Electronics: The new revolution

Electronics has produced a succession of remarkable accomplishments within the lifetime of living men. Yet, new developments in the field are so vast and exciting that they may be viewed as the advent of an Electronic Revolution comparable to the Industrial Revolution.     

The coming alliance revolution in health care

Like it or not, the health care profession is being "shifted" into a revolutionary new world. The question is not will it change but rather how will it change? Who will determine its fate? What form will these changes take? What are the best alternatives for physicians, institutions, health care workers, insurers, employers, and, most importantly, patients? Some of the changes will come from government mandate, others from market forces. To understand what the future might bring, we should look at both the driving forces behind the changes and how other industries have responded to similar forces. An important consideration for health care professionals will be how, if at all, the concepts of collaboration and cooperation that are inherent in networking and alliances will guide their planning.     

The retromarketing revolution: l'imagination au pouvoir

Marketing is in the throes of a retromarketing revolution. This review examines the nature and implications of marketing's post-nostalgic leanings. It draws upon the work of leading cultural theorists Walter Benjamin and Fredric Jameson to contend that retro is an invitation to reconceptualize the field. The future of the marketing concept involves abandoning customer focus and reverting to re-production orientation.     

钱袋子如何“革命”

一个国家的财政史是惊心动魄的，如果你读它，看到的不仅是经济的发展，而是社会结构和公平正义的程度。 ——温家宝     

The managed care world order. The revolution is here

What are the belief clashes caused by the shift from a fee-for-service medical setting to a managed care environment? Right now, most physicians are enculturated in the old world order that emphasizes physician autonomy, control, security, and specialness. Physicians feel squeezed--by third-party payers wanting to be involved in the decision-making process of care delivery and by a new focus on teams versus the captain of the ship role. When traditional expectations clash with a changing reality, most people feel stressed. Physicians are no exception. If physicians have clear and realistic expectations, they can better cope with the uncertainties they face. And, the only realistic expectation in the medical profession is increasing uncertainty. Here are 10 predictions of what is happening in the health care industry--a list of the belief clashes that are so unsettling to those practicing medicine.     

Rank Xerox--management revolution

For 20 years Rank Xerox dominated the photocopier market until the Japanese entered the market in the late 1970s. Rank Xerox responded to the competitive challenge by instituting competitive benchmarking, and subsequently the Leadership Through Quality Strategy. The author describes the changes in the management philosophy and the organizational structure which enabled Rank Xerox to win back market share from the Japanese. Rank Xerox is now market led with sharp customer focus. It is strongly business led and has a team working culture to support it.     

The British boardroom: Time for a revolution?

This paper establishes a profile of executive directors who control and implement strategy within the boardroom of Britain's largest companies. It will argue that many of the observed characteristics fail to match those necessary to effect successful economic performance within a scenario of low market growth and structural change.     

The service sector revolution: the automation of services

This paper describes the service sector revolution in the United States and covers the automation of 10 U.S. service industries. It discusses the implications of the simultaneous automation of goods and services and suggests action required to smooth the transition for the worker as the United States becomes an automated society.     

The revolution in retailing: from market driven to market driving

The first image aroused by ‘retailing’ for many of us, especially those of us who are somewhat older, is that of the corner grocery store. Not so long ago retailing was, and it still is in some parts of the world, a fragmented, local, unsophisticated, traditional business run by vulnerable owner-operators. Yet, here we are talking about a revolution in retailing. Why? What has changed? Fundamentally retailers have grown up over the past 25 years into large, global, technology-intensive, powerful, fast-growth corporations managing their own brands. Several retailers have become the darlings of their stock markets. Hennes and Mauritz, the specialty clothing retailer, has been the top performer on the Stockholm Stock Exchange over the past 10 years. Royal Ahold in the Netherlands, Home Depot and Wal-Mart in the Unìted States, Carrefour in France and Marks and Spencer in the United Kingdom have generated spectacular returns for their stockholders. How have they done this? The leading retailers through consolidation, global expansion, technology push and innovative formats, among other approaches outlined in Figure 1, have been ‘market driving’ rather than ‘market driven.’ They have shaped consumer behavior, transformed the market place, and redefined the rules of engagement with their competitors and suppliers.     

The information revolution: opportunities and pitfalls for patients and providers

The Information Revolution is changing everything in our world. Although this era is developing and evolving, some have described networks, globalization, diffusion of power away from professionals, and information overload as direct results of the Information Revolution. These megatrends are affecting every person and every organization in the world, and this article examines them to see how they might affect medicine and the delivery of health care in the millennium. What is truly significant about the changes brought about by the creation of cyberspace is that through computers, digitized information can be inexpensively and quickly transmitted anywhere in the world. Many of the traditional ethical and professional standards of medicine are feeling the strain of being applied to the strange, unfamiliar world-cyberconsultations and other virtual medical applications are explored. Physicians who understand this revolution will have a far better chance of controlling their destinies--and more importantly, aiding their patients in the quest for good health.     

Health care technology. Evolution toward revolution

The assessment process has a significant effect on the development and diffusion of any new technology. An assessment during the infancy of a new technology may have to be updated as more experience and data accumulate and change the analysis of the technology's safety and effectiveness. An outdated assessment can result in inappropriate utilization either by hindering diffusion of a valuable technology or by promoting utilization of an inappropriate technology. Those who conduct technology assessments must recognize that technologies have life cycles of their own.     

Who lost the health care revolution?

Just a year ago, in the March-April 1989 issue of Harvard Business Review, Professor Regina E. Herzlinger of the Harvard Business School took a long look at the U.S. health care system and declared the much touted revolution in the health care delivery system a failure. This article is a summary of the arguments that Professor Herzlinger marshaled for her treatise. In the following two articles, members of the College assess those arguments in terms of the medical management profession and in terms of the organizations, a hospital and a managed care company, for which they work. Finally, Professor Herzlinger returns to the subject with a response to these physician executives.     

E-patients and the online health care revolution

Check out the latest statistics on the number of patients seeking health care advice on the Internet. Learn what your patients are looking for and what they find.     

Why we need a revolution in strategic planning

The author uses a metaphorical concept of Newtonian planning in an Einsteinian environment to express the predicament facing planners in an environment subject to sudden and unpredictable change. The conventional ‘Newtonian’ approach assumes a sense of order and control whereas the current environment is turbulent, disordered and potentially out of control. He makes recomendations for strategic planners that accept the limitations of existing and foreseeable analytical techniques.     

The five stages of managed care. Strategies for physicians in health care's market revolution

What are the five stages of managed care? From "Can't Spell HMO" to Managed Cooperation, each stage has predictable market events and strategic responses. At every stage, a new set of relationships evolves among the major players, including physicians and hospitals, HMOs and insurers, and employers and government. At each higher level of managed care penetration, the players restructure their relationships as they seek to control their market and their destiny.     

Management revolution in the age of the new economy

In the age of the new economy a management has evolved, including management ideology, learning organization, team work, incentive of all the staff, cooperative competition, and strategic alliances. The concept of this new management did not appear all of a sudden. It evolved from the traditional, profound thought of management culture and the traditional Chinese management culture in particular. The principles of the new economy are in accord with ancient Eastern philosophy. Management culture in the East and that in the West have been gradually integrated with one another. The Eastern management culture has undergone a period of spreading to the West and returning to the East. Management scholars throughout the world have noted and paid attention to the traditional Chinese management culture, whose quintessence is human orientation, moral priority, and behavioral cultivation by self-discipline (or ren wei wei ren). It is not only a new way of thinking about modern management behavior but also a manifestation of the successful adoption of the philosophical thoughts of ancient China into the age of networks.     

After the revolution: the physician executive of the future

There is a revolution in health care occurring in our midst. The roots of this revolution are explored. The physician executive of the future will need a new set of skills because the health care system will change. This new, evolving set of skills includes being: Savvy about business; simultaneously employer- and customer-focused; and technologically driven. This manager must be a team builder rather than a lone ranger. These skills are learnable, just like piloting a plane or doing a surgery. None of us was born with the skill to practice medicine any more than we were born with business skills. While many physicians are depressed by the present health care climate, feeling a loss of power and a loss in spirit, the vision of the physician manager must carry them and the organizations they build forward through uncharted waters to a future which is every bit as exciting as our past.