Search results

This study of HMP Birmingham was part of a much larger investigation of health needs assessment (HNA), in the context of a new “HNA Toolkit” developed by Public Health England for use in the prison service. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

In 2015, details of prison healthcare in HMP Birmingham had figured in the authors’ analysis of documents. In 2018, a crisis in Birmingham typified problems developing more widely in England and Wales. Was the crisis predictable from the initial HNA?

Recommendations embodied in the 2015 HNA were not acted upon; the eventual problems that combined to overwhelm the running of HMP Birmingham were predictable.

Lessons from this case study could inform more coherent commissioning of prison health services. This in turn could promote timely developments for improved health and morale in the prison, amongst prisoners and staff. Longer term, this might help to avoid future crises.

The health needs assessment (HNA) process is being used to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of health and health care services and to continue to make them more sensitive and appropriate for local populations. The process is currently being undertaken in a number of key service areas, and is being followed in one commissioning authority in the United Kingdom with a population of nearly half a million: Bradford uses the Health Care Cube framework for information analysis. This activity is regarded as being essential to the improvement of the health of the population of Bradford and in keeping with the Health of the Nation ethos. It extends the process from assessment of need for a single client group or disease/condition, e.g. heart disease, HIV/AIDS, maternity services, to enable resource allocations to be directed towards one programme for health improvements compared with another, or indeed several others, e.g. heart disease or HIV/AIDS or maternity services.

This paper reports the experience of a single pilot in total primary care purchasing (TPP) between 1995 and 1997. The article’s structure is based on a framework created from the seven original objectives of the pilot and 12 themes emerging from qualitative data analysis. Data are mainly drawn from interviews with participants. Interesting and useful findings emerge. For example, the TPP was able to build positive relationships with other local actors and amongst its GPs, though these did not necessarily lead to agreement or compliance. The TPP undertook conventional health needs assessment, but experienced difficulty reviewing referral practice and controlling the volume of secondary care services, contributing to problems of financial control. Though TPP has been abolished, the findings have implications for successors.

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms that evolve during reputational scandals and lead to changes in industry regulation. It explores the processes by which a demand for external industry regulation evolves, also addressing the consequences of firms’ competitive behaviors which lead to substantial misbehavior and the destruction of reputational capital. The authors are interested in whether and how regulatory activities – in the case analyzed here, changes in insurance regulation regarding sales commissions for insurance brokers – are used as a costly, external behavioral control mechanism (third-loop learning) to terminate a reputational scandal that cannot be stopped by internal controls at a firm level (first-loop and second-loop learning) anymore.

The paper explores a real-life case in the German insurance industry that peaked in 2012 and has been well documented by broad media coverage, complemented by interviews with leading industry representatives. Using causal process tracing as a methodology, the authors study the factors in the case that led to an industry scandal. The authors further analyze why the insurance firms involved were not able to limit the scandal’s impact by internally controlling their behaviors, but had to call for external regulation, thus imposing costly restrictions on sales and contract processes. To identify the mechanisms underlying this result, theories from the fields of economics (game theory) and sociology (vicious cycle of bureaucracies), as well as organizational learning theory, are used.

The authors find that individual rationality does not suffice to prevent insurance firms from scandalous business practices, e.g. via implementing appropriate internal behavioral control measures within their organizations. If, as a result, misbehavior leads to reputational scandals, and the destruction of reputational capital spills over to the whole industry, a vicious cycle is set in motion which can be terminated by regulation as an externally enforced control mechanism.

This study is limited to the analysis of a single case study, combining published materials, e.g. broad media coverage, with interviews from representatives of the insurance industry. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanisms that have been identified can be used in other case studies as well.

The paper shows that if firms want to avoid increasing regulation, they must implement strong reputational risk management (RRM) to counteract short-term profit pressure and to avoid restrictive regulation imposed on the industry as a whole. Furthermore, it sheds light on the relevance of spillover effects for RRM, as not only employee behavior within an organization might lead to the destruction of reputational capital but also that from other firms, e.g. from elsewhere within an industry.

The paper contributes by emphasizing a direct causal link between corporate scandals, loss of reputation and regulatory change within the insurance industry. Furthermore, the paper contributes by combining economic theories with organizational theories to understand real-life phenomena.

The purpose of this paper is to analytically examine the viability of using blockchain technology (BT) in a public distribution system (PDS) supply chain to overcome issues of shrinkage, misplacement and ghost demand.

The authors use a standard news vendor model with two objectives, the first of which includes a reduction of the total cost of stock, while the second includes minimization of the negative impact of human suffering due to the nonavailability of subsidized food supplies to the needy people.

The authors applied the model to a real-life case to draw meaningful insights. The authors also analyzed the cost/benefit tradeoff of adopting BT in a PDS supply chain. The results show that the adoption of BT in a charitable supply chain can reduce pilferage and ghost demand significantly.

The paper is positioned for utilizing inventory visibility via consistent and tamper-resistant data stream flow capability of BT to enhance the overall efficiency of PDS. Notably, Indian PDS faces three major challenges in terms of its supply chain efficiency.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance (CG) and financial performance in the case of publicly listed companies in Vietnam for the period from 2019 to 2021. The topic is crucial in understanding how effective governance practices can influence the financial outcomes of companies. The study sheds light on the link between CG practice and firm financial performance. It also provides insights for policymakers and practitioners to improve CG practices.

Due to the potential dynamic endogeneity in CG research, this study uses the generalized system methods of moments to effectively address the endogeneity problem. Financial performance is measured by Tobin’s Q, return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA). Based on organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD) standards, these indices were calculated to assess the influence of CG practices on corporate financial performance, namely, for accounting information (ROA and ROE) and market performance (Tobin’s Q and service à resglement différé (SRD) – stock price volatility) for the period 2019–2021. In addition, the study examines the relationship between changes in the CG index and changes in financial performance.

The study’s main objective is to determine the relationship between CG performance scores and financial performance. The study found a positive relationship between transparency disclosure and financial performance and a positive correlation between CG and company size. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a decrease in transparency and information index scores in 2021 compared to 2019 and 2020 due to delayed General Meetings of Shareholders. The study failed to find a relationship between shareholder rights index (“cg_rosh”) and board responsibility (“cg_reob”) and financial performance, concerning which the findings of this study differ from those of previous studies. Reasons are put forward for these anomalies.

Policymakers need to develop a set of criteria for assessing CG practices. They also need to promulgate specific regulations for mandatory and voluntary information disclosure and designate a competent authority to certify the transparency of company information. The study also suggests that companies should develop CG regulations and focus on regulations relating to the business culture or ethics, as well as implementing a system to ensure equal treatment among shareholders. The study found that good CG practices can positively contribute to a company’s financial performance, which is crucial for investors to evaluate the quality of CG practices for each listed company so that investment risks can be limited.

The advantages of blockchain technology are being widely discussed by academics, the business community and government, because blockchain can promote data sharing, optimise business processes, reduce operation costs, improve collaborative efficiency and build credible systems. The supply chain is becoming a key area for the application of blockchain technology. However, few studies have discussed the effect of such emerging technologies on the supply chain in depth. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse how blockchain empowers supply chain and promotes supply chain management.

Based on a review of relevant literature and blockchain applications in practice, this paper analyses the development and research status of blockchain technologies. In addition, considering the different operational processes within the supply chain, the authors discuss the opportunities and challenges of blockchain technologies, such as the transparency of supply, intelligent manufacturing, the security of logistics, the platformisation of sales and the ecology of governance.

The authors find that information sharing, information traceability and trust establishment are the key categories of research achievements and applications of supply chain management. The central issues for blockchain researchers are the authenticity of transaction data, the traceability of long supply chains and the establishment of trust for all participants.

From the practical and theoretical perspectives, this paper shows the development of blockchain technologies to clarify the challenges, opportunities and prospects. This paper elucidates and facilitates the development of emerging interdisciplinary research and the practice of supply chain.

The purpose of this paper is fourfold: first, to provide the first systematic study on the ethics of blockchain, mapping its main socio-technical challenges in technology and applications; second, to identify ethical issues of blockchain; third, to propose a conceptual framework of blockchain ethics study; fourth, to discuss ethical issues for stakeholders.

The paper employs literature research, research agenda and framework development.

Ethics of blockchain and its applications is essential for technology adoption. There is a void of research on blockchain ethics. The authors propose a first theoretical framework of blockchain ethics. Research agenda is proposed for future search. Finally, the authors recommend measures for stakeholders to facilitate the ethical adequacy of blockchain implementations and future Information Systems (IS) research directions. This research raises timely awareness and stimulates further debate on the ethics of blockchain in the IS community.

First, this work provides timely systematic research on blockchain ethics. Second, the authors propose the first research framework of blockchain ethics. Third, the authors identify key research questions of blockchain ethics. Fourth, this study contributes to the understanding of blockchain technology and its societal impacts.

Blockchain technology (BCT) can be used for a wide variety of applications across domains and can bring many benefits. BCT-based applications can be beneficial for the government as well as businesses. Despite the many promises, BCT implementation lags behind. The purpose of this research is to identify a roadmap of critical implementation challenges that influence BCT implementation by governments.

The study develops an ISM-based model spread across seven levels to analyze the inter-relationship among the selected BCT challenges. The MICMAC analysis further helps in evaluating the variables based on their driving power and dependencies.

The findings show that all challenges have a strong impact on implementing BCT. The foundation for implementation BCT is to define standards and develop appropriate regulations. Next, the findings show the need for a shared infrastructure meeting the basic technical and societal requirements and developing viable business models to advance BCT implementation. Many challenges hinder the development of blockchain applications meeting the technical and ethical requirements.

Existing research has analyzed the relationship among challenges. To the best of the authors' knowledge this is the first paper to collate these implementation challenges and incorporate them to develop a hierarchical model using interpretive structural modeling technique. The results can be used to prioritize the tackling of the challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how blockchain technology can improve supply chain adaptability, alignment and agility which collectively enhance competitive advantage which in turn influences firm performance.

The conceptual framework of the present study is developed by conducting an extensive literature review on blockchain technology, supply chain adaptability, alignment, agility and competitive advantage. The sample data were collected from 397 supply chain practitioners in India to validate the conceptual model. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to ascertain the validity of the measures used and a structural model was analyzed for testing the proposed conceptual framework.

The results of the present study show that blockchain technology can improve supply chain adaptability, alignment, agility which lead to competitive advantage, which leads to better firm performance. Besides, trust generated through blockchain use also increases firm performance.

Currently, the respondents do not have practical experience of using blockchain technology. They have responded based on their knowledge about supply chain and blockchain which they acquired from published sources. Different supply chains require different strategic choices and different information needs. But the present study assumes that all supply chain needs are identical. The present study assumes that government regulations regarding blockchain technology are favorable; however, currently, there is no legal framework to address blockchain technology. The findings of the current study indicate that companies not only should create more awareness regarding blockchain but also should actively work with IT companies that are engaged in developing blockchain-based supply chain solution. Managers, as well as IT companies and academicians, should join hands to study and develop a framework for regulating blockchain technology and suggest these to the policy actors.

The present study shows that supply chain practitioners are confident that blockchain technology will help improve supply chain parameters. These findings can help IT companies and their marketers for developing and promoting blockchain-based IT applications. In addition, the important implication for supply chain practitioners is that blockchain helps in creating a competitive advantage and increases firm performance.

The effect of IT on important supply chain variables has been studied in the past; however, there is not a single study which sheds light on how disruptive technologies such as blockchain will affect supply chain adaptability, alignment, agility and firm performance.