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Economists seem to be studying every nook and cranny of the field of medical care, from cost‐benefit analyses of medical technology to economies of scale in hospital size, the utilisation of non‐physician personnel to render care, the effects of pre‐paid financing and care systems, and so on, across an apparently highly divergent range of concerns. Obviously, what these studies have in common is their general subject, ‘medical care financing delivery, and utilisation’, But do they represent only a patchwork approach to understanding the economic features of the ‘real’ system of producing and consuming medical care, or are they somehow systematically, if not always clearly, related to each other? It is argued here that what seems to be a random, unrelated set of studies are indeed closely unified: and together they comprise an integrated analysis of the broad sector of medical care economics.

New techniques are required to link 3D whole body scans to manufacturing techniques to allow for the mass‐customization of clothes. This study aims to compare two methods of producing skirts based on 3D whole body scans.

Three females participated in the study. They were scanned with an accurate 3D whole body scanner. A set of relevant 1D measures was automatically derived from the 3D scan. The measures were incorporated in a skirt pattern and the skirt was made from jeans material. The second method was based on triangulation of the scanned waist‐to‐hip part. The points in the 3D scan were first converted to triangles and these triangles were thereafter merged with neighboring triangles of similar orientation until about 40 triangles remained. These triangles were sewn together to form a “patchwork”‐skirt. All females performed fit tests afterwards.

The fit of the 3D‐generated patchwork skirt was much better than the fit of the skirt generated by the 1D scan‐derived measures. In the latter case, two of the three skirts were too wide because the scan‐derived hip circumference exceeded the manually derived values. For the 3D generated skirt, it was necessary to enlarge the triangles with a factor of 1.025 to achieve optimal fit.

As far as is known, this is the first study that reports a direct conversion of a 3D scan to clothing without interference of clothing patterns. The study shows that it is possible to generate a fitting patchwork skirt based on 3D scans; the intermediate step of using 1D measures derived from 3D scans is shown to be error‐prone.

This chapter analyses the different ways in which metal album covers draw upon medieval media. The analysis is situated within the broad theoretical frame of intermediality, and more specifically view the process where medieval media cross the borders and find their way into metal album covers as media transformation. Four different types of media transformation are analysed, and it is argued that the medievalism of album covers can be defined in terms of media transformation. Likewise, neomedievalism is defined in terms of second-order media transformation. The album cover is described as a media patchwork, and the chapter gives examples of the patches in terms of relationship and properties.

As proposed by Brandenburger and Nalebuff (1996), the concept of coopetition which highlights the coexistence of both collaborative and competitive forces in interorganizational settings aims to provide a new way of thinking for accelerating the innovation process and generating greater value. However, despite such recognitions, our understanding about how coopetition can help facilitate the innovation process in small and medium enterprises is rather limited. This should warrant a separate stream of research on this issue. Drawing on the concept of effectuation, we will explore the coopetitive innovation process in entrepreneurial firms. Sarasvathy (2001) proposed five principles embedded in the effectuation decision-making process of entrepreneurship. This process starts with a given set of means and controllable goals, followed by interactions with other stakeholders until they are all committed. The final stage leads to the creation of new products and services. The first two stages, means and goals, are the preparation stage in which an entrepreneurial firm distinguishes itself from large established corporations and establishes a base to leverage its contingency according to existing means and acceptable losses. After that, the effectuation process enters into the interaction and commitment stage during which the firm seeks relationships with stakeholders. We argue that the coopetitive forces can appear in the interaction and commitment stages to enlarge and capture value for the entrepreneurial firm involved.

The purpose of this study is to explore the elements of the Marwari business community’s sociocultural context, which influence entrepreneurial behaviour. The entrepreneurial behaviour of the Marwari community is interrogated in the context of the wider indigenous entrepreneurship literature.

The study adopts a qualitative approach in exploring the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and effectual entrepreneurial behaviour of a sample of Marwari entrepreneurs. An exploratory, qualitative content analysis method was adopted to highlight the emerging insights into traditional entrepreneurship.

The study identifies unique, traditional Marwari behavioural constructs such as Sakh and Samai and the role it plays in trust-based business relationships. Overall, the study finds that although the Marwari practices and ecosystem enable a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial and business process, they do not facilitate creative innovation or entrepreneurial experimentation as seen within modern start-up incubation ecosystems.

The study took a conscious decision to restrict further data collection upon saturation and used a purposeful sampling technique to increase the richness of this study rather than enlarge the sample and dilute the quality of the data.

The study identifies nuances of Marwari’s traditional practices that have come to determine their effectual tendencies that support business growth and sustainability. The study, however, finds that the restrictiveness of the Marwari ecosystem practices on fluency of doing business rather than creative innovation and thought experimentation risks the longevity of the traditional ecosystem advantage enjoyed by the Marwaris for centuries.

The study broadens the understanding of the uniqueness of traditional business communities, which are comparatively marginalized in mainstream entrepreneurship research. Via this study, it is seen that the Marwari form of entrepreneurship is collectivist rather than individualist in nature, which differentiates them from their Western counterparts. This helps to explain why entrepreneurs tend to behave differently; hence, achieving a universal definition of entrepreneurship remains a challenge.

While the relationship between the sociocultural aspects of communities and their entrepreneurial behaviour is known, the role of the constituent elements of the Marwari sociocultural context and influence on business is unclear. This study takes the lead in identifying such elements of the Marwari sociocultural construct and argues how these elements can play a role in the Marwaris demonstrating tendencies of effectual behaviour.

Through the example of a “regulatory ranking” – an index produced with the aim to regulate the pharmaceutical market by pushing companies in the direction of providing greater access to medicine in developing countries – this chapter focuses on indexing and ranking as infrastructural processes which inscribe global problem spaces as unfolding actionable territories for market intervention. It foregrounds the “Indexal thinking” which structures and informs regulatory rankings – their aspiration to align the interests of different stakeholders and to entice competition among the ranked companies. The authors detail the infrastructural work through which such ambitions are enacted, detailing processes of infrastructural layering/collage and patchwork through which analysts naturalize/denaturalize various contested categories in the ranking’s territory. They reflect on the consequences of such attempts at reconfiguring global topologies for the problems these governance initiatives seek to address.

We examine the emergence of an organizational form, charter schools, in Oakland, California. We link field-level logics to organizational founding identities using topic modeling. We find corporate and community founding actors create distinct and consistent identities, whereas more peripheral founders indulge in more unique identity construction. We see the settlement of the form into a stable ecosystem with multiple identity codes rather than driving toward a single organizational identity. The variety of identities that emerge do not always map onto field-level logics. This has implications for the conditions under which organizational innovation and experimentation within a new form may develop.

This chapter explains how the idea of this book occurred, and introduces readers to Tierney's multidimensional framework for global meaning making. It describes the organization and structure of the book and the contents of each chapter and calls on readers to transform international language and literacy research through global meaning making.

In this brief essay, I will describe the compatibility of a postmodern turn in sociology and the symbolic interactionist approach to the study of music in everyday life. This compatibility is reflected in the work and career of musical artist Matisyahu, as illustrated by the concept of pastiche. The interaction among the three dimensions of image, music, and religious ideology in Matisyahu’s work operationalizes this concept. The primary resources for this analysis include Matisyahu’s recorded music; an interview conducted with him by The Times of Israel in which he explains his personal transition from the Labuvitch movement to the Modern Orthodox Movement and how this transition affected his music; and my attendance at four of his concerts in Central Texas. Pastiche refers to “a free-floating, crazy quilt, collage, hodgepodge patchwork of ideas or views. It includes elements of opposites such as the old and new. It denies regularity, logic or symmetry; it glories in contradiction and confusion” (Rosenau, 1991, xiii). I conclude with a brief pedagogical argument on how to expand the use of music to explain complex sociological theory and social phenomena. By highlighting theoretical concepts through music, we can ground new and complex ideas in lived experiences and engage students with a topic that is grounded in their daily life experience.