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Explores recent approaches to international best practices and how they relate to context and innovation in health services.

Critical review of existing research on best practices and how they created, diffused, and translate in the international setting.

Best practices are widely used and discussed, but processes by which they are developed and diffused across international settings are not well understood.

Further research is needed on innovation and dissemination of best practices internationally.

This commentary points out directions for future research on innovation and diffusion of best practices, particularly in the international setting.

The Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) proposals to revise best execution obligations will involve an extensive departure from existing practices. In particular, achieving the ‘best price’ will no longer be paramount. Firms will have to factor into the best execution equation other direct and indirect costs of trading which are relevant to achieving ‘the best outcome’ or ‘quality of execution’ for the consumer. This will make the assessment far more complex. The existing timely execution rule, making immediacy of execution the benchmark, is likely to be scrapped, to be replaced by an obligation to deal at a time best calculated to deliver the desired result for the customer. The existing SETS ‘safe harbour’ may also be removed and there will be extensive new customer disclosure obligations in relation to firms’ execution policies and procedures, including information as to deal flow through potential individual execution venues, and execution specific disclosures of conflicts of interest. Firms will also be obliged to review at least annually their execution arrangements and make changes if in the interests of their customers, and the FSA proposes rigorous transaction monitoring obligations to ensure that the revised best execution requirements are being met in practice.

As change compels businesses to reconsider corporate performance, whether in the strategic, process, people or systems dimensions of organizational outputs, measurement of the effectiveness of best practice initiatives becomes critical to competitiveness.

A recognition that pockets of business and process excellence existed alongside mediocrity led Texas Instruments to establish a Best Practice Sharing programme under the direction of the Office of Best Practices. The Office of Best Practices, launched in 1994, is a dedicated unit which helps Texas Instruments’ worldwide businesses to identify, access and transfer best practices. TI’s Best Practice Sharing initiative was implemented to provide a mechanism for dialogue between TI leadership and TI employees and to facilitate collaboration based on the company’s strengths and business gaps. The goal is to provide a quicker path to achieving business excellence. In addition to providing these solutions, the Best Practice Sharing project has provided TI employees with a greater sense of the synergies possible across the company and a greater feeling of shared vision. This paper reviews the TI‐BEST programme, the Best Practice Sharing initiative, and examines the lessons learnt and benefits gained from best practices knowledge sharing.

In today’s digital economy, it is very important to cultivate digital professionals with advanced interdisciplinary skills. The purpose of this paper is that universities play a vital role in this effort, and research teams need to use the synergistic effect of various educational methods to improve the quality and efficiency of personnel training. For these teams, a powerful evaluation mechanism is very important to improve their innovation ability and the overall level of talents they cultivate. The policy of “selecting the best through public bidding” not only meets the multi-dimensional evaluation needs of contemporary research, but also conforms to the current atmosphere of evaluating scientific and technological talents.

Nonetheless, since its adoption, several challenges have emerged, including flawed project management systems, a mismatch between listed needs and actual core technological needs and a low rate of conversion of scientific achievements into practical outcomes. These issues are often traced back to overly simplistic evaluation methods for research teams. This paper reviews the literature on the “Open Bidding for Selecting the Best Candidates” policy and related evaluation mechanisms for research teams, identifying methodological shortcomings, a gap in exploring team collaboration and an oversight in team selection criteria.

It proposes a theoretical framework for the evaluation and selection mechanisms of research teams under the “Open Bidding for Selecting the Best Candidates” model, offering a solid foundation for further in-depth studies in this area.

Research progress on the Evaluation Mechanism of Scientific Research Teams in the Digital Economy Era from the Perspective of “Open Bidding for Selecting the Best Candidates.”

Features two case studies. The first of these focuses on Royal Mail, provider of a universal delivery service within the UK. Notes how total quality management has evolved within the organization and how the role of internal good practice has underpinned the development of a continuous improvement environment. Identifies the key enablers for the effective transfer of good practice and the process models adopted. The second case study focuses on Texas Instruments Europe, part of the TI Group and a previous winner of the European Foundation for Quality Management Award. Investigates how different sources provide an extensive database of knowledge for the organization wishing to locate best practices. Identifies the approach adopted to best practice sharing in order to remain focused and achieve maximum benefits within the shortest timeframe. The organization has set up its own office of best practice (OBP) to support the best practice drive and the article focuses on how the OBP expertise is deployed to maximum effect within the organization.

Government agencies have endeavored, with limited success, to improve the methodological consistency of regulatory benefit–cost analysis (BCA). This paper recommends that an independent cohort of economists, policy analysts and legal scholars take on that task. Independently established “best practices” would have four positive effects: (1) they would render BCAs more regular in form and format and, thus, more readily assessable and replicable by social scientists; (2) improved consistency might marginally reduce political opposition to BCA as a policy tool; (3) politically-motivated, inter-agency methodological disputes might be avoided; and (4) an independent set of “best practices” would provide a sound, independent basis for judicial review of agency BCAs.

In 2007, Best Buy was the leading electronics retailer in the United States with more than 941 stores, revenue totaling $31 billion, and a market cap of $21 billion. In 2005, Best Buy had adopted a new business model, culture, and customer-segmentation template called Customer Centricity. This move created volatility in the price of Best Buy stock because of the higher-than-expected employee costs that went with this new way of doing business and the difficulty of executing the old and the new business models simultaneously while the new model was rolled out. Best Buy responded to Wall Street's short-term focus in a myriad of ways. It first asked for investor patience, and stressed the strong operating results achieved in Best Buy stores operating under the new model. But in June 2007, after the stock dropped again, the CEO knew he had to decide whether to open more Best Buy stores, increase the company's dividend, or increase the stock-repurchase program.

The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyse the best human resource management (HRM) practices in the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga.

This study examined best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga by using self-administered questionnaires. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 73 hotels in Samoa and 66 hotels in Tonga. Out of the 73 self-administered questionnaires that were distributed in Samoa, 58 usable questionnaires were returned resulting in a response rate of 79 per cent. In the case of Tonga, out of the 66 self-administered questionnaires were distributed, 51 usable questionnaires were returned resulting in a response rate of 77 per cent.

The findings of this study show that there are 28 best HRM practices in Samoa and 15 best HRM practices in Tonga. This study also found that best HRM practices differ based on differences in internal and external environmental factors present in different geographical areas. The findings of this paper support the assumptions of the Contextual Paradigm of HRM and strategic human resource management.

This study is based on a single sector of Samoa and Tonga. A single sector study limits the generalisations that can be made across different sectors in Samoa and Tonga.

Human resource managers should incorporate cultural, political, legal, economic and social factors in HRM practices.

None of the existing studies have examined best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga. This study is a pioneering study that comparatively analyses the best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga.

The obligation to seek best execution on behalf of clients is not a new issue for investment advisers but one which has received increased scrutiny by the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). This article discusses an adviser's duty to seek best execution and offers suggested guidelines from regulators and industry advocates when developing and implementing best execution policies and procedures. It also illustrates different trading analyses and sample controls that advisers may wish to consider when establishing a best execution monitoring program.