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The purpose of this paper is to identify the operational and management challenges in a globally budgeted, regionalized healthcare system and their implications for public service.

Concentrating on British Columbia’s regional health authorities (RHAs) and hospitals, this study utilized data from interviews of key informants, documents (histories, legislation, agreements between RHAs and provincial government, and RHA organizational charts), news reports, and participant observation at board meetings.

Challenges encountered by the managers include accommodating powerful stakeholders (elected officials, providers, and organized publics), adhering to fixed budgets, obtaining capital from public sources, and adjusting to government turnover. In response, the managers engage in balancing priorities of stakeholders, shifting of resources within and across sites and operating units, and working strategically with the capital allocation process. Responses of managers to these challenges have promoted stability but raise concerns about attaining the system’s goals.

Management challenges and potential patterns of response should be considered in assessing the options for health system reforms. Many countries periodically reorganize their healthcare systems, and recognition of potential management challenges can contribute to the achievement of objectives sought in these reforms.

Although studies have demonstrated that management affects the implementation of public programs in several areas, little research has focused on the relationships between features of health systems, management responses, and potential outcomes.

States that the level of consumer involvement in a product category is a major variable relevant to advertising strategy. Suggests product category is often segmented by the level of consumer involvement; however, consumers are rarely segmented. Points out that different involvement clusters have different responses to advertising effectiveness for the same product. Presents a case study segmenting a market using the consumer involvement degree, exploring the characteristics in order to determine the relationship between advertising effectiveness and the level of consumer involvement. Shows results suggesting that a high degree of consumer involvement directed a high advertising effect and is therefore an important indication for advertising strategy.

This Chapter applies the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas to business’ role in the ‘War on Terror’. Specifically, it uses Levinasian ethics to explain how organisations, often with an abundance of ethical resources, become associated with military drones strikes against civilians, and offers ideas that challenge this practice. The chapter comprises several sections beginning with a brief introduction to the ‘War on Terror’ and the use of military drones. A concise discussion about business ethics and just war theory follows after which, the chapter explains Levinas’ ethics and his views on war. These ideas are applied to transform business ethical practice in this controversial area. The Chapter concludes with a summary of its main points.

Using a general model of corruption that explains and accounts for corruption across professions and institutions, this chapter will examine how certain practices in the media, especially in areas where journalism, advertising and public relations regularly intersect and converge, can be construed as instances of corruption. It will be argued that such corruption, as in the case of cash-for-comment scandals, advertorials, infomercials, and infotainment, as well as public relations media releases disseminated misleadingly as journalistic opinion, is regular, ubiquitous, and systematic.

TO all our readers we can wish a happy and prosperous New Year with greater confidence than usual that the coming months will translate the familiar hope into reality. The reason for that optimism is National Productivity Year. There is growing evidence that the public understands and appreciates its central theme. Naturally the official Guildhall opening attracted wide publicity. Since then it has been reinforced through the addresses given by prominent personalities at meetings up and down the country; meetings which will continue and build up a favourable climate in industry.

Claims that effective price communication for services requires understanding variables that mediate the effects of price and the cognitive systems consumers use to process price information. Presents a model which indicates that involvement and source credibility mediate the effects of price. Discusses the heuristic and analytic cognitive systems which consumers could use to process price information. The article also reports the results of an experiment which tested the model, and discusses the managerial implications of the model.