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The purpose of this paper is to present a benchmarking study of operation and maintenance costs of French healthcare facilities between 2008 and 2009. The investigation presents findings using quantitative methods, including cumulative frequency and descriptive statistics. The purpose also is to highlight and capture the performance profile of long‐term hospitals, using several operational cost drivers.

A literature review revealed that there are no studies on the benchmarking of operation or maintenance costs of health facilities in France. Operational cost drivers reported in literature from other countries were used as the underlying constructs for this research, with a view to generating a benchmarking framework for the health assets in the data sample. The data were extracted from the databases of the hospitals concerned. Some of the data were collected via interviews and questionnaires. Statistical analysis was carried out to investigate and generate potential benchmarking cost curves. Potential operational cost drivers were extracted and used to develop cumulative frequency curves for benchmarking purposes.

The authors found that cost per bed ratio can be used as an efficient metric to classify health facilities into similar to data sets. The results also show that the operational costs of utilities, maintenance and operations & maintenance staff correlate positively and significantly with the square meter of floor area. This relationship indicates that 82 per cent of the operational performance can be explained by this linear relationship. However, it was found that the relationship between the total of operational costs per square meter with the floor is negatively correlated and surprisingly only explains 41 per cent of the performance of the health asset operational cost variation in the data sample.

The paper presents the first metric benchmarking method in France which allows health facility managers in France to evaluate and develop operational strategies, with a view to reducing the costs burden.

This paper aims to examine for the first time the impact of the intensity of hospital bed occupancy on healthcare facilities operational costs in France.

Research methodology is based on empirical data collection from 19 short‐stay care acute and long‐term care hospital facilities in Paris, France, carried out during 2008. Statistic analysis was conducted to investigate the impact of bed occupancy on operational cost of health facilities. The purpose of the analysis is to determine the best practices and provide recommendations to the decision makers for operational cost budgeting purposes.

The main findings are the relationship between bed usage and operational costs of acute hospital facilities in France. An analysis of annual O&M (operation and maintenance) cost clearly indicated that type of medical activities had a major impact on O&M cost when the influence of all other potential factors, particularly, morphology, quality of construction and age, were excluded.

Data sample is limited to hospitals in the Paris region. Hence, extrapolation from the generated results to other regions in France is limited. Other facilities operational cost drivers, such as conditional surveys of buildings, need to be considered alongside the performance measures included in this study.

The results will help in establishing best practices and benchmarking operational costs in heath care facilities in France. They will also assist in developing and planning strategic heath care operational budgets. One of the most important implications of the results is in assisting decision makers to develop facilities management improvement strategies.

The research described in this paper represents significantly advances in the understanding of the impact of medical activities on operation and maintenance costs of healthcare facilities in France.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand whether firm cooperation and absorptive capacity foster success in seeking public financial support for innovation activities and, by doing so, how they contribute to innovation output.

The authors therefore extend the existing literature focusing on the effects of cooperation and absorptive capacity on specific public financial support for innovation activities in Portuguese firms from local or regional government, central administration and the European Union by using available data from the Community Innovation Survey CIS 2010 and the application of logistic regression models. The empirical analysis enabled a better understanding of the positive relationship of the variables that determine the form of public financial support in the integration of incentives within firms to stimulate innovation.

Therefore, as the level of absorptive capacity in Portuguese firms increases, so does the demand for benefits from public financial support to stimulate innovation from the European Union also increases. The same analysis, now considering the determinant cooperation, notes the positive effects of institutional sources of information and cooperation, in the propensity for seeking public financial incentives from the Central Administration and the European Union. As for internal information and cooperation sources, they are positively related to the integration of incentive measures from the local or Regional Administration and Central Administration.

The paper presents results that allow us to propose some suggestions that both the firms and those responsible for the implementation of public policies can undertake to increment innovation performance.

The main purpose of this paper was to investigate Lattice Boltzmann (LB) models for the bulk incompressible flow past immersed bodies and to find the set of boundary conditions (BCs) that can be considered suitable for modeling the borders of the numerical simulation domain in such a way as to avoid any effect of these BC on the flow trail that is formed behind the body.

Three different models of the Lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) and six different sets of BCs are tested. In addition to the classical LBE based on the Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook (BGK) single relaxation time collision model, a moments-based model and a model with two relaxation times were investigated.

The flow pattern and its macroscopic effects on the aerodynamic coefficients appear to be very dependent on the set of BC models used for the borders of the numerical domain. The imposition of pressure at the exit results in pressure perturbations, giving rise to sound waves that propagate back into the simulation domain, producing perturbations on the upwind flow. In the same way, the free-slip BC for the lateral bords appears to affect the trail of vortices behind the body in this range of Reynolds number (Re = 1,000).

The paper investigates incompressible flow past immersed bodies and presents the set of BCs that can be considered suitable for modeling the borders of the numerical simulation domain in such a way as to avoid any effect of these BCs on the flow trail that is formed behind the body.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to analyze the computational complexity of the cogeneration design problem; to present an expert system to solve the proposed problem, comparing such an approach with the traditional searching methods available.

The complexity of the cogeneration problem is analyzed through the transformation of the well-known knapsack problem. Both problems are formulated as decision problems and it is proven that the cogeneration problem is np-complete. Thus, several searching approaches, such as population heuristics and dynamic programming, could be used to solve the problem. Alternatively, a knowledge-based approach is proposed by presenting an expert system and its knowledge representation scheme.

The expert system is executed considering two case-studies. First, a cogeneration plant should meet power, steam, chilled water and hot water demands. The expert system presented two different solutions based on high complexity thermodynamic cycles. In the second case-study the plant should meet just power and steam demands. The system presents three different solutions, and one of them was never considered before by our consultant expert.

The expert system approach is not a “blind” method, i.e. it generates solutions based on actual engineering knowledge instead of the searching strategies from traditional methods. It means that the system is able to explain its choices, making available the design rationale for each solution. This is the main advantage of the expert system approach over the traditional search methods. On the other hand, the expert system quite likely does not provide an actual optimal solution. All it can provide is one or more acceptable solutions.

This work sought to analyze targeted innovation strategies used during the pandemic to maintain companies’ competitiveness.

The methodology was a systematic literature review, analyzing how these factors can be used as leverage in decision-making and suggesting a framework tool.

As a result, nine factors were identified as drivers to stimulate competitiveness, bringing insights to structure actions in times of crisis to support agribusiness.

With this work, it is possible that other companies can base themselves and use the strategic drivers of innovation evidenced to remain competitive in the market during a period of crisis. As this is a systematic review of the literature, the application of a case study, for example, is a limitation, which could be a continuation of the work.

As this is a systematic review of the literature, the application of a case study, for example, is a limitation, which could be a continuation of the work.

This work has high value because it brings insights into strategic drivers of innovation that tend to leverage or maintain the competitiveness of agribusinesses in times of crisis. With the discussion carried out on the data obtained, it is possible that agribusinesses or other types of companies can be based for decision-making in a crisis scenario from innovative actions that generate competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the failure analysis and troubleshooting process in engineering to order (ETO) product development, and reduce the amount of parts with failures. This is important because parts with failures are associated with the additional costs resulting from corrections of the product, reduced productivity due to the time waiting for the corrected part, delays in delivery and harm to the image of the organization.

FMEA and A3 are combined in a document for failure analysis and recording of the generated knowledge. The method is applied to an industrial automation company that designs and manufactures ETO products. Initially, the failures identified in mechanical assembly products are mapped, and then FMEA and A3 are combined in a document template, and a checklist for reviewing the detailing is built. Then, the method is applied in the design phase, and also for solving conceptual failures in the mechanical assembly and testing phase and the knowledge generated is recorded.

The results show the feasibility of the proposed method for both failure analysis and knowledge generation. Moreover, the adoption of improvement practices in routine activities, for example, the checklist for reviewing the detailing, can reduce up to 10 percent the amount of parts with failures.

The integration of FMEA and A3 encourages group thinking and monitoring the implemented actions. Since the document contains minor changes in the layout from the design phase to the assembly and testing phase, it contributed to the understanding of the people who participated in performing each phase. It should be ensured that the participation of experienced individuals with a proactive assertiveness who encourage the exchange of knowledge, preventing recurring failures from occurring in the conceptual phase. The approach to ensure quality was well accepted by the personnel in the company, but the implementation requires changing habits and establishing new practices.

The method proposed in this paper was applied to a company that designs and manufactures ETO industrial automation products. Since such products have high variety, the company has different characteristics compared with the companies that were considered in the few publications that attempted to combine the FMEA and A3 methods for failure analysis. The proposed method provides convenience for queries and updates, since it allows the inclusion of different failures in a single A3 report, reducing the number of separate documents. Also, the method includes a checklist for detailing review, which contributed to the reduction of failures.

The purpose of this paper is to examine leadership behaviors associated with lean healthcare (LH) implementation and how they develop throughout the change process.

After a systematic literature review of 107 peer-reviewed articles on lean leaders’ behaviors, the authors undertook a one-year mixed-methods study of 12 leaders within a Brazilian public hospital undergoing LH implementation. Multivariate data analysis techniques were employed.

The literature review showed some convergence between effective lean leader behaviors in both manufacturing and healthcare work settings, implying that lean leaders’ behaviors are generalizable to other contexts than manufacturing. The empirical findings suggest that LH implementation needs leaders to demonstrate a set of task-oriented behaviors, especially if short-term results are mandatory. More mature lean leaders should also continue developing their relations-oriented behaviors.

While the contingency theory assumes that contexts influence (lean) practices adoption, leadership behaviors may not be bound to the work context. The finding resembles the augmentation effect of leadership whereby more mature lean leaders adopt both task- and relations-oriented behaviors.

Longitudinal studies in this field are scarce, regardless of the industrial setting. Many manufacturing and healthcare organizations crave for knowledge about lean leader behaviors throughout the lean implementation journey in order to enhance the effectiveness of their often-struggling lean initiatives. The insights derived from this study could help organizations to adjust their expectations as well as identify behavioral gaps and needs in terms of soft skills development among their leaders.

This study aims to evaluate the extent to which similar team mental models (TMMs) at the beginning of a team's lifecycle influence the level of relationship conflict within the team, TMM-similarity at the middle of the team lifecycle, and in turn team effectiveness. Thus far, no research has analysed the mediating role of a dysfunctional team process between TMM-similarity and effectiveness.

The study was conducted in a strategy and management competition involving 414 individuals who comprised 92 teams (3-5 members). Data were collected at four moments in time. The questionnaires were developed based on validated scales and adapted for the specific context.

The results provide support for the mediating role of conflict between the similarity of team-TMMs at the beginning of team lifecycle and effectiveness. The results also provide support for the mediating role of task-TMMs in the middle of team lifecycle between task-TMMs at the beginning of team lifecycle and effectiveness. Findings suggest that teams with more similar TMMs, experience less relationship conflict which in turn improves effectiveness.

In this study TMM-accuracy was not analysed. Future research should analyse the role of TMM similarity and accuracy. Further, future research should explore the optimal level of TMM-similarity and when the similarity of TMM is disruptive to teams.

This paper sheds light on the role of conflict as a dysfunctional team process between TMM-similarity and effectiveness. Moreover, this paper shows that more research on TMM evolution is needed.

The purpose of this paper is to study the nonlinear impact of quality dimensions of third-party logistics (3PL) services on customer satisfaction and loyalty.

By interviewing 167 small-size companies, and using penalty and reward contrast analysis, the paper explores the nonlinear impact of seven dimensions of 3PL services (safety, fault’s recovery, reliability, speed, flexibility, communication, and friendliness) on customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The results confirm the existence of the dimensions’ nonlinear impact on customer satisfaction. It also shows that some quality dimensions have a direct and nonlinear impact on loyalty. The dimension “friendliness” has a direct impact on loyalty if the company has a below market average performance, which may lead customers to switch service providers. “Flexibility on collection and delivery” has a direct impact if the company has a higher performance, contributing to customers’ intention to continue using the service. Another finding is that, if the company delivers good service recovery after the customer found faults in the service, and if customers trust the company service, they say they intend to continue to work with the company.

The present research focused only on small companies in one country (Brazil). Further studies should be carried out to explore different countries, with different realities, and different size of companies.

3PL companies should not only deal with customers’ satisfaction, but also with other quality aspects that directly affect customer intention to continue doing business with the 3PL service provider. These are friendliness, flexibility regarding time and frequency of collection and delivery and faults’ recovery.

The present research confirms that the personal relationship is a crucial aspect to be managed in order to keep customers in the long term. In addition, as opposed to most research looking for the antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty of 3PL customers, the present research shows that there is a direct nonlinear impact of the dimensions’ performance on customers’ loyalty, what should be taken in consideration by 3PL managers. It also shows how penalty-reward contrast analysis may reveal nonlinear antecedents that could be used for better understandings companies’ success in the long term.