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The purpose of this paper is to extend the knowledge of the use of performance measurement systems (PMS) in situations where the benefits of both vertical and horizontal integration strategies are sought simultaneously.

This is a single case study, the purpose of which is to build a contextual theory.

The main results highlight three competing and partly contradictory tendencies in the development and use of PMS in organizational integration. In addition, the authors have identified features of PMS that may benefit or hinder integration. Grounded on empirical findings the paper presents a more complete theoretical framework of PMS for integration.

The propositions of the framework need to be tested in different contexts with case and field studies or a large sample of data using statistical techniques to improve external validity. The causal relationships explored in this study may be further developed using longitudinal studies.

In acquisition situations there exists the need for vertical integration to control the growing complexity but at the same time for horizontal control to advance customer-centred production. Performance measurement is the key issue to examine the execution and results of such integrations.

Case study findings are used to develop a more comprehensive theory of PMS design and use in situations where both vertical and horizontal integration are sought. Contrary to current understandings, the central statement of this study is that horizontal organization is not an alternative to vertical organizational structure but they can be effectively coupled.

Reports on a comparative study of the types and degrees of horizontal and vertical integration within the seed potato industries of The Netherlands and Northern Ireland. Using an integration analysis grid, presents descriptive models of the integrative functions in both industries. Given the superior marketing performance of the Dutch industry, and the way in which this is facilitated by its highly integrated organizational structure, makes a case for the utilization of both horizontal and vertical integration in improving marketing performance in seed potato industries.

The purpose of this paper is to study the question of pre‐emptive merger decisions in a composite good framework where these goods have both competitive and complementary features.

The paper constructs a model of partial mergers when there are three firms and three goods in the production network, but consumers need only two goods to complete their consumption. This means, two of the firms produce two competing brands while the other firm produces any complementary product. Then under vertical merger cooperation takes place between two firms producing mutually compatible or complementary goods, whereas horizontal integration occurs when cooperating firms produce goods substitutes to each other.

In such a framework, partial mergers inflict strong negative externalities on the outside firms. The paper shows that loss of profits to the non‐integrated firm is higher under horizontal integration than that under vertical integration; hence pre‐emptive incentives for vertical merger are always larger. The paper clearly distinguishes between private incentives and pre‐emptive incentives for merger. If so desired, the vertically merged firm could foreclose the market of the outside firm and emerge as monopoly. Interestingly, foreclosing in our model is never optimal. The paper also provides a welfare analysis. While all‐firm merger maximizes social welfare, under vertical merger consumers are always better off. Industry profit also goes up if the goods are not so close substitutes.

This appears to be the first paper that discusses the question of pre‐emptive mergers in a framework of composite goods. Since, in the structure presented a horizontal merger always reduces welfare, one implication of the result is that the antitrust authority should not remain indifferent to the forms of merger actually taking place in a country.

The paper aims to provide both academics and practitioners a strategic framework for integrating brands in horizontal mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in order to create and deliver value.

A conceptual framework developed from a review of the existing literature and pilot case studies.

The paper first discusses the importance of brand integration for value creation in horizontal M&As from a practical perspective. The paper then reviews three related bodies of existing literature that are critical to this research – M&As, product and brand management, integration approach. This review leads to the identification of the research gap in the area of brand integration in M&As. The paper then develops and proposes a strategic framework for integrating brands in horizontal M&As based on the pilot case studies and existing literature.

The paper structures and classifies the fragmented existing literature in the domain of product and brand management into four major views – customer (market) perspectives, supply (manufacturing) concerns, product development (innovation and technology) considerations and value creation. This classification can be a useful approach for future research in reviewing the diversified product and brand management literature. The strategic framework developed here consolidates the four perspectives of product and brand management and the two views of strategic management (positioning and resource‐based) and presents four major strategies and a process for the successful integration of brands in post‐horizontal M&As. The paper also provides an overview of overseas M&A activities on the part of Chinese companies in terms of trend and motives and considers some implications of the brand integration strategic framework for Chinese companies when they acquire international brands. Future research priorities are also discussed and research methods recommended.

Notes that logistics costs in the grocery sector, in Italy, are about 25,000 billion lire and that in order to reduce these costs logistics integration has to be improved between institutions of the distribution channel. Focuses on two of the main institutions of the grocery distribution channel: branded product industry and large‐scale trade. Referring to these institutions and to the logistics functions they carry out, analyses integration areas in order to identify some organizational and managerial solutions for improving interfunctional and interorganizational co‐ordination. In particular, divides these solutions into three main groups according to the level of integration they refer to: internal integration (inside each business), vertical integration (between businesses located at different stages of the channel) and horizontal integration (between different businesses located on the same level of the channel). Internal and horizontal integration are the prerequisites for achieving vertical integration and consequently for achieving synergies between the institutions involved.

Policy makers, practitioners and researchers have increasingly emphasised the need for both vertical and horizontal ‘integration’ and ‘integrated care’. This is not new; since the inception of the NHS wide‐ranging policies and programmes have sought to co‐ordinate services better. Current UK policy, however, tends to overlook this historical record and, in so doing, ignores potential learning from the past. We seek to help rectify this approach by reviewing historical (published and grey) literature over the past one hundred years, considering both the drivers for and the impediments to varied UK policy developments in integrating health and allied services. We aim to shed light on how the policy of integrated care has developed in the UK and draw out lessons for modern‐day policy makers.

Researchers recommend a reorganization of the medical profession into larger groups with a multispecialty mix. We analyze whether there is evidence for the superiority of these models and if this organizational transformation is underway.

We summarize the evidence on scale and scope economies in physician group practice, and then review the trends in physician group size and specialty mix to conduct survivorship tests of the most efficient models.

The distribution of physician groups exhibits two interesting tails. In the lower tail, a large percentage of physicians continue to practice in small, physician-owned practices. In the upper tail, there is a small but rapidly growing percentage of large groups that have been organized primarily by non-physician owners.

While our analysis includes no original data, it does collate all known surveys of physician practice characteristics and group practice formation to provide a consistent picture of physician organization.

Our review suggests that scale and scope economies in physician practice are limited. This may explain why most physicians have retained their small practices.

Larger, multispecialty groups have been primarily organized by non-physician owners in vertically integrated arrangements. There is little evidence supporting the efficiencies of such models and some concern they may pose anticompetitive threats.

This is the first comprehensive review of the scale and scope economies of physician practice in nearly two decades. The research results do not appear to have changed much; nor has much changed in physician practice organization.

To examine the evolution of health care integration strategies and associated conceptualization and practice through a review and synthesis of over 25 years of international academic research and literature.

A search of the health sciences literature was conducted using PubMed and EMBASE. A total of 114 articles were identified for inclusion and thematically analyzed using a strategy content model for systems-level integration.

Six major, inter-related shifts in integration strategies were identified: (1) from a focus on horizontal integration to an emphasis on vertical integration; (2) from acute care and institution-centered models of integration to a broader focus on community-based health and social services; (3) from economic arguments for integration to an emphasis on improving quality of care and creating value; (4) from evaluations of integration using an organizational perspective to an emerging interest in patient-centered measures; (5) from a focus on modifying organizational and environmental structures to an emphasis on changing ways of working and influencing underlying cultural attitudes and norms; and (6) from integration for all patients within defined regions to a strategic focus on integrating care for specific populations. We propose that underlying many of these shifts is a growing recognition of the value of understanding health care delivery and integration as processes situated in Complex-Adaptive Systems (CAS).

This review builds a descriptive framework against which to assess, compare, and track integration strategies over time.

This paper aims to set out the development, based on the extant literature, an integrated conceptual framework for the emergent field of sustainable global sourcing (GS) that synthesizes its antecedents, GS practices and sustainable performance.

Conceptual theory building combined with content analysis is used to develop a framework and propositions representing a middle-range theory of sustainable GS. A literature review of the 89 most influential papers is followed by a further discussion based on the resource orchestration perspective (ROP) to advance an integrated conceptual framework.

Three main themes are identified from the literature as antecedents, GS practices and sustainable performance, with each theme being detailed in a variety of constructs. Based on the ROP, the relationships between these constructs are revealed, and therefore, an integrated conceptual framework is advanced via three sets of propositions in recourse orchestration breadth, recourse orchestration depth and resource orchestration evolution, respectively. Eight directions for future research are further proposed.

First, this study provides a comprehensive framework for future study in the emergent field of sustainable GS. Second, the authors contribute to theory development by proposing a ROP to explore the GS practices towards sustainability. Third, the future research directions we proposed can benefit scholars interested in the overlapping areas of GS and sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to consider whether the framework for integration initiated by the White Paper Liberating the National Health Service (NHS) is likely to be more successful than previous frameworks.

The paper formulates ten principles of integration derived from a historical literature review, and makes the comparison with principal features of new proposals for promoting integration between NHS and Local Government in England.

There is a relatively good fit between the principles and proposals but gaps were identified and implementation difficulties are already becoming evident especially in respect of the tension between localism and national accountability.

The conduct of the literature review is consistent with standard historical research methods but does not aim to comply with the protocols for systematic reviews in health sciences. It does not attempt to be based on a fully comprehensive search because of the time and other resources associated with its commissioning. Future empirical research will be necessary to establish the actual impact of the proposed legislative changes on relationships between the NHS and Local Government together with any changes to health and wellbeing outcomes at local level.

Local and national strategies for improving integration should be reviewed in the light of the principles set out here.

The paper should be of value to policymakers and policy analysts seeking to understand more systematically the implications of the current legislative proposals in the context of previous empirical and theoretical knowledge. It will also be of value as an up‐to‐date analytical account of an important dimension of the proposed health reforms in the context of longer term historical understandings frequently missing from the organisational memories of health and social care agencies.