It's not what you know but who you know that's important: the influence of social networks on communities

Since its conception in 1945, the UK National Health Service (NHS) has been the focus of extensive political rhetoric regarding the involvement of patients and the public in the provision of health‐care services both locally and nationally. However, achieving substantial user involvement within local communities has proven to be a complex task. The exploratory research presented in this paper investigates the influence of social networks within local communities and its relevance for user involvement. Four main findings emerged: interviewees have strong informal social networks; there is a strong sense of generalized reciprocity; diversity is limited within the social groupings; and there exists a lack of trust in governmental institutions. With regards to health issues, there is an overriding feeling that ‘things like that should be left to the people who know’. If user involvement is to be achieved at the level envisioned by the UK government, achieving a greater relevance for users is essential.     

The idea of a collaborative competition - a case study

This paper examines the idea of an online collaborative competition for solutions to environmental and social problems. It asks three basic questions: What is a collaborative competition? In what sense are collaborative competitions collaborative? And in view of the social and environmental goals of the competitions, are they a contribution to sustainability practice? Prepared by a conceptual analysis, partly drawing on the arguments for extended peer review in post-normal science, and based on the in-depth analysis of one collaborative competition, it is argued that the idea of a collaborative competition is innovative and suggestive; however, in practice there is only weak evidence for collaboration - the competitive element clearly prevails. The innovation, in practice, is a new way of making visible and thereby promoting social and environmental ideas. There is some evidence for collaborative spirit, but there is only limited evidence that arguments for extended peer review apply. The design of the online collaborative competition might not promote collaboration as well as it could. Therefore, the paper ends with a discussion of possibilities for changing the design of the competition.     

THE BENEFITS AND COSTS OF MONETARY UNION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: A CRITICAL SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE

Abstract.  With the 14 members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) having set the objective of adopting a common currency for the year 2018, an expanding empirical literature has emerged evaluating the benefits and costs of a common-currency area in Southern Africa. This paper reviews that literature, focusing on two categories of studies: (1) those that assume that a country's characteristics are invariant to the adoption of a common currency and (2) those that assume that a monetary union alters an economy's structure, resulting in trade creation and credibility gains. The literature reviewed suggests that a relatively small group of countries, typically including South Africa, satisfies the criteria necessary for monetary unification. The literature also suggests that, in a monetary union comprising all SADC countries and a regional central bank that sets monetary policy to reflect the average economic conditions (e.g. fiscal balances) in the region, the potential losses (i.e. higher inflation) from giving up an existing credible national central bank, a relevant consideration for South Africa, could outweigh any potential benefits of trade creation resulting from a common currency.     

Does Multinationality Affect the Propensity to Innovate? An Analysis of the Third UK Community Innovation Survey

The paper is developed at the interface between internationalization and innovation studies. It utilizes data on innovation from the UK Community Innovation Surveys 3 and 2 (CIS3 and CIS2) to assess whether multinationality affects the innovation propensity of surveyed enterprises. The indicators of innovation propensity—our dependent variables—are taken from the following CIS sets of variables: innovation outputs; innovation inputs; innovation outcomes (patent applications); innovation continuity/sustainability. The latter element is considered to be the ability of the enterprise to sustain innovation over a long period of time and the relevant variable is derived from both CIS3 and 2 data. This allows the paper to introduce dynamic elements into the analysis. Four hypotheses are developed and tested. Our main hypothesis states that multinationality per se (i.e. being part of a multinational company network) affects the propensity to innovate. We also test for three sub‐hypotheses related to characteristics of multinationality: belonging to a group vs being independent; degree of multinationality; being part of a foreign vs domestic multinational. The results show that all those CIS enterprises that belong to a multinational corporation—whether UK or foreign—are more likely to exhibit innovation propensity; they are also more likely to engage in innovation activities on a continuous basis.     

2017年北京社区卫生服务中心处方集中点评结果

目的 汇总分析北京市16个区县近100家社区卫生服务中心处方抽样点评的结果 ,比较各区之间的差异,细化点评结果 ,促进全市合理用药.方法 抽取2017年6月第2周,全门诊不包括草药处方,共计50189张处方,进行精细化集中点评.结果 2017年北京16个区县社区卫生服务中心平均处方金额为160.07元,注射剂使用率为5...     

社群营销模式创新研究——以“黎贝卡的异想世界”为例

在客户关系社会化的基础上,企业营销模式不断创新,其中以社群成员为主要营销对象的社群营销模式取得了显著效果。本文以"黎贝卡的异想世界"为研究对象,分析了社群营销模式的运用及成果,为中小企业营销模式创新提供一些思路。     

Managing turnaround performance through Collaborative Decision Making

The purpose of this paper is to explore turnaround performance as a resultant from both Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) processes and collaborative measures. This paper presents how CDM operates in the Turnaround Process (TAP) to propose a new method for managing the collaborative turnaround performance of all actors by predicting the most critical indicators. To achieve this, data from a CDM airport is used. Sample data of 6500 observations, taken from turnaround movements handled in 2014 at Madrid-Barajas Airport, were obtained from three separate databases and analyzed separately (in three databases). To predict turnaround performance, this paper also introduces a predictor dependent variable called “star values” as a measure of minimal delay conditions in order to predict time performance. The analysis shows that the proposed method unveils a new approach in determining how collaborative performance can be measured in the TAP and the predicted key performance indicators, which shows variations in the predicted CDM indicators. Results challenge managers and policymakers to find which improvements can be enacted for better usage of airport infrastructures and resources for optimum use as well as enhanced TAP. In terms of theory use and extension, the study reveals how CDM is an essential element in the literature on air traffic management.     

北京高职院校推进社区教育发展模式研究--以创建通州社区学院为例

推进社区教育和终身学习是新时期高职院校的三大职能之一,社区学院则是开展社区教育和终身学习的主要载体,北京职业教育发展的新阶段下高职院校探索创建社区学院将成为新常态。依托国家级示范校北京财贸职业学院创建通州社区学院的“首都-财贸”模式理论上可行、实践上可操作,将为首都职业教育的发展注入新活力,并丰富和完善通州北京城市副中心的教育版图和布局。