bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Investigating the management of knowledge for competitive advantage
Authors: Silvi Riccardo , Cuganesan Suresh 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop and apply a framework that examines the effectiveness and efficiency of managing knowledge in organizations for competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approachReviews knowledge management and strategic cost management literatures to identify key elements that determine and facilitate the enhancement of competitive advantage. Develops a cost‐knowledge management (CKM) framework that integrates these elements and enables the analysis of how knowledge utilization in organizational activities can be made more effective and efficient.FindingsThe CKM framework is usefully applied to a sample of four Italian firms operating in the mechanical industry. Both the results of applying the CKM framework and the insights that are generated are discussed.Practical implicationsThe CKM framework allows organizations to analyze the activities performed in terms of cost structure and cost drivers, value created, and knowledge utilized, the latter in terms of knowledge specificity and type. The framework can also be used to highlight specific areas of effectiveness improvements in terms of identifying which activities should be leveraged and how knowledge can be better mobilized. In addition, the framework enables an assessment of the non value added but required and waste elements of organizational activities and the specific drivers of costs in these activities, thereby enabling an identification of efficiency improvement opportunities.Originality/valueThis paper integrates strategic cost management and knowledge management perspectives to examine how organizations can usefully analyze and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of managing knowledge for competitive advantage. Thus far, this integration has not occurred in either literatures.
Organizational capital as competitive advantage of the firm
Authors: Martín‐de‐Castro Gregorio , Emilio Navas‐López José , López‐Sáez Pedro , Alama‐Salazar Elsa 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe elements that constitute the organizational capital or capital of the firm, namely its culture, structure, organizational learning, can be a source of competitive advantage. This paper is an attempt to assess organizational capital from the resource‐based view.Design/methodology/approachFrom an extensive literature review, an assessment framework for intellectual capital is developed.FindingsBy means of this framework organizational capital can be depicted as a set of: valuable assets; difficult to imitate; to replace; to transfer; with a prolonged life expectancy; and with a feasible rent appropriation.Originality/valueBuilding of such an evaluation framework allows further research about other components of the intellectual capital of the firm, bridging the literatures focused on the resource‐based view and on intangible assets or intellectual capital.
The application of usability concepts in the built environment
Authors: Alexander Keith 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is report to on the exploratory research into the application of usability concepts to the built environment conducted by a task group of the International Council for Building Research and Documentation (CIB TG51).Design/methodology/approachThe objectives of the research were achieved through a series of case studies and associated workshops designed to identify and evaluate the ways in which stakeholders in projects were involved in decision making about building use and the methods and tools they used.FindingsThe research enabled a number of broad conclusions about the nature of usability as a concept and its application to the built environment and challenged the basis of conventional approaches to briefing and post‐occupancy evaluation.Research limitations/implicationsThe exploratory nature of the work clarified the research questions that need to be addressed in future work and raised a number of key conceptual, theoretical and methodological questions which will be explored in a further round of case studies.Practical implicationsThe industrial partners, who were directly involved in the project, shared knowledge of user experience in the workplace and benefited from an independent review of the cases as a vehicle for discussing best practice. This enabled participants to receive feedback from leading‐edge organisations and provided new knowledge for action.Originality/valueThe paper sets out a novel approach to understanding user experience in the built environment and introduces examples from organisations that responding to the challenge of designing and managing buildings from a user perspective.
Earnings opacity internationally and elements of social, economic and accounting order
Authors: Riahi‐Belkaoui Ahmed , AlNajjar Fouad K. 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and test the determinates of earnings opacity internationally. The determinates are hypothesized to be the elements of social, economic and accounting order in each of the 34 countries of the study.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 34 countries’ data was collected and data estimation and several statistical and correlations were performed.FindingsEarnings opacity internationally is negatively related to the levels of economic freedom and quality of life, and positively related to rule of law, economic growth and level of corruption. Further, the findings are surprising that the level of disclosure, the number of auditors per 100,000 inhabitants and the adoption of international accounting standards (as elements of the accounting order) are not significantly related to earnings opacity internationally. It is the social and economic climate rather than the technical accounting climate that is at the core of the lack of accounting quality in general and earnings opacity in particular.Originality/valueElements of accounting order do not seem to affect earnings opacity as much as social and economic characteristics. It is the economic and the social context rather than the technical that explicates better the level of accounting quality in general and the level of earnings opacity in particular in a given country. Earnings opacity is higher as a result of higher rule of law, economic growth and level of corruption, and lower as result of higher level of economic freedom and quality of life.
Further evidence on the information content of economic value added
Authors: Palliam Ralph 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test assertions that economic value added (EVA) is more highly associated with stock returns and firm values than accrual earnings, and evaluates which components of EVA, contribute to these associations.Design/methodology/approachThirty three non‐EVA users and 75 EVA users were selected at random. Variables used in this study were revenues, profits, assets, stockholders’ equity, market value, earnings per share, total return to investors, and percentage cost reduction over time. Data were collected on several metrics.FindingsThe study suggest that the common and widely accepted metrics used by analysts and calculated for EVA users are not necessarily superior to that of non‐EVA users. The evidence support that EVA is somewhat invalid, unreliable, and questionable.Research limitations/implicationsThe first limitation deals with the measurement of capital invested in assets. The second limitation was the use of an accounting definition of the return on equity. The operating income was not cleansed of any expenses which are really capital expenses (in the sense that they create future value). The operating income was adjusted if any cosmetic effects were identified. The third limitation is the determination of cost of capital (estimate). Discounted cash flow valuation assumes that cost of capital is calculated using market values of debt and equity.Practical implicationsThis study raises serious doubts about the capacity of EVA to deliver superior metrics. EVA users may be placing themselves at unnecessary risks and costs. Study shows that EVA is not a satisfactory descriptor of the real world and, therefore, it should be used with caution by management consultants, practitioners, and investors.Originality/valueThe movement in stock prices reflects something other than EVA.
Artificial neural network vs linear discriminant analysis in credit ratings forecast
Authors: Kumar Kuldeep , Bhattacharya Sukanto 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to perform a comparative study of prediction performances of an artificial neutral network (ANN) model against a linear prediction model like a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) with regards to forecasting corporate credit ratings from financial statement data.Design/methodology/approachThe ANN model used in the study is a fully connected back‐propagation model with three layers of neurons. The paper uses a comparative approach whereby two prediction models – one based on ANN and the other based on LDA are developed using identically partitioned data set.FindingsThe study found that the ANN model comprehensively outperformed the LDA model in both training and test partitions of the data set. While the LDA model may have been hindered by omitted variables; this actually lends further credence to the ANN model showing that the latter is more robust in dealing with missing data.Research limitations/implicationsA possible drawback in the model implementation probably lies in the selection of the various accounting ratios. Perhaps future replications of this study should look more carefully at choosing the ratios after duly addressing the problems of collinearity and duplications more rigorously.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study imply that since ANN models can better deal with complex data sets and do not require restraining assumptions like linearity and normality, it may be overall a better approach in corporate credit rating forecasts that uses large financial data sets.Originality/valueThis study brings out the effectiveness of non‐linear pattern learning models as compared to linear ones in forecasts of financial solvency. This goes on to further highlight the practical importance of the new breed of computational tools available to techno‐savvy financial analysts and also to the providers of corporate credit.
Constant growth model of the firm: theoretical analysis of the balanced scorecard
Authors: Laitinen Erkki K. 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a simple microeconomic model of the firm to give theoretical foundations for the balanced scorecard concept (BSC).Design/methodology/approachThe model consists of demand, production, and objective functions integrated into a resource allocation model. Costs, sales volume, and sales revenue grow at constant rates. Strategy is depicted by a weighted objective function of profit and net sales. Output variables are classified according to the four perspectives of BSC.FindingsThe effects of the parameters, especially growth and strategy, on the importance of the perspectives and on performance measures, are shown.Research limitations/implicationsMany results are based on assumptions of a constant growth; and of constant demand and production functions. Empirical research is welcome to give evidence on demand and production elasticities, the shifts of strategy, their effects on performance measurement; and tension between profit and revenue maximization.Practical implicationsBSC should be elastic to respond to shifts of strategy towards revenue maximization. When a shift is happened, the focus in BSC should be transferred towards customer relationship management and development and learning; and the time‐series of performance measures should be interpreted cautiously. Even for a constant strategy, the time‐series of non‐financial and financial measures may give a contradicting signal.Originality/valueThis research paper introduces a new growth model of the firm useful in the theoretical analysis of BSC. It can be applied to assess the importance of the four perspectives of BSC, trade‐offs between them, and relationships between non‐financial and financial measures.
Researching trust relations in health care
Authors: Calnan Michael , Rowe Rosemary 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to provide a rationale for examining trust in health care.Design/methodology/approachConducts a review of the literature of trust relations in health care that highlighted that most empirical research has addressed threats to patient‐provider relationships and trust in health care systems from the patient's perspective, but studies in the organisational literature suggests that trust relations in the workforce, between providers and between providers and managers, may also influence patient‐provider relationships and levels of trust.FindingsSuggests that trust is not primarily dispositional or an individual attribute or psychological state, but is constructed from a set of inter‐personal behaviors or from a shared identity. These behaviors are underpinned by sets of institutional rules, laws and customs.Research limitations/implicationsThis introductory paper has presented some evidence from an international, comparative study but there is the need for further, more detailed investigation into why trust relations may vary in different health care systems.Originality/valueThis introductory paper provides a rationale for examining trust in health care and a context for the different elements of trust.
Conceptualisations of trust in the organisational literature
Authors: Connell N.A.D. , Mannion R. 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThis paper evaluates the non‐healthcare organisational literature on conceptualisations of trust. The aim of the paper is to review this diverse literature, and to reflect on the potential insights it might offer healthcare researchers, policy makers and managers.Design/methodology/approachA number of the key concepts that contribute to contrasting definitions of trust in the organisational literature are identified.FindingsThe paper highlights the heterogeneity of trust as an organisational concept. Aspects of trust that relate more specifically to non‐healthcare settings are shown to have some potential relevance for healthcare. Five aspects of trust, considered to have particular significance to the changing face of the NHS, appear to offer scope for further exploration in healthcare settings.Practical implicationsThe NHS continues to face changes to its organisational structures, both planned and unplanned. Healthcare providers will need to be alert to intra‐ and inter‐organisational relationships, of which trust issues will form an inevitable part. Whilst it might be argued that the lessons offered by conceptualisations of trust within wider organisational settings have limitations, the paper demonstrates sufficient areas of overlap to encourage cross‐fertilisation of ideas.Originality/valueThe paper draws together previous research on a topic of increasing relevance to healthcare researchers, which has exercised management researchers for at least three decades. The paper acts as a guide to future research and practice.
Public trust in health care: a performance indicator?
Authors: van der Schee Evelien , Groenewegen Peter P. , Friele Roland D. 
Published: September 2006

PurposeIf public trust in health care is to be used as a performance indicator for health care systems, its measurement has to be sensitive to changes in the health care system. For this purpose, this study has monitored public trust in health care in The Netherlands over an eight‐year period, from 1997 to 2004. The study expected to find a decrease in public trust, with a low point in 2002.Design/methodology/approachSince 1997, public trust in health care was measured through postal questionnaires to the “health care consumer panel”. This panel consists of approximately 1,500 households and forms a representative sample of the Dutch population.FindingsTrust in health care and trust in hospitals did not show any significant trend. Trust in medical specialists displayed an upward trend. Trust in future health care, trust in five out of six dimensions of health care and trust in general practitioners actually did show a decrease. However, only for trust in macro level policies and trust in professional expertise this trend continued. For the remaining trust objects, after 1999 or 2000, an upward trend set in.Research implications/limitationsNo support was found for our overall assumption. Explanations for the fact that trust did increase after 1999 or 2000 are difficult to find. On the basis of these findings the study questions whether the measure of public trust is sensitive enough to provide information on the performance of the health care system.Originality/valueThe aim of this research is to study public trust in health care on its abilities to be used as a performance indicator for health care systems.
Trust relations in health care: an agenda for future research
Authors: Calnan Michael , Rowe Rosemary , Entwistle Vikki 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to draw together suggestions for future research from the papers and from the discussion that took place at the workshop.Design/methodology/approachThe suggestions are summarised under four broad themes.FindingsAt an international workshop on trust organised by the UK MRC Health Services Research Collaboration there was broad agreement that trust was still a salient issue in diverse health care contexts. The workshop proceedings identified a number of important questions for empirical research and several key conceptual, theoretical and methodological questions relating to trust that need to be addressed in support of or alongside this. The collection of papers in this volume starts to address some of these questions.Originality/valueConsiders trust relations in health care from patient, clinical, organisational and policy perspectives.
Introducing new interventional procedures within a District General Hospital, linking with the process for implementing NICE guidance
Authors: Freedman D.B. , Swanson E. 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to provide healthcare organisations with an example of how the implementation of new interventional procedures and NICE guidance can be improved by adopting a synergistic approach.Design/methodology/approachThe paper shows that following the introduction of the Interventional Procedure Programme (NICE) and the issue of Department of Health advice in 2003, it was considered that the hospital's process for implementing new interventional procedures should be revised and would be more effectively managed by integrating with the well established process for implementing NICE guidance. The strategy for implementing NICE guidance and the new interventional procedure ratification process at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Trust are outlined and describe individual and corporate roles and responsibilities that promote local ownership.FindingsThe paper provides information on how the Trust incorporated the national perspective into a local model, which ensures a well‐coordinated multidisciplinary approach to introducing innovative clinical practice safely.Practical implicationsThis paper demonstrates a useful tool that may be adapted by other healthcare organisations and clinical governance professionals responsible for implementing new interventional procedures into local practice. The role of the Interventional Procedure Governance Committee in supporting the application, review, ratification and monitoring processes is explained.Originality/valueThe paper identifies a practical approach, ensuring that practice follows recommendations within guidance already published by NICE or are reported to the Interventional Procedure Programme if the procedure is not already included within the work programme.
Re‐audit of NICE guidance for treatment of ADHD children with methylphenidate
Authors: Banerjee Somnath , Venables Sue 
Published: September 2006

PurposeThe purpose of the paper was to show that in October 2000 NICE issued guidance on the use of methylphenidate for ADHD in children. Agreed standards based on NICE guidance were finalised in May 2002 in East Kent. Authors conducted a multidisciplinary multisite audit across East Kent in 2001/2002. The audit demonstrated that practices met some of the standards but deficiencies were identified. There was also variation in practice across the region. A time bound action plan was agreed.Design/methodology/approachThe paper aims to re‐audit the use of methylphenidate in children with ADHD and complete the audit cycle loop.FindingsThe paper finds a retrospective case notes review of children diagnosed with ADHD between 1 January and 30 June 2004 and subsequently started on short/long acting methylphenidate.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper shows that a total of 58 notes were audited. Re‐audit showed an increase in the use of Conners' rating scales to 91 vs 66 percent in the previous audit. More children had their pulse and blood pressure recorded before start of medication (84 vs 51 percent). GPs, schools and parents received written information respectively in 93 vs 89 percent, 71 vs 60 percent, and 69 vs 64 percent cases at start of methylphenidate and in 69 vs 75 percent, 57 vs 53 percent, and 59 vs 57 percent cases about the most recent visit. There has been no significant change in the shared care with GPs (3 vs 4 percent). “Trial‐off” medication was considered in 82 vs 16 percent in the previous audit.Originality/valueThis paper showed improvements in some areas identified in the previous audit. Professionals still need to communicate more with those involved with the child, as this was an issue highlighted through carer involvement. Shared care arrangements with GPs continue to be an issue and work is ongoing. A new time limited action plan is being developed. There are now regular multidisciplinary ADHD team meetings and much less variation in practice across the region as a direct result of this audit.