The future of competition: Co-creating unique value with customers

The article presents a review of the book "The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value With Customers," by C. K. Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy

Steatosis: Co-factor in other liver diseases

The prevalence of fatty liver is rising in association with the global increase in obesity and type 2 diabetes. In the past, simple steatosis was regarded as benign, but the presence of another liver disease may provide a synergistic combination of steatosis, cellular adaptation, and oxidative damage that aggravates liver injury. In this review, a major focus is on the role of steatosis as a co-factor in chronic hepatitis C (HCV), where the mechanisms promoting fibrosis and the effect of weight reduction in minimizing liver injury have been most widely studied. Steatosis, obesity, and associated metabolic factors may also modulate the response to alcohol- and drug-induced liver disease and may be risk factors for the development of hepatocellular cancer. The pathogenesis of injury in obesity-related fatty liver disease involves a number of pathways, which are currently under investigation. Enhanced oxidative stress, increased susceptibility to apoptosis, and a dysregulated response to cellular injury have been implicated, and other components of the metabolic syndrome such as hyperinsulinernia and hyperglycemia are likely to have a role. Fibrosis also may be increased as a by-product of altered hepatocyte regeneration and activation of bipotential hepatic progenitor cells. In conclusion, active management of obesity and a reduction in steatosis may improve liver injury and decrease the progression of fibrosis.

Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia: An example of the co-existence of significant marine mammal populations and large-scale coastal development

Recent analyses assert that large marine vertebrates such as marine mammals are now 'functionally or entirely extinct in most coastal ecosystems'. Moreton Bay is a large diverse marine ecosystem bordering the fastest growing area in Australia. The human population is over 1.6 million and increasing yearly by between 10% and 13% with resultant impacts upon the adjoining marine environment. Nonetheless, significant populations of three species of marine mammals are resident within Moreton Bay and a further 14 species are seasonal or occasional visitors. This paper reviews the current and historical distributions and abundance of these species in the context of the current management regime and suggests initiatives to increase the resilience of marine mammal populations to the changes wrought by the burgeoning human population in coastal environments. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The co-evolutionary dynamics of IS engagement

In this paper we consider the co-evolutionary dynamics of IS engagement where episodic change of implementation increasingly occurs within the context of linkages and interdependencies between systems and processes within and across organisations. Although there are many theories that interpret the various motors of change be it lifecycle, teleological, dialectic or evolutionary, our paper attempts to move towards a unifying view of change by studying co-evolutionary dynamics from a complex systems perspective. To understand how systems and organisations co-evolve in practice and how order emerges, or fails to emerge, we adopt complex adaptive systems theory to incorporate evolutionary and teleological motors, and actor-network theory to incorporate dialectic motors. We illustrate this through the analysis of the implementation of a novel academic scheduling system at a large research-intensive Australian university.

Human resource strategy:introducing a new management typology to make change stick

Human resource management (HRM) is now being seen as a strategic activity. This recognises that change processes must include the management of human resources as part of an integrated approach to strategy. Without also linking management development and business strategy, change will not stick and organisations will not develop. Contributing to the debate about integrating HR and other strategies, including linking management development and business strategy, this paper develops a new Generic Management Typology of co-existing management philosophies in order to help change agents diagnose the culture of an organisation and to modify that culture. The typology is derived from reflecting on research about the global transformation of public service organisations over the last twenty-five years.

A simulation of a workflow management system

Suggests that simulation of the workflow component of a computer supported co-operative work (CSCW) system has the potential to reduce the costs of system implementation, while at the same time improving the quality of the delivered system. Demonstrates the value of being able to assess the frequency and volume of workflow transactions using a case study of CSCW software developed for estate agency co-workers in which a model was produced based on a discrete-event simulation approach with implementation on a spreadsheet platform.

Using knowledge management to drive performance

Organisations are gathering ever more information, but are less good at analysing it and utilising the resultant knowledge for improved performance. Here Paul Collier, co-author of research on the subject, discusses how finance can help improve matters.

Making a journey in knowledge management strategy

This paper reports results from an ongoing project examining what managers think about knowledge management in the context of their organisation. This was done in a facilitated computerassisted group workshop environment. Here we compare the outcomes of workshops held for two relatively large UK organisations, one public sector and the other private. Our conclusions are that there are relatively few differences between the perceptions of these two groups of managers, and that these differences stem more from the stage of the knowledge management life cycle that the two organisations have reached, rather than from the difference in context between public and private sector. © iKMS & World Scientific Publishing Co.