Agri-food restructuring: A synthesis of recent Australian research

Globalizing tendencies within capitalism are leading to important alterations in the structure of agricultural production and the ways food companies are involving themselves in processing and marketing. Increasingly, finance capital and transnational agribusiness have sought ways to influence, and in some cases redirect, farming activities in Australia. The penetration of farming structures by corporate capital has been hastened by state deregulation. Rather than providing detailed empirical evidence, this paper presents a broad synthesis of recent Australian research with the aim of informing readers otherwise unaware of events in the Antipodes of the forms and impacts of agri-food change in Australia.

Continuity of care and readmission in two service systems: a comparative Victorian and Groningen case-register study

Objective: We compared service consumption, continuity of care and risk of readmission in a record linkage follow-up study of cohorts of patients with schizophrenia and related disorders in Victoria (Australia) and in Groningen (The Netherlands). These areas are interesting to compare because mental health care is in a different stage of deiustitutionalization. More beds are available in Groningen and more community resources are available in Victoria. Method: The cohorts were followed for 4 years, since discharge from inpatient services using record linkage data available in the psychiatric case-registers in both areas. Survival analysis was used to study continuity of care and risk of readmission. Results: Available indicators showed a higher level of continuity of care in Victoria. While the relative risk of readmission was the same in both areas and not affected by aftercare contact after discharge, the number of days spent in hospital was much higher in the Groningen register area. Conclusion: These findings provide further support for earlier reports that the risk of readmission is predominantly affected by attributes of mental illness. However, the duration of admissions, is strongly affected by service system variables, including the provision of continuity of care.

HIV infection among women admitted to the gynaecology service of a district hospital in South Africa

Our objective was to determine the prevalence of HIV infection and disease-specific HIV prevalence among women admitted to the gynaecology service of a district hospital in South Africa over a 3-month period in 1997. This was done with the goal of developing HIV education and counselling services in this setting. HIV status was determined among 196 (96%) of 205 consecutive admissions; 82 (42%) tested HIV positive. The HIV-infected women were younger than the HIV uninfected women (mean age 27 vs 33 years, P=0.001). The disease-specific HIV prevalence was greater than or equal to 40% among women who had had abortions, pelvic inflammatory disease, or ectopic pregnancy. The length of hospital stay (mean 5.4 days) and mortality (1%) were similar in the 2 groups. Inpatient gynaecology services may be act important setting in Africa, within which to provide HIV education, counselling and care.

Preliminary experiences with a single-patient trials service in general practice

Objective: To pilot a single-patient trials (SPTs) service in general practice, designed to improve decision-making about long-term medications for chronic conditions. Design: 12-week within-patient, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover comparison of ibuprofen with paracetamol for osteoarthritis, involving three pairs of two-week treatment periods for each participating patient. Setting and patients: Patients attending an academic general practice with a clinical diagnosis of osteoarthritis, with pain of at least a month's duration severe enough to warrant consideration of long-term non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use. Main outcome measures: Pain and stiffness; measures of overall arthritis compared with previous fortnight; preference for NSAID at the end of each two-week treatment period; use of escape analgesia; side effects; and management changes as a result of the SPTs. Results: Eight of 14 patients completed SPTs. One was a clear responder to NSAIDs, five were non-responders, and two were indefinite. Of the five who were using NSAIDs before the SPT, two continued and three ceased using them. Clinically useful information assisted decision-making for all eight participants. Medication management changed for six. Conclusions: Single-patient trials can be successfully implemented in general practice and might be a valuable method for GPs to identify patients who respond to medication for chronic stable conditions such as osteoarthritis, in which individual response to medication is variable.

Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts as predictors of mental health service use

Objective: To examine the extent to which suicidal ideation and suicide attempts are predictive of service use. Design and setting: The National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing considered service utilisation in relation to self-reported mental health problems. Service utilisation was inquired of in relation to hospital-based care (including both specialist mental health and general care settings), as well as consultations with a range of health professionals (both specialist and non-specialist mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists and general practitioners) on an outpatient basis. Participants: Secondary analysis of self-report data from 10 641 randomly selected Australian adults who participated in the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing in 1997. The key predictor variables were reported suicidal ideation and suicide attempts over the past 12 months. Main outcome measures: Use of services for mental health problems (past 12 months). Results: When considered in isolation, individuals reporting suicidal ideation were more likely to make use of at least one type of service for mental health problems than non-suicidal individuals (OR, 17.3; 95% Cl, 13.2-22.6), and individuals reporting suicide attempts were even more likely to do so (OR, 32.3; 95% CI, 9.0-115.4). In the case of suicidal ideation, this effect remained significant after controlling for a range of potential confounders. For suicide attempts, the effect of mental health service use was no longer significant after other variables were taken into account. Conclusions: Suicidal individuals are likely to make use of services, and a high proportion of suicides may be preventable through appropriate healthcare system responses.

The demise of a planned randomised controlled trial in an urban Aboriginal medical service

To fill a gap in knowledge about the effectiveness of brief intervention for hazardous alcohol use among Indigenous Australians, we attempted to implement a randomised controlled trial in an urban Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) as a joint AMS-university partnership. Because of low numbers of potential participants being screened, the RCT was abandoned in favour of a two-part demonstration project. Only 16 clients were recruited for follow-up in six-months, and the trial was terminated. Clinic, patient, Aboriginal health worker, and GP factors, interacting with study design factors, all contributed to our inability to implement the trial as designed. The key points to emerge from the study are that alcohol misuse is a difficult issue to manage in an Indigenous primary health care setting; RCTs involving inevitably complex study protocols may not be acceptable or sufficiently adaptable to make them viable in busy, Indigenous primary health care settings; and gold-standard RCT-derived evidence for the effectiveness of many public health interventions in Indigenous primary health care settings may never be available, and decisions about appropriate interventions will often have to be based on qualitative assessment of appropriateness and evidence from other populations and other settings.

The game to play: expanding the co-opetition proposal through the strategic games matrix

Purpose - Using Brandenburger and Nalebuff`s 1995 co-opetition model as a reference, the purpose of this paper is to seek to develop a tool that, based on the tenets of classical game theory, would enable scholars and managers to identify which games may be played in response to the different conflict of interest situations faced by companies in their business environments. Design/methodology/approach - The literature on game theory and business strategy are reviewed and a conceptual model, the strategic games matrix (SGM), is developed. Two novel games are described and modeled. Findings - The co-opetition model is not sufficient to realistically represent most of the conflict of interest situations faced by companies. It seeks to address this problem through development of the SGM, which expands upon Brandenburger and Nalebuff`s model by providing a broader perspective, through incorporation of an additional dimension (power ratio between players) and three novel, respectively, (rival, individualistic, and associative). Practical implications - This proposed model, based on the concepts of game theory, should be used to train decision- and policy-makers to better understand, interpret and formulate conflict management strategies. Originality/value - A practical and original tool to use game models in conflict of interest situations is generated. Basic classical games, such as Nash, Stackelberg, Pareto, and Minimax, are mapped on the SGM to suggest in which situations they Could be useful. Two innovative games are described to fit four different types of conflict situations that so far have no corresponding game in the literature. A test application of the SGM to a classic Intel Corporation strategic management case, in the complex personal computer industry, shows that the proposed method is able to describe, to interpret, to analyze, and to prescribe optimal competitive and/or cooperative strategies for each conflict of interest situation.

RFID adoption: framework and survey in large Brazilian companies

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology adoption considering company size and five dimensions of analysis: RFID applications, expected benefits business drivers or motivations barriers and inhibitors, and organizational factors. Design/methodology/approach - A framework for RFID adoption derived from literature and the practical experience on the subject is developed. This framework provides a conceptual basis for analyzing a survey conducted with 114 companies in Brazil. Findings - Many companies have been developing RFID initiatives in order to identify potential applications and map benefits associated with their implementation. The survey highlights the importance business drivers in the RFID implementation stage, and that companies implement RFID focusing on a few specific applications. However, there is a weak association between expected benefits and business challenges with the current level of RFID technology adoption in Brazil. Research limitations/implications - The paper is not exhaustive, since RFID adoption in Brazil is at early stages during the survey timeline. Originality/value - The main contribution of the paper is that it yields a framework for analyzing RFID technology adoption. The authors use this framework to analyze RFID adoption in Brazil, which proved to be a useful one for identifying key issues for technology adoption. The paper is useful to any researchers or practitioners who are focused on technology adoption, in particular, RFID technology.

Risk Categories Disclosed in the Administration Reports of Brazilian Companies with ADRs

The study aims to find the categories of risks disclosed in the Administration Reports of Brazilian companies with the issuance of ADR`s. The research is characterized as descriptive, accomplished through doucmentary analysis. The sample includes 28 Brazilian companies with the issuance of American Depository Receipt (ADR`s) in the Stock Exchange of New York (USA). We have tried to identify the categories of risk, presented by the companies surveyed in the Administration Reports (AR) of 2007. Seven categories of corporate risks were considered, identified through COSO (2004) methodology strategic risks, operational risks, legal risks and image risks,. The survey results show that in general there is no standaardization of the types sof risks disclosed by the companies. A total of 14 types of risks havd been identified. The predominant category in the disclosure was the operational risk, with 20.72% of the observations. There was no disclosre of image risk in the AR of the companies surveyed. It was found that 19 companies, 67.86% of the surveyed companies, demonstrate some kind of risk to which they are exposed. On the other hand, nine companies (32.14%) did not show any kind of risk.

The Controllership Relevance or Risk Management in non-Financial Companies: a study of risk managers` and controllers` perceptions

The purpose of this study is to analyze the Controllership relevance as support risk management in non-financial companies. Risk management is a widely discussed and disseminated subject amongst financial institutions. It is obvious that economic uncertainties and, consequently, prevention and. control must also exist in non-financial companies. To enable managers to take safe-decisions, it is essential for them to be able to count on instrumental support that provides timely and adequate information, to ensure lower levels of mistakes and risk exposure. However, discussion concerning risk management in non-financial companies is still in its early stages in Brazil. Considering this gap, this study aims at assessing how Controllership has been acting in? companies under the insight of risk and how it can contribute to risk management in non-financial companies. To achieve the proposed goal, a field research was. carried-out with non-financial companies that are located in the city Sao Paulo and listed in the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa). The research was carried out using questionnaires, which were sent do Risk Officers and Controllers of those companies with the purpose of evaluating their perception on the subject. The results,of the research allow us to conclude that Controllership offers support to risk management, through information that contributes to the mitigation of the risks in non-financial companies.

Stakeholders Theory and Theory of the Firm: a study on the hierarchy of objective-functions in Brazilian companies

Discussion opposing the Theory of the Firm to the Theory of Stakeholders are contemporaneous and polemical. One focal point of such debates refers to which objective-function companies, should choose, whether that of the shareholders or that of the stakeholders, and whether it is possible to opt for both simultaneously. Several empirical studies. have attempted-to test a possible correlation between both functions, and there has not been any consensus-so far. The objective of the present research is to examine a gap in such discussions: is there (or not) a subordination of the stakeholders` objective-function to that of the shareholders? The research is empirical,and analytical and employs quantitative methods. Hypotheses were tested and data analyzed by using non-parametrical (chi-square test) and parametrical procedures (frequency. correlation `coefficient). Secondary data was collected from he Economitica database and from the Brazilian Institute of Social and-Economic Analyses (IBASE) website, relative to public companies that have published their Social Balance Statements following the IBASE model from 1999 to 2006, whose sample amounted to 65 companies; In order to assess the objective-function of shareholders a proxy was created based on the following three indices: ROE (return on equity), EnterpriseValue and Tobin`s Q. In order to assess the objective-function of stakeholders a proxy was created by employing the following IBASE social balance indices: internal ones (ISI), external ones (ISE), and environmental ones (IAM). The results have shown no evidence of subordination of stakeholders` objective-function to that of the shareholders in analyzed companies, negating initial expectations and calling for deeper investigation of results. Its main conclusion, which states that the attempted subordination does not take place, is limited to the sample herein investigated and calls for ongoing research aiming at improvements which may lead to sample enlargement and, as a consequence, may make feasible the application of other statistical techniques which may yield a more thorough, analysis of the studied phenomehon.

Are supplier selection criteria going green? Case studies of companies in Brazil

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to verify if Brazilian companies are adopting environmental requirements in the supplier selection process. Further, this paper intends to analyze whether there is a relation between the level of environmental management maturity and the inclusion of environmental criteria in the companies` selection of suppliers. Design/methodology/approach - A review of mainstream literature on environmental management, traditional criteria in the supplier selection process and the incorporation of environmental requirements in this context. The empirical study`s strategy is based on five Brazilian case studies with industrial companies. Face-to-face interviews and informal conversations are to be held, explanations made by e-mail with representatives from the purchasing, environmental management, logistics and other areas, and observation and the collection of company documents are also employed. Findings - Based on the cases, it is concluded that companies still use traditional criteria to select suppliers, such as quality and cost, and do not adopt environmental requirements in the supplier selection process in a uniform manner. Evidence found shows that the level of environmental management maturity influences the depth with which companies adopt environmental criteria when selecting suppliers. Thus, a company with more advanced environmental management adopts more formal procedures for selecting environmentally appropriate suppliers than others. Originality/value - This is the first known study to verify if Brazilian companies are adopting environmental requirements in the supplier selection process.

Non-linear pathways of corporate environmental management: a survey of ISO 14001-certified companies in Brazil

A study was conducted to verify whether the theory on the evolution of corporate environmental management (CEM) is applicable to organizations located in Brazil. Some of the most important proposals pertaining to the evolution of CEM were evaluated in a systematic fashion and integrated into a typical theoretical framework containing three evolutionary stages: reactive, preventive and proactive. The validity of this framework was tested by surveying 94 companies located in Brazil with ISO 14001 certification. Results indicated that the evolution of CEM tends to occur in a manner that is counter to what has generally been described in the literature. Two evolutionary stages were identified: 1) synergy for eco-efficiency and 2) environmental legislation view, which combine variables that were initially categorized into different theoretical CEM stages. These data, obtained from a direct study of Brazilian companies, suggest that the evolution of environmental management in organizations tends to occur in a non-linear fashion, requiring a re-analysis of traditional perceptions of CEM development, as suggested by Kolk and Mauser (2002). (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.