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1 – 10 of 60This paper examines the role of government procurement as a social policy mechanism within a multilateral open trading system. Government regulations globally are being…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the role of government procurement as a social policy mechanism within a multilateral open trading system. Government regulations globally are being transformed to foster more responsible business conduct in multinational enterprises (MNEs). Yet, concern that sustainability may present a discriminatory barrier to trade has stalled the progress of sustainable public procurement (SPP) at the international level, raising questions regarding the role and scope of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) to align taxpayer-funded contracts with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals.
Design/methodology/approach
With a focus on social sustainability, this paper reviews the grey and academic literature to assess the changing landscape of public procurement policy and supply chain legislation in high-income countries.
Findings
Frontrunner nations are adopting a mandatory approach to sustainable public procurement and due diligence legislation is elevating supply chain risk from reputational damage to legal liability. While technological innovation and the clean, green production of manufactured goods dominates the sustainable public procurement literature, the social aspects of sustainability poverty, inequality and human rights remain underrepresented.
Research limitations/implications
The scope of this paper is limited to the examination of government procurement covered by the WTO-GPA (2012). Smaller value contracts, under the WTO-GPA thresholds and the category of defence are beyond the scope of the paper.
Social implications
The paper focusses on the underserved topic of social sustainability in business-to-government (B2G) – business to government – supply chains arguing that for responsible business conduct to become a competitive advantage, it must be more meaningfully rewarded on the demand-side of all taxpayer-funded contracts in organisation for economic co-operation and development countries. The paper introduces the idea of priceless procurement as a mechanism to build system capacity in the evaluation of non-financial sustainability objectives.
Originality/value
To build the capacity to stimulate competition based on social and environmental policy objectives, the paper introduces the concept of priceless procurement in B2G contracts.
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Ada Kwan, Rachel Sklar, Drew B. Cameron, Robert C. Schell, Stefano M. Bertozzi, Sandra I. McCoy, Brie Williams and David A. Sears
This study aims to characterize the June 2020 COVID-19 outbreak at San Quentin California State Prison and to describe what made San Quentin so vulnerable to uncontrolled…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to characterize the June 2020 COVID-19 outbreak at San Quentin California State Prison and to describe what made San Quentin so vulnerable to uncontrolled transmission.
Design/methodology/approach
Since its onset, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the profound health harms of carceral settings, such that nearly half of state prisons reported COVID-19 infection rates that were four or more times (and up to 15 times) the rate found in the state’s general population. Thus, addressing the public health crises and inequities of carceral settings during a respiratory pandemic requires analyzing the myriad factors shaping them. In this study, we reported observations and findings from environmental risk assessments during visits to San Quentin California State Prison. We complemented our assessments with analyses of administrative data.
Findings
For future respiratory pathogens that cannot be prevented with effective vaccines, this study argues that outbreaks will no doubt occur again without robust implementation of additional levels of preparedness – improved ventilation, air filtration, decarceration with emergency evacuation planning – alongside addressing the vulnerabilities of carceral settings themselves.
Originality/value
This study addresses two critical aspects that are insufficiently covered in the literature: how to prepare processes to safely implement emergency epidemic measures when needed, such as potential evacuation, and how to address unique challenges throughout an evolving pandemic for each carceral setting.
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Sarah Samuelson, Ann Svensson, Irene Svenningsson and Sandra Pennbrant
To meet future healthcare needs, primary care is undergoing a transformation in which innovations and new ways of working play an important role. However, successful innovations…
Abstract
Purpose
To meet future healthcare needs, primary care is undergoing a transformation in which innovations and new ways of working play an important role. However, successful innovations depend on joint learning and rewarding collaborations between healthcare and other stakeholders. This study aims to explore how learning develops when entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals and older people collaborate in a primary care living lab.
Design/methodology/approach
The study had an action research design and was conducted at a clinically embedded living lab at a primary care centre on the west coast of Sweden. Data consisted of e-mail conversations, recordings from design meetings and three group interviews with each party (entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals and older people). Data were analysed with inductive qualitative content analysis.
Findings
An overarching theme, “To share each other’s worlds in an arranged space for learning”, was found, followed by three categories, “Prerequisites for learning”, “Strategies to achieve learning” and “To learn from and with each other”. These three categories comprise eight subcategories.
Originality/value
This research contributes to knowledge regarding the need for arranged spaces for learning and innovation in primary care and how collaborative learning can contribute to the development of practice.
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Jeannette Oppedisano and Sandra Lueder
NEJE Editors interview Cindi Bigelow: director of activities at Bigelow Tea
Blanca Suarez-Bilbao, Maike Andresen, Marian Crowley-Henry and Edward P. O'Connor
Externalities influence the career trajectories of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) and their respective career crafting. This study aims to explore the international career…
Abstract
Purpose
Externalities influence the career trajectories of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) and their respective career crafting. This study aims to explore the international career crafting of SIEs (encompassing their proactive career reflection and construction), taking the combined external influences of complexity, chance and change into consideration.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ a qualitative (interpretative) approach, combining career crafting and the chaos theory of careers (CTC) to further understand, from an individual standpoint, the impact of externalities on the career crafting strategies of 24 SIEs who have relocated within the European Union.
Findings
The authors show that SIEs' proactively craft their careers to varying degrees and with varying frequency. The CTC – incorporating complexity, chance and change – allows for a more nuanced understanding of SIEs' career crafting.
Originality/value
This paper applies the concept of career crafting to an international context, exploring the impact of externalities on SIEs' careers. In this way, the authors combine two previously separate theories, extend the application of career crafting to an international career context and emphasise the role of temporality and the whole-life view of career in SIEs’ career crafting approach.
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Lyndsay M.C. Hayhurst, Holly Thorpe and Megan Chawansky