Search results

The purpose of this paper is to find out the relationship between the qualities of generic drugs perceived by the physicians and brand equity of the branded generics and to examine the physicians' perceptions of prescribing generic drugs for selective medical conditions in India.

The study was carried out across six major cities in Eastern India with 392 physicians. Here components of perceived quality, i.e. intrinsic cues and extrinsic cues are hypothesized to influence perceived quality of branded generics which in turn influence brand equity. It is also hypothesized that respondents' quality experience is assimilated towards their quality expectations, independent of small variations in objective quality of the drug.

Results showed that perceived quality of branded generics significantly, but indirectly, affected brand equity through the mediating variables, intrinsic cues and extrinsic cues. The results also showed that physicians' quality experience leads to quality expectations, independent of small variations in drug quality on five common yet serious diseases in India.

Current research finds that for prescription‐based branded generic drugs, perceived quality mainly depends on intrinsic cues; therefore, managers should be interested in intrinsic cues that increase brand equity and necessary marketing actions should be implemented accordingly.

No other scholarly article has been developed, so far, analyzing the effect of perceived quality on brand equity in the Indian branded generic drug segment. Besides providing evidence from the Indian pharmaceutical context about the impact of quality cues, the paper also presents evidence on physicians' quality observation of branded generics on five common yet serious diseases in India.

This study seeks to propose that executives need to be prepared to adopt roles as a mechanism for rotating leadership if those groups of which they are a part are to perform to their full potential.

A validated framework provides insight into the leadership roles executives can adopt when part of formal, informal and temporary groups. The methodology adopted is qualitative, focusing on the application of previously developed frameworks.

Adopting a role is found to enable the rotation of leadership within a group, which in turn facilitates development of the group.

A one‐organisation intensive case study of a multinational engineering company engaged in the design, development and manufacture of rotating turbomachinery provides the platform for the research. The frameworks will require validating in organisations of different demographic profiles.

The concepts advanced and implications discussed provide an insight into the role‐based nature of leadership. The practical steps individual executives can take to adopt a role, and in so doing develop the group of which they are a part, are highlighted.

This paper is an investigation into, and study of, the process by which executives adopt roles as a mechanism for rotating leadership within a group. In so doing, it is suggested that executives contribute more positively to the development of the groups of which they are a part by being more adaptive and responsive to changes in their surrounding context.

This paper presents an argument that it is possible for an organisation to manage networks, but understanding this involves consideration of what is meant by “managing”. Based on prior research and data from a major longitudinal action research study in the health sector, the paper describes six network management roles: network structuring agent; co‐ordinator; advisor; information broker; relationship broker; innovation sponsor. The necessary “assets” for effective performance of these roles are identified, in particular those relating to team competence. The findings enrich and significantly develop previous work on network management roles and activities, and their influencing factors. It is concluded that, given the specific nature of the networks studied, further research is required to evaluate the generalisability of the findings, though initial indications are promising.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about disruption in the way health-care professionals carry out their day-to-day practices across communities. The purpose of this research paper is to explore the professional experiences of occupational therapists working in community and rehabilitation mental health settings during a period of the COVID-19 pandemic and to help gain an understanding of how their day-to-day work practices have been affected.

A qualitative phenomenological research study explored the lived experiences of ten occupational therapists working within Health Service Executive community and rehabilitation mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants included eight community mental health occupational therapists and two rehabilitative mental health occupational therapists. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Three themes were identified: holding on to what we do; technology: friend and foe; and COVID as a catalyst to clarify the occupational therapy role. These themes capture the community changes, challenges and frustrations experienced by the occupational therapists while striving to provide quality mental health occupational therapy services during the pandemic.

The findings demonstrate the adaptive nature of the profession, the importance of traditional observation methods of community-based care, the experiences with telehealth approaches and an opportunity to clarify misconceptions of aspects of the profession’s role in relation to employment-related issues and occupational therapy group work within such mental health settings.

Identities are central to the regulation and control of knowledge‐intensive work. Rather than being managed on the basis of technocratic or bureaucratic control, knowledge intensive firms are employing knowledge workers who enact and internalize identities and roles that guide everyday behaviour in organizations. However, the concept of identity is relational and contingent on local conditions and interactions in everyday practices, different identities may be complementary or even contradictory. The paper aims to show that consultants are altering between being experts and speaking‐partners, two identities that in many ways are complementary but also mutually reinforcing.

This is a case study of a Swedish management consulting firm, Johnson Consulting.

The challenge for consultants is to be capable of effortlessly transgressing the line of demarcation between the two identities – expert and speaking‐partner – and their accompanying practices for the benefit of the client. Skilled consultants are trained at moving back and forth between these positions while less experienced consultants may find it intimidating to lose their position as expert.

The paper concludes that knowledge‐intensive firms such as management consulting firms should articulate and elaborate on the various identities mobilized in everyday work when encountering clients.

The paper uses the literature on identities in knowledge‐intensive firms and an empirical study of management consultants to show that knowledge‐intensive work is always operating on the level of identities and self‐images. Understanding knowledge intensive firms thus demands an understanding of how co‐workers perceive their own role.

This paper aims to analyze the present status of customer support services (CSS) and advocate the re-positioning of support services from an administrative cost center to a strategic profit center. Authors demonstrate how customer support or after sales services can be a source of competitive advantage and revenue generation for firms.

The study adopts a conceptual approach grounded in theoretical foundations of service dominant logic, customer loyalty and customer centricity along with practical illustrations from the industry.

Following the tenets of theory, review of existing research and analysis of the industry practices, the authors propose a new framework to enable the repositioning of customer service function. The key propositions include establishing customer support as separate business unit and insights center, introducing a new role of a C-level chief customer support officer to lead the customer support unit, adopting a customer-centric culture and process, enabling frontline IT support and investing in frontline employee skills development.

Academics should examine the potential of customer support, where the strategic importance is low at present, leading to customer dissatisfaction. The new approach and positioning of customer support calls for a new direction for research in this area focusing on enablers, challenges and further implications. To succeed in this competitive era, firms should be conscious of the value of customer service and undertake concrete actions to generate value for all stakeholders.

Industry can use the new framework and re-position CSS of the organizations. The CSS unit can be different from other business units in the organizations. The CSS would evolve and emerge from the live customer insights. CSS unit can be managed by the C level chief CSS officer. Customer-centric culture would be developed and front line processes can be made customer-oriented by the officer. Thus, this paper and framework would provide new customer-centric directions to the organizations for effective functioning.

This is the original piece that has emerged from the experience and expertise of the authors.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the link between the organizing of service networks and interorganizational learning strategies.

By deepening the conceptual understanding of service networks and their central properties, an overview of the learning challenges for improved performance is provided. The implications of learning are then discussed using four conceptual types to advance our understanding of learning in various service networks. Two different frameworks are combined, one designed to analyze the properties of service delivery and the other to understand their interorganizational learning implications for different types of service networks.

This paper examines the central properties of service network delivery and explains their implications for interorganizational learning strategy operationalized in a service network typology.

The proposed framework deepens the understanding of the concept of service networks and brings attention to properties that have implication for interorganizational learning. Knowing the central properties in detail and their major organizing challenges allows for learning strategies to improve service network performance.

The value lies in the deepening the understanding of interorganizational learning in service networks, which is much needed in the growing body of literature on both concepts.

In the wake of the pandemic (COVID-19) throughout the United States, many educators had to promptly switch to online modality to continue to provide education to students with safety through physical distancing requirements. This study mainly focuses on delivering an Information Systems module aligned with the information systems curriculum model during a pandemic.

The authors used data collection techniques from student assignments and course tasks. These data are used for the purpose of academic assessment for the Information Systems program. The student performance is assessed on a 5-point scale (1 being low and 5 being high) for the synchronous and the asynchronous tasks related to the course. The authors compared the student performance during the pandemic to the pre-pandemic semester.

This study revealed that the technical module of an information systems course can be successfully delivered during a pandemic in a remote session. However, the authors found that there is a decline in the student performance in synchronous tasks and asynchronous tasks. But the decline of the student performance in the synchronous tasks is greater than that of the asynchronous tasks. The result of this study helps the Information Systems program with their assessment and to improve their course delivery during a pandemic.

In this paper, the authors examine the delivery of a technical module in the field of information systems via online learning models. The authors particularly examine the synchronous and asynchronous online learning models in the delivery of the technical module. The lessons learned from transitioning to the online modality can help universities better prepare for the future during unprecedented times.

This study aims at exploring the role of perceived disease seriousness in consumers’ preference for generic versus branded drugs, by shedding light on new factors impacting consumer purchase behaviour for pharmaceutical products.

An exploratory study based on a quantitative analysis has been conducted with a sample of 100 participants who have been presented with two different scenarios: one related to more serious disease (as in cardiological disease) and one related to less serious disease (as in the seasonal flu). This paper considered Italy as a research setting where the recent mandatory prescription of the active ingredient by doctors leaves the final purchase decision in consumers’ hands

Results show that, although consumers are free to choose whether to buy a branded or a generic prescribed active ingredient, their choice is mainly driven by the role of the brand. Consumers’ intention to buy generic drugs is higher in the case of diseases perceived as less serious, while the intention to buy branded drugs is higher in the case of disease perceived as more serious.

This study contributes to marketing research and practice by proposing that consumers’ perceived seriousness of their disease should be considered as a further factor in identifying new marketing strategies in those contexts in which the choice between branded or generic drugs is free.