Clinical reengineering. Integrating medical and operational management

In the continuing push for cost containment in health care, many organizations have turned to cost reduction methods that fundamentally change the way care is delivered. As health care organizations continue to make financially-driven staffing changes that impact patient care, medical leadership must take on greater responsibility for operational management. Physician executives are uniquely qualified to take on leadership roles in work redesign, and must do so to ensure excellent and fiscally-responsible patient care. This article presents a proven methodology for work redesign that helps physician executives apply their clinical skills to operational management in designing new health care delivery models.     

Models for supply chain reengineering

The goal of this paper is to provide a first step in the development of a coherent set of modelling methods for supply chain reengineering. This paper shows that different fields of attention in supply chain management should be approached with different modelling methods. Three modelling methods are presented: the event process chain (EPC) method; the activity chain model (ACM) method; and the GRAI grid method (adjusted for supply chains). EPC modelling focuses on time relationships between primary processes/functions, and is customer oriented. ACM modelling focuses on functions/processes and information flows. GRAI focuses on decision structures and information flows. The three methods are described, and an application of the methods to a case study company is presented. This paper concludes with a comparison of the methods and a discussion of their applicability.     

DSS的建设和业务流程重组

本文通过对建设DSS所遇到的主要问题分析,研究存在DSS支持下的组织结构和业务流程,并提出在DSS开发加入组织设计和业务流程重组过程的重要性.     

A learning ladder toward efficiency: Proposing network-based stepwise benchmark selection

Starting from the knowledge-based view of efficiency improvement, we propose a network-based approach to find the optimal stepwise benchmarking paths toward the efficiency frontier. The approach treats the Data Envelopment Analysis system as a network of teaching and learning firms and calculates the overall shortest paths taking into account both input endowment similarity and the efficiency gap covered in each step. In addition, based on network centrality concepts, the method discriminates between efficient and intermediate units, and highlights possible outliers or specialized units. As a real-world example, the method is applied to a network of Canadian bank branches and practical implications are discussed.     

Developing a communication strategy.

Hardly a week passes in which a physician executive does not hear a plea for improved communication. This plea can also be heard periodically within every department and at all levels in health care organizations. Executives typically respond only to communication breakdowns. They initiate communication through memos, meetings, and, of course, the establishment of committees. The feeling may persist, however, that "something else" is needed and that, in spite of a significant executive effort, communication breaks down too often.     

A health strategy for Nigeria

Improving the quality, acceptance and innovation in plans developed for sectors of an economy is a critical concern to both administrators and management scientists. This article reviews the planning system for health in Nigeria and attempts to identify problems and prospects. Priority setting has been identified as a major bottleneck to the achievement of a wider health coverage to benefit the majority of the people. Recognition is given to the fact that emphasis has been misplaced in terms of budgetary allocation to health and the intra-sector allocation between curative, preventive and promotive health subsystems. Perhaps what is needed is the development of a HEALTH STRATEGY FOR NIGERIA. Community participation in setting health priorities and health education will speed up the process of achieving Health for All (HFA) by year 2000.     

A management strategy for information processing. 3—Management information requirements

In this, the third and final article in this series, the author examines the need for management to have access to ‘computing facilities’. He considers a middle road between the exercise of control and the flexible use of personal computers, and attempts to structure the basic needs of managers and professional staff for information Technology in its wider sense.     

A management strategy for information processing. 1—The Segas case

This is the first of three articles by the same author on Management Strategy for Information Processing. This article presents the Segas Case History and shows how if has tackled the implementation of Information Technology over the past 7 years. The second paper will discuss the methodology known as Business Systems Planning for assessing future computer requirements, and the third paper will examine the need for managements to have access to computing facilities.     

A strategy for third-party logistics systems: A case analysis using the blue ocean strategy

One of today's most frequently discussed topics in the business world is how to escape from the intense Red Ocean and how to create an uncontested Blue Ocean. However, because there are few practical guidelines available on this topic, we will introduce a case study of a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, CJ-Global Logistics Service (CJ-GLS), to show how it aspires to be a leader in the newly introduced 3PL industry in South Korea. CJ-GLS is a latecomer in the logistics industry, and its resources, such as the number of trucks and warehouses, are relatively small in comparison to those of established companies. But, it has achieved a distinct competitive advantage through innovative information technology (i.e., RFID—radio frequency identification), which has enabled it to create an uncontested market space, electronic logistics business. One remarkable fact about CJ-GLS is that its swift growth comes not from attracting competitors’ customers from the existing Red Ocean market but from creating a Blue Ocean market (3PL market), which previously existing incumbents ignored, and also from constructing a new business model founded on a RFID-based, ubiquitous-oriented 3PL system. Analyzed through a Four Actions Framework and characterized as Blue Ocean, this case study provides valuable information on how a company reinforces its competitive advantage from the Red Ocean while it transitions into a Blue Ocean by utilizing advanced information communication technologies.     

Computerization: reengineering the lawyering process for the 21st century

Alvin and Heidi Toffler, describe the benefits of "informationware" and how one of the most tradition-bound organizations, the armed forces, has substantially changed its operations. According to the authors, mere knowledge is not sufficient to prevail; how one manages or uses knowledge separates winners from losers. Further, the authors say "...basically add new elements or create new combinations of old elements within an existing 'game.' A true revolution goes beyond that to change the game itself, including its rules, its equipment, the size and organization of the 'teams,' their training, doctrine, tactics, and just about everything else. Even more important, it changes the relationship of the game to society itself." Application of this theory to today's litigation is obvious and compelling. The ways in which clients and defense counsel obtain, analyze, and strategically apply evidence and legal principles must change to incorporate the informationware this society uses in other lines of business. This means more extensive and appropriate usage of computer hardware in a software environment that fully supports emerging client and defense counsel needs. The computer system must provide case direction, helpful suggestions, and direct, rapid access to data bases containing information presently available only through person-to-person networking.     

Be positive--it's a necessary strategy.

The hallmarks of successful health care organizations include: A positive physician culture; meaningful physician involvement in governance and top management; and stability and strong community roots. Success is most likely where physicians in the facilities are having professional fun, where freedom from negativity allows them to perform at their highest level of quality. When a positive physician culture takes hold, remarkable things can occur. In the best scenarios, physicians are deeply involved in strategic direction, as well as in practice. They are part of making the decisions, instead of merely grumbling about decisions made by others. The column provides suggestions for creating a positive physician culture.     

A management strategy for information processing

This is the second of three articles on Management Strategy for Information Processing by this author. This paper discusses the methodology known as Business Systems Planning for assessing future computer systems requirements.     

A fundamental approach to strategy development

The problem of developing sound business strategy is probably more difficult now than it has been at any time since the war. In the midst of conflicting pressures of inflation, recession, unemployment, business failures, and social and political upheaval, today's businessman faces an environment which is both unfamiliar and uncertain. The lack of predictability concerning economic affairs can make it seem impossible to plan effectively for the future. Yet without sound strategy today, corporate survival itself may be called into question. What should be done?In this, the first of two articles, the author suggests that the key to strategy development now is to focus more than ever before on ‘fundamentals’. For the individual business, market share appears to be paramount, as is shown by the ‘experience curve effect’, a concept developed by the Boston Consulting Group in the course of its international work in advising companies on corporate strategy problems. Relative competitive position thus becomes the required simple but fundamental strategic goal. However, the quest for a superior market share must take place within the confines of an appropriately defined strategic business segment.In a further article in the February 1977 issue of LRP the author will go on to expand these conclusions concerning individual businesses, considering their implications for the sound development of strategy for the multi-business company.     

A practical approach to strategy development

This article deals with methodology, i.e. the principles of laying out effective methods for strategy development. It does not describe the multitude of relevant methods in detail but presents them in context, i.e. inasmuch as they are interconnected.     

我国大中型企业的信息结构重组研究

首先阐述了企业信息结构重组问题的由来 ,然后分析了重组过程中需要处理的关系 ,接下来重点剖析了我国企业信息结构重组的实例 ,最后提出了适合我国大中型企业信息结构重组的模型     

Towards 1992: A strategy for training

1992 is now 3 years away and much is now being spoken and written on the free market within Europe following the magic date. The need for businesses to think about a strategy for training to equip their staff to take advantage of the new opportunities is ever more important. Training has historically lived under the ‘stop-go’ policy. When business is good, we can afford training; when business is bad, training is the first to suffer. The author has tried to formulate a strategic approach to ensure people become conscious of the necessity of management involvement and commitment in training. The 1990s offer great potential to companies who direct activities to these opportunities, and those who meet the threat will be winners.     

A frame of reference for strategy development

Strategy development in today's volatile business environment demands increased management concern with fundamental issues which go beyond the balance sheet and the income statement to deal with the proper positioning of the corporation and its units to achieve long-term profitable survival. This is well understood. On the other hand, it is equally clear that management capacity—in terms of man hours of talent available—is the most important resource of any corporation and is also limited. In this article the authors set out to develop a frame of reference for analysing the corporation, its individual business and its competitors. Their objective is to provide management with the tools they need to deploy their creative entrepreneurial talent more efficiently by focusing on strategically relevant issues, using guidelines based on the ever-increasing body of research available today.     

The bike sharing rebalancing problem: Mathematical formulations and benchmark instances

Bike sharing systems offer a mobility service whereby public bicycles, located at different stations across an urban area, are available for shared use. These systems contribute towards obtaining a more sustainable mobility and decreasing traffic and pollution caused by car transportation. Since the first bike sharing system was installed in Amsterdam in 1965, the number of such applications has increased remarkably so that hundreds of systems are now operating all over the world.In a bike sharing system, users can take a bicycle from a station, use it to perform a journey and then leave it at a station, not necessarily the same one of departure. This behavior typically leads to a situation in which some stations become full and others are empty. Hence, a balanced system requires the redistribution of bicycles among stations.In this paper, we address the Bike sharing Rebalancing Problem (BRP), in which a fleet of capacitated vehicles is employed in order to re-distribute the bikes with the objective of minimizing total cost. This can be viewed as a special one-commodity pickup-and-delivery capacitated vehicle routing problem. We present four mixed integer linear programming formulations of this problem. It is worth noting that the proposed formulations include an exponential number of constraints, hence, tailor-made branch-and-cut algorithms are developed in order to solve them.The mathematical formulations of the BRP were first computationally tested using data obtained for the city of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Our computational study was then extended to include bike sharing systems from other parts of the world. The information derived from the study was used to build a set of benchmark instances for the BRP which we made publicly available on the web. Extensive experimentation of the branch-and-cut algorithms presented in this paper was carried out and an interesting computational comparison of the proposed mathematical formulations is reported. Finally, several insights on the computational difficulty of the problem are highlighted.     

A quick response production strategy to market demand

The reason for considering the quick response production strategy to market demand is due to the rapid technology change, which results in decreasing market price and obsolescence. This study considers a production strategy of locating final production line in response to the changes in market demand and the continuous deterioration in stock. The demand rate is assumed to decrease exponentially with time while the price is assumed to decrease linearly with time. The purpose of this study is to derive the most economical site of final-production line that assembles products with short life cycle. The model considered in this research takes into account the sales revenue, the deteriorating cost, the carrying cost, the variable cost and the fixed cost of production. Although there is a higher labour and material cost when the production site is located near market point, the total profit increases due to quicker responsive time, smaller import tax, lower inventory and lesser deteriorating cost.