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Given the increasing importance of the service sector in western economies, not enough research has been carried out in the field of new service development. Reports studies which explore the process of developing new services. Nine different new services launched in the Swedish market were studied in detail. Based on these studies, draws conclusions on the process.

The European Collaborative Health Services Studies (ECHSS) form a programme of related projects involving collaboration between research workers and health care staff in different parts of Europe. One hospital was selected from each country involved for detailed study. The programme started in 1977 with an analysis and comparison of the data routinely available from local statistical sources on the supply of resources and levels of activity. Management ratios based on the ‘triangle’ of staff, beds and population were developed, and very substantial variation was found. This urns followed by analyses of case mix and a cross‐sectional ‘census’ of all those occupying beds in the hospitals concerned. The second five‐year period of the pro‐gramme took three complimentary directions. Work on hospital care became more focused; and patients with selected ‘tracer conditions’ were studied progressively, looking in more detail at the process of health care for comparable groups of patients. At the same time the scope of the ECHSS broadened to include problems at the interface between secondary and primary care, and to provide ‘profiles’ of each local area which included their demography and geography as well as an inventory of health care resources and activity. This paper traces the evolution of the series of studies involved, and summarises some of their conclusions.

The construction industry shows an increased interest in how to manage logistics within construction projects. Often construction logistics is outsourced to a logistics service provider (LSP). However, construction logistics is normally approached either as a strategic decision or as an operational issue and rarely as a tactical concern. The purpose of this study is to explore how to organize the logistics outsourcing decision at strategic, tactical and operational levels.

This study is performed as a single-case study within a construction corporation, containing (amongst others) a building contractor (BC) and a construction equipment rental company (CERC) offering logistics services.

The study shows that to procure construction logistics service successfully, BCs need logistics capabilities at strategic and tactical levels to maintain an alignment between the use of logistics services and operational characteristics. Simultaneously, CERC’s need to design their service offerings to correspond to the needs of the BC.

This study builds on a single-case study of a Swedish construction corporation. Further research is needed to better understand current logistics outsourcing and development practices and how these can be improved to foster better logistics management at the project level.

BCs find suggestions of different logistics organization structures and suitable outsourcing arrangements. CERCs and LSPs can use the findings to understand their customers’ needs and adapt service offerings.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies of how two companies within a corporation can work together to develop construction logistics service offerings.

The purpose of this paper is to test the psychometric properties and dimensionality of a new instrument, quality in psychiatric care (QPC), and to describe and compare quality of care among in‐patients as measured by this instrument.

The instrument quality in psychiatric care measures patients' experiences regarding quality of care. The instrument is based on a definition of quality of care from the patients' perspective. A sample of 265 in‐patients at eight general psychiatric wards in Sweden was assessed.

Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the original five‐dimensional 69‐item QPC was better with six dimensions and reduced to 30 items, hereinafter denoted quality in psychiatric care‐in‐patients (QPC‐IP) with retained internal consistency. The patients' ratings of quality of care were generally high; the highest rating was for quality of encounter and the lowest for participation.

Analysis of the dropouts was not possible because of incomplete registrations at the wards.

QPC‐IP is a simple, inexpensive and quick way to evaluate quality of care and thus contributes to health care improvement in the field of psychiatry.

The new 30 items instrument, QPC‐IP includes important aspects of patients' perceptions of quality of care. The QPC‐IP is psychometrically adequate and thus recommended for evaluating patients' experiences of the quality of psychiatric care.

Contingency studies within logistics and supply chain management have shown a need for longitudinal studies on fit. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the logistics strategy from a process of establishing fit perspective.

A large Swedish building contractor's logistics strategy process was analysed using a longitudinal single-case study for a period of 11 years (2008–2019).

The case study reveals three main constraints to logistics strategy implementation: a dominant purchasing organisation, a lack of incentives and diverging top-management priorities. This suggests that logistics strategy fit is not a conscious choice determined by contextual factors.

Establishing fit is a continuous cycle of regaining fit between the logistics context and logistics strategy components. Fit can be achieved by a change to the logistics context or to logistics strategy components.

Logistics managers may need to opt for satisfactory fit in view of the costs incurred by changing strategy versus the benefits to be gained from a higher degree of fit.

This paper adopts a longitudinal case design to study the fit between the logistics context and strategy, adding to the body of knowledge on organisational design and strategy in logistics and supply chain management.

To review critically the applicability of Grounded Theory.

Two perspectives are used: that of the author's personal experience and that of the internal pros and cons of Grounded Theory.

Grounded Theory is called into question regarding problems with pre‐understanding, with everyday knowledge, with disconnection of context, and with coding procedure.

It is important to think twice before using Grounded Theory in spite of its promising features at the outset.

Empirically and theoretically founded critique of Grounded Theory

Mathematica is computer software from Wolfram Research, Inc. Mathematica provides an environment for manipulating mathematical ideas symbolically. For example, you can ask Mathematica to factor[X2−Y2]and Mathematica will return: (X−Y)(X+Y). You can as easily deal with the equation for a line in algebra as take the derivative of a function in calculus, or solve an elaborate mathematical model in engineering or economics. Mathematica, then, allows you to use the language of mathematics with about the same terms as in a textbook and about the same ease as doing arithmetic on a calculator.

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of key strategic factors in new service development (NSD). In particular, the role of service development strategy, a formalised development process, integrated development teams and customer co‐creation were investigated and the results were compared with managers' beliefs.

The study used a sample of more than 500 service development projects to test a NSD conceptual model. Regression analysis was used to test the relative importance of the key strategic factors, and the results were compared with managers' beliefs.

The results show that managers believe that customer co‐creation is most important in order to succeed with NSD. However, contrary to management belief, a service development strategy is the “missing link” in improving NSD performance. In addition, the research highlighted an interaction effect between integrated development teams and customer co‐creation, which means that project managers should focus on individual competencies on the development team and how they interact with customers throughout the NSD process.

For a long time, NSD has failed to receive the attention it deserves, not just in practice but also in service research. This study shows that the number of new services put on the market and then withdrawn because of low sales remains as high as 43 per cent. This paper contributes knowledge on how to reduce the number of failures in NSD by pointing out the key strategic factors that influence NSD performance.

The purpose of this article is to explain the dynamics of public appointments and present new possibilities for research in this field.

The article is based on a systematic literature review from 2012 to 2021, identified in Web of Science, Scopus and SciELO, in English, Spanish or Portuguese. To explain the dynamics of public appointments, the following were analyzed: the nomination process; the motivations, objectives and criteria used; the results and impacts of appointments; and the profile of the nominees. The study focused only on discretionary appointments to fully public bodies and agencies.

The literature offers a limited explanation for the dynamics of appointments, by focusing on the dichotomy between loyalty and competence. Despite this, studies suggest that different contextual factors, such as administrative tradition or strategic choices, for example, determine the dynamics of appointments, indicating that it is a complex process that goes beyond the simple discussion of merit or clientelism.

The article presents an unprecedented analysis of the literature on the dynamics of public appointments and proposes an explanatory model that indicates that other factors, in addition to merit and loyalty, should be considered relevant for the selection criteria, the nomination process and the profile of who will be appointed. This model is useful both for the practical management of appointments and for the advancement of theory in this field and should receive improvements and future empirical evaluations.