The effects of strategic hospital alliances on hospital efficiency

This study examines the effects of strategic alliances on the efficiency of hospitals controlled by the Department of Health in Taiwan. Overall, it is found that the efficiency of the hospitals improved after they formed strategic hospital alliances (SHAs). The results also indicate that smaller hospitals located in competitive areas are more efficient, as exemplified by shorter patient stays, higher occupancy rates, and lower mortality rates. Based on Taiwan's experience, it is inferred that SHAs do improve the performance of the participating hospitals. It is hoped that the results of this study will encourage health policy officials and healthcare organizations in other countries to consider implementing similar strategies for their hospitals.     

Transnational HR network learning in Korean business groups and the performance of their subsidiaries

This study explores (1) how two distinct dimensions of transnational human resources (HR) network learning, i.e. globally linked and locally leveraged learning, are related to the performance of the foreign subsidiaries of Korean business groups (chaebols) and (2) how strategic HR learning mediates the relationship between these two dimensions of transnational HR network learning and the performance of foreign subsidiaries. We propose that each dimension of transnational HR network learning is related independently and jointly to the performance of a chaebol's foreign subsidiaries. Our results suggest that locally leveraged HR learning has a stronger relationship with the performance of sales subsidiaries, whereas globally linked HR learning has a stronger relationship with the performance of manufacturing subsidiaries. In addition, we find that the interaction between the two dimensions of transnational HR network learning has a weaker positive relationship with the performance of foreign manufacturing subsidiaries than that of foreign sales subsidiaries.     

信息化与工业化深度融合下湖北省战略性新兴产业发展研究

信息化与工业化深度融合,是工业化发展到一定阶段和信息技术发展到一定水平的产物,它的实现有技术、产品、业务、资源融合等形式.战略性新兴产业是以重大技术突破和巨大发展需求为基础,对经济社会的全局性和长远性发展具有强大引领和带动作用,知识技术密集、物质资源消耗少、成长潜力巨大、综合效益良好的产业.湖北省应以“两化”深度融合为契机,大力发展战略性新兴产业,推进全省经济社会更好更快地发展.     

When are assets complementary? star scientists,strategic alliances,and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry

To answer the question of when are assets complementary, we investigate specific resource combinations along the value chain, focusing on two mechanisms that are central to combining resources for innovation in the pharmaceutical industry: recruitment and retention of star scientists, and 2) engagement in strategic alliances. We propose that resource combinations that focus on the same parts of the value chain are substitutes due to knowledge redundancies. Conversely, we hypothesize that resource combinations that link different parts of the value chain are complements due to integration of nonredundant knowledge. To test these hypotheses, we empirically track the innovative performance of 108 global pharmaceutical firms over three decades (1974–2003). Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bridging and bonding forms of social capital in a regional strategic network

Research on networks emphasizes the importance of bonds between actors. Social reciprocity strengthens network bonds, which is assumed to have positive effects on business relationships between firms. However, the importance of weak ties is also stressed in network research. An important policy issue is therefore if more attention should be devoted to the creation of bridges to other social groups and loosening bonds between network actors. The difficulty in doing so is described and analyzed in this article focusing on a regional strategic network, which is viewed in three network perspectives. Interview data were collected from all participating managers in a regional strategic network in 2004 and 2010. The findings shed light upon the paradox of using a regional strategic network to counteract over-embeddedness and freeing the involved actors from existing network lock-ins instead of further strengthening such social institutions.     

县级巢湖市承接产业转移的战略选择

地级巢湖市被拆分后,县级巢湖市要重新定位。鉴于此,要突破传统思维,创新产业承接观念;改善投资环境,提高产业配套能力;创新体制机制,突破产业转移瓶颈;围绕产业招商,创新招商引资方式;给力产业转移,实现经济结构优化,尽快将巢湖市真正打造成合作发展的先行区、科学发展的试验区,建成皖江城市带承接产业转移示范区的一块高地。     

冷战与东欧——近二十年国外学界相关代表性研究及述评

20世纪80年代末90年代初,东欧八个社会主义国家相继发生政治剧变,并自此走上了以建立并巩固多党制为基础的议会民主制、确立并完善私有制为基础的市场经济体制、融入欧洲一体化为转型目标的综合性历史进程。此后迄今为止的20年间,东欧社会主义作为一段完整的历史、一个政治现象,受到了前所未有的关注,并极大地拓展了国际冷战史、比较政治学、社会主义学等诸多学科领域的研究视野。相关成果涉及问题既广且深,不仅包括对东欧社会主义的历史脉络从整体和国别两个层面重新加以细致归理与阐释,还集中体现在利用新解密的多边档案对那些深刻地影响了东西方冷战进程特别是东欧各国以至苏联自身历史演进的重大危机事件进行更为深入的研究。此外,还有基于新材料、新发现、新解读透过东欧剧变对具有普遍意义的一些社会主义基本问题展开的系统反思和理论总结等。本文的要旨即在于对20世纪90年代以来国外有关冷战时期东欧研究的大体情况及主要结论加以介绍和评述,以期对中国同领域的研究提供可能的借鉴与参考。     

理性策略下的非合作博弈：乳山弃船案例

在市场经济中，在某一时期因利益关系相互渗透而能完成的一笔交易，在另一时间可能刚利益渗透关系消失而出现不合作，而这种不合作的结果总会导致部分参与人利益减少或损失，甚至危及生存和发展。本文通过对某造船有限公司遭遇弃船事件的详细描述和博弈分析，揭示利益渗透关系消失后，个体追求利益最大化选择是船厂和船东作为博弈双方从合作走向不合作的根本原因。     

Cross-Cultural Meanings of Healthy and Beautiful in Words,Beauty Types,and Products

Abstract

The debate about standardized versus localized advertising strategy is a long-standing one, and fraught with human and organizational complexities that argue for the cultural uniqueness of a national market versus the desire for a unified global image. A key issue is whether the same meaning in a specific advertising message will be transferred across cultures. This study deals with cross-cultural comparisons across five European cities (Madrid, Milan, Paris, London, and Hamburg) and focuses on the perceived differences of the meaning of two words (healthy and beautiful), two beauty types (women' faces), and two products (water and perfume). The results show that it is difficult to achieve sameness of meaning for even international products and beauty types. Suggestions for a conceptual match-up model for advertising components are made and implications are drawn for future practice and research.     

Loss of Defensive Capacity in Protective Operations: The Implications of the Überlingen and Linate Disasters

A clear distinction is often drawn between the functions of production and protection in organisations. This implies that they have twin capacities – for production and for protection – that in some respects will be interdependent and in some independent. In the field of operations management productive capacity is a commonly used construct, and there has been some attempt to develop a parallel construct of protective capacity, but this has only been used to refer to capacity that protects productive capacity. It makes no reference to the risk of external harm. This paper presents an attempt to develop the idea of defensive capacity. It uses case studies of two aviation collisions to gain an understanding of what defensive capacity amounts to, and how it can be lost. The results pointed to a way of operationalising defensive capacity that involves preserving its qualitative complexity instead of reducing it to a quantitative variable. They also point to a complex relationship between productive capacity and defensive capacity, which are sometimes complimentary and sometimes opposing. They have certain shared determinants, but certain actions can undermine defensive capacity without there being any observable effect on productive capacity.