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This paper links supply chain risk management to medicine supply chains to explore the role of policymakers in employing supply chain risk management strategies (SCRMS) to reduce generic medicine shortages.

Using secondary data supplemented with primary data, the authors map and compare seven countries' SCRMS for handling shortage risks in their paracetamol supply chains before and during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consistent with recent research, the study finds that policymakers had implemented few SCRMS specifically for responding to disruptions caused by COVID-19. However, shortages were largely avoided since multiple strategies for coping with business-as-usual disruptions had been implemented prior to the pandemic. The authors did find that SCRMS implemented during COVID-19 were not always aligned with those implemented pre-pandemic. The authors also found that policymakers played both direct and indirect roles.

Combining longitudinal secondary data with interviews sheds light on how, regardless of the level of preparedness during normal times, SCRMS can be leveraged to avert shortages in abnormal times. However, the problem is highly complex, which warrants further research.

Supply chain professionals and policymakers in the healthcare sector can use the findings when developing preparedness and response plans.

The insights developed can help policymakers improve the availability of high-volume generic medicines in (ab)normal times.

The authors contribute to prior SCRM research in two ways. First, the authors operationalize SCRMS in the medicine supply chain context in (ab)normal times, thereby opening avenues for future research on SCRM in this context. Second, the authors develop insights on the role policymakers play and how they directly implement and indirectly influence the adoption of SCRMS. Based on the study findings, the authors develop a framework that captures the diverse roles of policymakers in SCRM.

Online social networks (OSNs) offer organisations direct access to a plethora of information about their networks of connections and provide the means by which to create two‐way, business‐to‐consumer (B2C), information channels. Instead of traditional impersonal and one‐direction advertising, organisations can establish a personal and two‐way communication medium, by accepting members and having friends on these platforms. This paper aims to discuss the phenomenon of OSNs, and in particular Facebook, and examine whether they can be employed by small businesses as a resource for growth and adding value.

A case study is presented that examines how a small business in New Zealand, specialising in the distribution of products that help babies and toddlers sleep through the night, has adopted Facebook as a tool for engaging with its largely stay‐at‐home customer base. This examination of The Sleep Store is an impartial study based on findings collected over a period of several months, via a series of interviews supplemented by telephone conversations and e‐mail exchanges, with representatives from the case organisation.

The Sleep Store's adoption of Facebook was found to offer the business both direct and indirect value. That is direct value, based on the value of transactions, quantified by the increase in turnover experienced through connecting with new customers, and organisational growth; and the indirect value of word‐of‐mouth, positive recommendations and the relative influence that Facebook community members exert on each other, which enable valuable new insights to be made into their business ecosystem.

While the adoption of Facebook in this instance has been found to be an undoubted success it does not, however, suggest that such impressive results would necessarily be expected by all small businesses adopting Facebook in this way. The nature of this business, and their customer base, are an important contributing factor to the overall success of this project.

The findings of this study highlight potential opportunities for small businesses adopting Facebook as an additional sales channel or tool for leveraging new information about their market.

This is original academic research, designed to make a valuable contribution to the growing body of literature, on how small businesses are benefiting from the availability of OSNs.

This paper reports on an evaluation of the ‘Hy Vong Moi’ (New Hope) program aimed at providing emotional, physical and cultural support to new parents of Vietnamese origin living in the Greater Dandenong area, Melbourne, Australia, and who are experiencing problems relating to drug use within their families. Six young Australian Vietnamese women participated in the program. Data were collected via questionnaires, focus groups, diaries and the case worker’s journal. Analysis was ongoing in keeping with a participatory research approach. All the women who participated in the program, involving the setting up of a parents/mothers playgroup as well as provision of education and support, reported very positively on the program. All agreed that the formal help they received had made an enormous difference in their lives and was assisting them to integrate into Australian culture with potentially positive benefits for their children. The additional support through the parents/mothers playgroup allowed formation of new friendships, the sharing of experiences and the acquisition of new skills, including parenting skills. All wanted the program and the parents/mothers playgroup to continue as a means of providing further assistance to them and others.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of Web 2.0-based social media for investor relations (IR), in the Middle Eastern (ME) context. IR is one of the under-researched topics of the corporate reporting subject area. This study seeks to contribute by investigating social media for IR in a ME context. It researches the perceptions of corporations, and individual and institutional investors regarding the phenomenon of social media for IR, given the particular cultural context. A conceptual model guiding future research is developed out of the analyzed data.

The research approach is qualitative and exploratory in nature, as the aim is to analyze perceptions and opinions of participants, in order to develop a theoretical argument based on these. To this end, the study employs a qualitative methodology and interview data collection. Data are analyzed using qualitative research coding styles.

Primary findings are encompassed in the theoretical framework, which theorises the adoption of social media for investor relation in particular but addresses voluntary corporate reporting in general. The study determines that there are various factors that support and hinder adoption, such as willingness to adopt social media for IR and potential risks and benefit, and that there are anticipated outcomes, such as improved communications between investors and corporations and a related power adjustment. The new element regarding IR that transpired out of the current study is the notion of investor empowerment and the directly related fear of lack, or essentially loss, of control.

The ME societies are very interested in social media applications, and utilize these in a broad range of their daily work and private activities. IR, as part of voluntary reporting, have been subject of recent debate, as little guidance is available and corporations’ practices vary. The current study highlights these factors in a largely under-researched market, the ME, and focuses a broader knowledge contribution based on the current findings. Finally, the concept of power is investigated in both its conventional and postmodern sense.

Perinatal drug users are a marginalized group at risk of depression and parenting stress. This study aims to inform service development by determining key components needed to reduce depression among this population by triangulating data from qualitative interviews with service users and their care providers.

Pre and post natal in‐depth qualitative interviews with drug users attending a specialist antenatal clinic in Melbourne, Australia, and their care providers were conducted; and an email survey of experts was undertaken. Twenty‐eight interviews were conducted and the views of ten experts were received. Data from these sources were triangulated to determine the key components of an intervention to reduce depression among perinatal drug users.

There was high concordance among data sources. Key service components identified were: case management; extended postnatal care; access to mental health services and drug treatment including relapse prevention; parenting support, and housing support. Judgmental attitudes from healthcare staff and the fear of child protection may be barriers to accessing services.

The study findings are limited by the small sample size.

Services should be enhanced in pregnancy and the early parenting years to build a service model that incorporates the key components identified in this study and supported in the literature.

The originality and value of this study is that it determines the key service components needed to reduce depression among perinatal drug users by triangulating their experiences and views, that of their care providers and expert opinion.