Foresight education in Australia—Time for a hybrid model?

This paper revisits the original design parameters of what was a ‘new’ Masters in Strategic Foresight that commenced at Swinburne University in 2001. It explores which of the original purposes and assumptions have stood the test of time over the course of a decade and analyses how the course has evolved, partly through design and partly through necessity. The paper reflects on the primary contribution of the Masters teaching experience and proposes that encouraging the students to develop philosophical ‘literacy’ operated to develop both the practicality of their use of methods and the capacity of their leadership and critical thinking. A secondary contribution reiterates the importance of ‘place’ and the necessity of ‘sufficient time’ for adult development to occur.     

Do We Have a Redundant Set of Cost–Efficiency Targets in the NHS?

There has been a long history of hospital trust cost–efficiency targets being used in the National Health Service (NHS), but there is little evidence about whether they are effective in reducing hospital unit costs and reducing the dispersion of unit costs between trusts. In 1997, the new Labour government announced that it would replace the purchaser efficiency index with a new approach to securing cost–efficiency gains from trusts. Since 1999/2000 trust efficiency targets have been based on reference costs. This article presents evidence to suggest that efficiency targets have not been effective and that the new reference cost based system of targets is irrelevant. The efficiency gains that trusts seek to achieve are those that emerge from the purchaser funding formula and the contracting process.     

The ‘science’ and ‘practice’ of HRM in small firms

This paper looks at the ‘science’ and ‘practice’ of human resource management in small firms. While there is growing evidence that the practice of human resource management in small firms is characterized by informality, there is less evidence about the science, or explaining why this is the case. We look to writing on strategic human resource management, which has at its heart the resource based view of the firm, for possibilities offered to understanding the science of human resource management in small firms.     

Integration of family-owned business succession with turnover and life cycle models: Development of a successor retention process model

Family-owned businesses face a unique obstacle: continuation of the business through intergenerational transfer. Most family-owned businesses cease when the next generation does not enter the business. This paper develops parallels between failed intergenerational transfer and voluntary turnover. Based on past research, we develop a taxonomy of characteristics hypothesized to influence intergenerational transfer in family-owned businesses. We, then, integrate these dimensions with prominent turnover and socialization theories to propose a successor retention process model. Implications for research are described.     

Heigh Ho,Heigh Ho: flexible labor contracts with real option characteristics

Business Economics - What is the strategic value of flexible labor contracts to workers? To answer this question, we examine workers’ labor supply decisions when choosing among alternative...     

The impact of patient choice and waiting time on the demand for health care: results from the London Patient Choice project

In a number of countries where health care is publicly funded, policies to introduce greater patient choice are being implemented. In most cases patient choice is seen as an instrument to reduce waiting times for elective (non-emergency) hospital services. An important issue is whether facilitating greater patient choice will increase the demand for health care and thereby undermine the achievement of reduced waiting times. A large scale pilot of choice in the London metropolitan area permits a test of the hypothesis that choice will affect demand. This paper estimates a model of the demand for elective surgery using a panel of 150 English acute hospitals over the period 1995 to 2004 for three surgical specialties. It examines whether demand shifted following the introduction of the London Patient Choice Project in 2002. The results suggest that the choice project only shifted NHS inpatient demand in orthopaedics and that this shift was inwards.     

Acting together: Intergenerational values and wisdom

Future values and wisdom in a generational sense is a challenging topic to wrestle with at an international conference, especially one which focuses on action in the present. Session Two at the 2005 WFSF World Conference in Budapest was titled ‘Counting on Each Other’, represented through the papers presented here and the group's discussion related by the author. The papers were grouped into four areas—Futures Studies and Methods; Values; Sustainable Development; and Rights and Ethics. After reading the issues which were raised, and the conclusions that were reached, the reader should appreciate the complexity of the topic. In particular, the difficulties faced by a group of people who wished to explore this topic, its related images of the future and the actions generated for the present is a microcosm of the difficulties faced in the wider world when trying to deal with these issues for the future.     

A Macroeconomic Analysis of Publicly Funded Health Care

In a general equilibrium, overlapping generations framework this paper examines how the tax-benefit system that underlies the U.S. health care system affects the well-being of different age groups, and the lifetime well-being of different socioeconomic groups, as well as society as a whole. We find that the optimal set and generosity of publicly funded health care programs is sensitive to the social welfare function and to the prices that various agents in society pay for medical care. Social welfare under the current financing system is also compared to alternative financing mechanisms such as Medical Savings Accounts.