed research methods, data were collected on two generally acclaimed strategic advantages of e-HRM: changing the role of the human resource (HR) function towards becoming a business partner; and increasing the time available for strategic HR issues. The findings show that these strategic advantages are not convincingly realized. While HR professionals perceived role changes, line managers and non-managerial employees in general did not. The frequency of e-HRM practise was low, although it was satisfactorily used as intended. Interviewees stated that strategic advantages might arise if certain conditions are met. E-HRM does however provide some unintended benefits. The findings suggest that e-HRM alone is not sufficient to enable the HR function to create dynamic and operational capabilities. Suggestions for further research are provided.     

Managing decision-making with certainty of threat

Several factors, such as emotion and uncertainty of the outcome, influence decision-making. We assessed decision-making during a risky event (natural hazard, focusing here on two types of volcanic threats) by manipulating the certainty of lethal threat in an information campaign. We hypothesized that the reduction of uncertainty of lethal threat in an information campaign would improve behavior through more suitable choices by reducing the use of emotional choices. In the scenario that occurred in a familiar place, participants who received information with uncertainty of lethal threat presented more emotional and comfortable choices, such as staying at home, rather than detached ones, such as leaving the area. These were either appropriate (for volcanic ash cloud) or inappropriate (for pyroclastic flow). The certainty hypothesis was partially validated, as certainty influenced the quality of choice in the scenarios that took place at home. Furthermore, participants in the volcanic disaster context presented less suitable decisions compared to those in the neutral context, which was discussed in terms of the presence of emotions, such as fear of volcanic eruption. Our results highlight the importance of controlling the comforting emotional aspect of the home environment in any information communication.     

Viable Ramsey economies

The Ramsey model of economic growth is revisited from the perspective of viability theory. The Ramsey model, augmented with minimal consumption and sustainability criteria, becomes a viability problem. The framework allows for a clear picture of optimal viable, optimal non‐viable, and viable non‐optimal paths. The drastic sacrifices in terms of present consumption required by the implementation of Brundtland sustainability are visualized, the rich countries bearing the major part of the burden. The econometric analysis of viability sets enhances the role of technological progress in ensuring Brundtland sustainability. Preference parameters such as the pure time preference rate are statistically non‐significant.     

Persistence vs. mobility in industrial and technological specialisations: evidence from 11 Euro area countries

This paper examines the evolution of the patterns of specialisation of 11 Euro area countries in the period 1990–2008, by analysing their comparative and technological advantages. We estimate conditional densities and Markov transition probabilities to examine both the external shape of the distribution of technological and comparative advantages and the intra-distribution dynamics. Our results point out that there is, on average, high persistence of the industrial specialisation patterns of the 11 Euro area countries under scrutiny, confirming a lock-in effect, especially in the case of Italy. Our results for technological specialisation reveal high mobility of technological advantages over the same period, especially for Spain.