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Modern e‐health systems incorporate different healthcare providers in one system and provide an electronic platform to share medical information efficiently. In cross‐context communications between healthcare providers, the same information can be interpreted as different types or values, so that one patient will be issued different identifiers by different healthcare providers. This paper aims to provide a solution to ensure interoperability so that multiple healthcare providers will be able to collaborate in one e‐health system.

This paper primarily focuses on how different healthcare providers, instead of the patients, are able to interact and share information on a common e‐health platform.

In the course of the work, it was found that previous e‐health solutions mainly have a limited view of patient information, where a user‐centric approach for identity management is usually restricted to a single healthcare provider. Interoperability in an e‐health system becomes more problematic when more actors collaborate, and hence linkability from one context to another should not be straightforward. However, some form of linkability, such as the possibility to follow up a patient's medical treatment, is desirable in the e‐health sector, even when it needs to cross different contexts. Therefore, the authors have designed an identity management mechanism to ensure semantic interoperability when data is exchanged among different authorized healthcare providers.

The paper points out that the next generation of e‐health will move towards federated e‐health and will require user‐centricity and transparency properties so that patients are able to specify and verify the disclosure of their medical information.

This paper proposes a new service for cross‐context identity management in e‐health systems, improving interoperability between agencies when context‐specific information is transferred from one healthcare provider to another. How the proposed cross‐context identity management service can be integrated in an e‐health system is explained with a use case scenario.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an interpretation of the grey relational grade taking into account its variation range on the basis of the error propagation theory.

The paper uses error propagation theory to calculate the uncertainty of the grey relational grade, exploring how errors are propagated through the sequential operations of the grey relational analysis.

The non‐consideration of the error associated to the measurement of the experimental data that is transferred to the grey relational grade may have a potential effect on the interpretation of the grey relational rank. Data uncertainty quantification provides information about how well measurement fits to the value of the measured quantity and determines its validity. Therefore, this might lead one to consider that some sequences are less attractive than other lower‐ranked ones.

The combination of the grey and error propagation theories is a tool to choose the most accurate solution in grey relational grade ranks.

This study provides a new approach to interpret grey relational grade classifications.

This paper discusses the effects of enabling conditions of project knowledge management in building volatile organizational memory. The theoretical rationale underlies a recursive relationship among enabling conditions of project knowledge management, organizational learning and memory.

This research employs a qualitative descriptive single case study approach to examine a mobile application development project undertaken by a major software company in Brazil. The analysis focuses on the project execution using an abductive analytical framework. The study data were collected through in-depth interviews and company documents.

Based on the research findings, the factors that facilitate behavior and strategy in managing project knowledge pose a challenge when it comes to fostering organizational learning. While both these factors play a role in organizational learning, the exchange of information from previous experience could be strengthened, and the feedback from the learning process could be improved. These shortcomings arise from emotional tensions that stem from power struggles within knowledge hierarchies.

Based on the research, it is recommended that project-structured organizations should prioritize an individual’s professional experience to promote organizational learning. Organizations with well-defined connections between their projects and strategies can better establish interconnections among knowledge creation, sharing and coding.

The primary contribution is to provide a comprehensive view that incorporates the conditions required to manage project knowledge, organizational learning and memory. The findings lead to four propositions that relate to volatile memory, intuitive knowledge, learning and knowledge encoding.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand facilitators’ perceived role and influence on a policy dialogue’s (PD) process and impact. PDs enable interactions between policy makers, researchers and other stakeholders – one of the factors associated with promoting evidence-informed policy making.

This is an exploratory study based on semi-structured interviews with ten key informants from sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, North and South America. Participants were purposefully sampled based on their experience in facilitating or observing PDs organized by the WHO’s Evidence-informed Policy Network. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative method.

A successful PD relies on a structured process used to catalyze impact. Facilitators contribute to a successful PD through their facilitation skills, for example, helping to get to an informed judgment; knowledge, for example, about the health system; attitudes, for example, valuing the PD process over its outcomes; and personal attributes, for example, credibility. Facilitators’ involvement in preparatory and follow-up actions are equally paramount for a PD’s success. Challenges in implementing PDs can be prevented/attenuated, for example, through stakeholder analysis to identify suitable PD participants, and anticipate power constellations or potential conflicts.

Research should focus on the overall process of a PD – especially on preparation and follow-up activities and their influence on a PD’s success.

Informed by harnessing practical experiences, this paper outlines facilitators’ skills, attributes, attitudes, knowledge and how these can be used to influence a PD’s success.

This chapter investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic stimulus policies. Based on data from 156 economies, empirical results show that in the medium term, cumulative effect of COVID-19 pandemic is positively correlated with the economic stimulus policies but not in the short term. Heterogeneity tests show that while economic policies are used in developed economies more often, restrictive measures in developing countries are likely used as a substitution; deaths have a positive impact on economic stimulus policies but confirmed cases not. The results suggest that the pandemic may reinforce economic inequality due to potential stimulus policy capabilities, requiring international coordination and assistance to low-and-middle income countries in various aspects.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine how the voluntary formation of a specialised investment committee (IC) and IC characteristics affect financial distress risk (FDR) and whether such impact is influenced by the level of investment inefficiency.

The authors use a large sample of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) non-financial companies during 2006–2016. A principal component analysis is done to aggregate and derive a factor score for IC characteristics (i.e. independence, size and meeting) as a proxy for the effectiveness of IC. This study also uses three measurements of FDR to corroborate the findings and partitions sample firms into overinvesting and underinvesting companies to examine the potential impact of investment inefficiency on the IC–FDR nexus.

Using feasible generalised least square estimation method, the authors document that the likelihood of financial distress occurrence decreases for firms with separate ICs. The authors also find that firms with effective ICs enjoy lower FDR. In other words, the probability of financial distress minimises if the IC is large, meets frequently and has a high number of independent directors. However, the authors find neither any moderation nor any mediation effect of investment inefficiency for the impact of IC and IC attributes on FDR. The additional analysis indicates the expected benefits of an actively performing IC are amplified for firms with risk of both over- and underinvestment. These findings are robust to alternative measures of FDR and investment inefficiency, sub-sample analysis and endogeneity concerns.

This study, to the best of researchers’ knowledge, is the first to provide evidence in GCC firms’ perspective, suggesting that the existence of an effective IC is associated with a lower risk of financial distress, and to some extent, the economic benefits of IC are aggrandised for companies with a high probability of over- and underinvestment problems. These results are unique and contribute to a small but growing body of literature documenting the need for effective ICs and their economic consequences on investment efficiency in the FDR environment. The findings of this study carry valuable practical implications for regulatory bodies, policymakers, investors and other interested parties in the GCC region.

This paper provides an overview of the Aztec 13 – the top 13 multinational enterprises in Mexico. Different from research that groups countries and regions, the purpose of the paper is to deliver a nuanced picture of these multinationals in terms of their key characteristics and the strategies they follow when they internationalize.

All data sources that have been identified and reviewed are documents, printed and electronic. The Aztec multilatinas were identified using Forbes Global 2000 (2017). Other data sources such as media texts, company annual reports, reports filed with the Mexican Stock Exchange and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as investor presentations, were collected and analyzed. Data sources were published in English and Spanish. The analytic procedure adopted entailed identifying, selecting, making sense of and synthesizing the data contained in the documents.

Aztec multilatinas have specific characteristics which, to a great extent, influence their internationalization strategies. Characteristics include the geographical location of their headquarters, their origin and history, their ownership structure and ties with families and government. These factors, combined, help to describe in greater nuance the internationalization strategies and activities of the Aztec 13. Such a detailed and focused description is a first necessary step for subsequent potential theorizing.

This paper contributes to the vibrant scholarly conversation on multinational enterprises from less researched regions and countries. Latin America is such a region and Mexico is such a country. Focusing on a single country and its top 13 multinationals allow a comprehensive description and disciplined analysis, with no dangerous generalizations to large regions and even larger settings such as emerging markets multinationals and with no false claims for theorizing.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between environment turbulence, knowledge transfer and innovation performance for emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) in an asymmetric international R&D alliance.

Data were collected through a survey of high-tech firms in Zhejiang Province of China from 2013 to 2015.

Innovation performance of EMNEs is positively influenced by knowledge transfer activities (knowledge replication and knowledge adaption), technological and market turbulence, while negatively influenced by institutional turbulence. In addition, different aspects of environmental turbulence moderate the relationship between knowledge transfer practices and innovation performance of EMNEs differently.

Future studies could use a longitudinal design to capture the dynamism driving innovation performance of EMNEs through R&D alliances.

Practical guidelines are provided particularly for EMNE managers on how to develop an innovation strategy by leveraging external knowledge, adaptive innovation and environmental turbulence.

This study deepens the knowledge of how EMNEs enhance their innovation by building the linkage between environmental turbulence and absorptive capacity through knowledge transfer activities in an asymmetric international R&D alliance.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach for managing relevant factors and activities for implementing data governance in an organization. The process of assessing the establishment of data governance in an organization is intrinsically imprecise, due to the characteristics of new problem settings, particularly in relation to newly generated alternatives or vaguely defined qualitative assessment criteria.

To reject the inherent subjectiveness and imprecision involved in the evaluation process, the authors use the concept of fuzzy logic in this approach for developing the assessment model and analyzing the model for allocating the management efforts in the most efficient way to improve the data governance deployment level.

This paper identifies relevant factors and activities for implementing data governance in an organization and evaluates the state of data governance based on causal relationships between influential factors. In this study, factors are prioritized for effective allocation of limited management efforts in any improvement plan.

The interrelationships among factors are contextual and based on the perceptions of experts who may be biased as per their background and area of expertise. Meanwhile, lack of a data governance plan may cause failure during its implementation in an organization, as the worth of an organization's data will not be determined precisely. The paper has tremendous practical implications for organizations that intend to implement the data governance program and evaluate its state to design an improvement plan.

The paper proposes an approach for implementing data governance in an organization faced with limited resources for improvement.

This paper aims to provide a review of the challenges facing the reform of SOEs, and to address the impacts of SOE reform on business executives, on the base of literature review and empirical data collected in Guangzhou, China.

A qualitative research on the base of literature review, supported by empirical data collected from surveys, interviews, and focus group discussion.

Although China has made significant achievement in economic reform and the transition into a market system and civil society since 1978, there are still fundamental challenges associated with the reform of state owned enterprises (SOEs). It seems that privatisation will not necessarily solve the complex problems associated with SOEs. This paper suggests that a balanced approach reflecting the best of SOE provision and triple bottom line management appears to provide the best way forward for continuing prosperity in China. The current direction of SOE reform seems to have been driven by privatisation and economic rationalism, rather than a more balanced economic and social strategy. If this trend continues, the challenges for business executives, and the general society, can be overwhelming, and not lead to a more sustainable economy, let alone society, in the medium to long term.

Reform of SOEs has impacted on China fundamentally. Against the common view that business managers are the social group that is benefiting from SOE reform, this paper focuses on factors affecting the economic and social status of business executives, especially the challenges associated with the reform of SOEs. Supported by primary and secondary data sources, it draws attention to the situation that although the economic and social status of business executives continues to rise in China, insecurity and stress on business executives are growing. Reforms associated with changing SOEs are viewed as possible sources of challenges facing the Chinese economy and business life. Current SOE reform seems to have focused on the economic bottom line. A more balanced approach in the reform of SOEs is suggested for a more sustainable economy and society.