International Standardisation and Local Participatory Dynamics : The INTERNORM Project

This paper presents a pilot project (INTERNORM) funded by the University of Lausanne (2010 - 2013) to support the involvement of civil society organisations (CSO) in international standard setting bodies such as the ISO. It analyses how a distinct participatory mechanism can influence the institutional environment of technical diplomacy in which standards are shaped. The project is an attempt to respond to the democratic deficit attested in the field of international standardisation, formally open to civil society participation, but still largely dominated by expert knowledge and market players. Many international standards have direct implications on society as a whole, but CSOs (consumers and environmental associations, trade unions) are largely under-represented in negotiation arenas. The paper draws upon international relations literature on new institutional forms in global governance and studies of participation in science and technology. It argues that there are significant limitations to the rise of civil society participation in such global governance mechanisms. The INTERNORM project has been designed as a platform of knowledge exchange between CSO and academic experts, with earmarked funding and official membership to a national standardisation body. But INTERNORM cannot substitute for a long- established lack of resources in time, money and expertise of CSOs. Despite high entry costs into technical diplomacy, participation thus appears as less a matter of upstream engagement, or of procedure only, than of dedicated means to shift the geometry of actors and the framing of socio-technical change.

Understanding globalization through football: the new international division of labour, migratory channels and transnational trade circuits

Among all sports, football is the one that saw the largest diffusion during the 20th century. Professional leagues exist on all continents and professional footballers are constantly on the move, trying to reach the wealthiest European clubs. Using the football players' market as an example, this article highlights some key features of economic globalization: the new international division of labour, the ever increasing role played by intermediaries to bind the demand and supply of work on a transnational scale, and the setting up of spatially fragmented trade circuits. These processes form the basis for the creation of a global market of footballers in which clubs and championships play complementary roles and are more than ever functionally integrated beyond national borders.

Appropriateness of therapy for active Crohn's disease: results of a multidisciplinary international expert panel (EPACT II)

Introduction: The development of novel therapies and the increasing number of trials testing management strategies for luminal Crohn's disease (CD) have not filled all the gaps in our knowledge. Thus, in clinical practice, many decisions for CD patients need to be taken without high quality evidence. For this reason, a multidisciplinary European expert panel followed the RAND method to develop explicit criteria for the management of individual patients with active, steroid-dependent (ST-D) and steroid-refractory (ST-R) CD. Methods: Twelve international experts convened in Geneva, Switzerland in December 2007, to rate explicit clinical scenarios, corresponding to real daily practice, on a 9-point scale according to the literature evidence and their own expertise. Median ratings were stratified into three categories: appropriate (7-9), uncertain (4-6) and inappropriate (1-3). Results: Overall, panelists rated 296 indications pertaining to mild-to-moderate, severe, ST-D, and ST-R CD. In anti-TNF naïve patients, budesonide and prednisone were found appropriate for mildmoderate CD, and infliximab (IFX) when those had previously failed or had not been tolerated. In patients with prior success with IFX, this drug with or without co-administration of a thiopurine analog was favored. Other anti-TNFs were appropriate in case of intolerance or resistance to IFX. High doses steroids, IFX or adalimumab were appropriate in severe active CD. Among 105 indications for ST-D or ST-R disease, the panel considered appropriate the thiopurine analogs, methotrexate, IFX, adalimumab and surgery for limited resection, depending on the outcome of prior therapies. Anti-TNFs were generally considered appropriate in ST-R. Conclusion: Steroids, including budesonide for mild-to-moderate CD, remain first-line therapies in active luminal CD. Anti-TNFs, in particular IFX with respect to the amount of available evidence, remain second-line for most indications. Thiopurine analogs are preferred to anti-TNFs when steroids are not appropriate, except when anti-TNFs were previously successful. These recommendations are available online (www.epact.ch). A prospective evaluation of these criteria in a large database in Switzerland in underway to validate these criteria.

Appropriateness of therapy for active Crohn's disease: results of a multidisciplinary International Expert Panel (EPACT II)

Introduction: The development of novel therapies and the increasing number of trials testing management strategies for luminal Crohn's disease (CD) have not filled all the gaps in our knowledge. Thus, in clinical practice, many decisions for CD patients need to be taken without high quality evidence. For this reason, a multidisciplinary European expert panel followed the RAND method to develop explicit criteria for the management of individual patients with active, steroid-dependent (ST-D) and steroid-refractory (ST-R) CD. Methods: Twelve international experts convened in Geneva, Switzerland in December 2007, to rate explicit clinical scenarios, corresponding to real daily practice, on a 9-point scale according to the literature evidence and their own expertise. Median ratings were stratified into three categories: appropriate (7-9), uncertain (4-6) and inappropriate (1-3). Results: Overall, panelists rated 296 indications pertaining to mild-to-moderate, severe, ST-D, and ST-R CD. In anti-TNF naïve patients, budesonide and prednisone were found appropriate for mildmoderate CD, and infliximab (IFX) when those had previously failed or had not been tolerated. In patients with prior success with IFX, this drug with or without co-administration of a thiopurine analog was favored. Other anti-TNFs were appropriate in case of intolerance or resistance to IFX. High doses steroids, IFX or adalimumab were appropriate in severe active CD. Among 105 indications for ST-D or ST-R disease, the panel considered appropriate the thiopurine analogs, methotrexate, IFX, adalimumab and surgery for limited resection, depending on the outcome of prior therapies. Anti-TNFs were generally considered appropriate in ST-R. Conclusion: Steroids, including budesonide for mild-to-moderate CD, remain first-line therapies in active luminal CD. Anti-TNFs, in particular IFX with respect to the amount of available evidence, remain second-line for most indications. Thiopurine analogs are preferred to anti-TNFs when steroids are not appropriate, except when anti-TNFs were previously successful. These recommendations are available online (www.epact.ch). A prospective evaluation of these criteria in a large database in Switzerland in underway to validate these criteria.

Heterogeneity, selection and labor market disparities

We study the incentives to acquire skill in a model where heterogeneous firmsand workers interact in a labor market characterized by matching frictions and costlyscreening. When effort in acquiring skill raises both the mean and the variance of theresulting ability distribution, multiple equilibria may arise. In the high-effort equilibrium, heterogeneity in ability is sufficiently large to induce firms to select the bestworkers, thereby confirming the belief that effort is important for finding good jobs.In the low-effort equilibrium, ability is not sufficiently dispersed to justify screening,thereby confirming the belief that effort is not so important. The model has implications for wage inequality, the distribution of firm characteristics, sorting patternsbetween firms and workers, and unemployment rates that can help explaining observedcross-country variation in socio-economic and labor market outcomes.

The effects of monetary policy on stock market bubbles: Some evidence

We estimate the response of stock prices to exogenous monetary policy shocks usinga vector-autoregressive model with time-varying parameters. Our evidence points toprotracted episodes in which, after a a short-run decline, stock prices increase persistently in response to an exogenous tightening of monetary policy. That responseis clearly at odds with the "conventional" view on the effects of monetary policy onbubbles, as well as with the predictions of bubbleless models. We also argue that it isunlikely that such evidence be accounted for by an endogenous response of the equitypremium to the monetary policy shocks.

Oral versus intravenous empirical antimicrobial therapy for fever in patients with granulocytopenia who are receiving cancer chemotherapy. International Antimicrobial Therapy Cooperative Group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Intravenously administered antimicrobial agents have been the standard choice for the empirical management of fever in patients with cancer and granulocytopenia. If orally administered empirical therapy is as effective as intravenous therapy, it would offer advantages such as improved quality of life and lower cost. METHODS: In a prospective, open-label, multicenter trial, we randomly assigned febrile patients with cancer who had granulocytopenia that was expected to resolve within 10 days to receive empirical therapy with either oral ciprofloxacin (750 mg twice daily) plus amoxicillin-clavulanate (625 mg three times daily) or standard daily doses of intravenous ceftriaxone plus amikacin. All patients were hospitalized until their fever resolved. The primary objective of the study was to determine whether there was equivalence between the regimens, defined as an absolute difference in the rates of success of 10 percent or less. RESULTS: Equivalence was demonstrated at the second interim analysis, and the trial was terminated after the enrollment of 353 patients. In the analysis of the 312 patients who were treated according to the protocol and who could be evaluated, treatment was successful in 86 percent of the patients in the oral-therapy group (95 percent confidence interval, 80 to 91 percent) and 84 percent of those in the intravenous-therapy group (95 percent confidence interval, 78 to 90 percent; P=0.02). The results were similar in the intention-to-treat analysis (80 percent and 77 percent, respectively; P=0.03), as were the duration of fever, the time to a change in the regimen, the reasons for such a change, the duration of therapy, and survival. The types of adverse events differed slightly between the groups but were similar in frequency. CONCLUSIONS: In low-risk patients with cancer who have fever and granulocytopenia, oral therapy with ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin-clavulanate is as effective as intravenous therapy.

Mobile Phone Use among Market Traders at Fairs in Rural Peru

We characterize market traders at two rural fairs in Puno, Peru, based on quantitative and qualitative data gathered in 2008, to gain insight into types of traders and the information needs that influence the degree to which they use mobile phones to make decisions regarding which weekly fairs to attend. Using variables such as origin, type of goods sold, means of transportation to the market, and reliance on networks, we identify traders as full-time traders, part-time traders, or subsistence traders, that is, people trading solely to survive. We find that when traders are already familiar with the technology, regularly rely on endogenous networks to make decisions, and have more to lose from failing to trade (e.g., those selling perishable goods), they are more likely to use mobile phones to decide where to sell.

Combining Internet Monitoring Processes, Packaging and Isotopic Analyses to Determine The Market Structure: Example of Gamma Butyrolactone

The Internet is becoming more and more popular among drug users. The use of websites and forums to obtain illicit drugs and relevant information about the means of consumption is a growing phenomenon mainly for new synthetic drugs. Gamma Butyrolactone (GBL), a chemical precursor of Gamma Hydroxy Butyric acid (GHB), is used as a "club drug" and also in drug facilitated sexual assaults. Its market takes place mainly on the Internet through online websites but the structure of the market remains unknown. This research aims to combine digital, physical and chemical information to help understand the distribution routes and the structure of the GBL market. Based on an Internet monitoring process, thirty-nine websites selling GBL, mainly in the Netherlands, were detected between January 2010 and December 2011. Seventeen websites were categorized into six groups based on digital traces (e.g. IP addresses and contact information). In parallel, twenty-five bulk GBL specimens were purchased from sixteen websites for packaging comparisons and carbon isotopic measurements. Packaging information showed a high correlation with digital data confirming the links previously established whereas chemical information revealed undetected links and provided complementary information. Indeed, while digital and packaging data give relevant information about the retailers, the supply routes and the distribution close to the consumer, the carbon isotopic data provides upstream information about the production level and in particular the synthesis pathways and the chemical precursors. A three-level structured market has been thereby identified with a production level mainly located in China and in Germany, an online distribution level mainly hosted in the Netherlands and the customers who order on the Internet.

Annual Review of the European Football Players' Labour Market / Etude annuelle du marché du travail européen des footballeurs

The key reference on the labour market and the logics of squad formation in the five main European leagues. One hundred richly coloured pages, illustrated by graphics, maps, rankings, statistical models and analysis in French and English which... - inform managers about potential strategies to put their clubs on the road to success - help managers of federations and players' unions to understand current trends and to take decisions - suggest to journalists new lines of investigation likely to interest the general public - allow researchers and students to benefit from reliable and comparable sources, developed with the greatest possible rigour - give fans the possibility to understand in detail the dynamics at work in their favourite sport and club Demographic Study of Footballers in Europe The Demographic Study of European Footballers is an annual publication destined for anyone who wishes to acquire a scientific understanding of the European football players' labour market. It presents the dynamics at work in 36 first division leagues in UEFA member countries. This edition covers our biggest ever survey comprising more than 520 clubs and 13,000 footballers. Statistical indicators relative to nine thematics (morphology, age, experience training, origin, etc.) allow the comparison of player profiles and squad compositions at league and club level. Through easily-understable regression analyses, the Study brings to light the principle differences between clubs and leagues according to economic and sporting level of championships. The final part presents the list of the most promising players under 23 years of age by league and position

Vendor Managed Inventory: the Critical Success Factors from the Manufacturer Point of View

Yritykset ovat pakotettuja erilaisiin yhteistyömuotoihin pärjätäkseen kiristyvässä kilpailussa. Yhteistyösuhteet kulkevat eri nimillä riippuen teollisuuden alasta ja siitä, missä kohtaa toimitusketjua ne toteutuvat, mutta periaatteessa kaikki pohjautuvat samaan ideaan kuin Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI); varastoon jakysyntään liittyvä tieto jaetaan toimitusketjun eri osapuolien kesken, jotta tuotanto, jakelu ja varastonhallinta olisi mahdollista optimoida. Vendor Managed Inventory on ideana yksinkertainen, mutta vaatii onnistuakseen paljon. Perusolettamus on, että toimittajan on kyettävä hallinnoimaan asiakkaan varastoa paremmin kuin asiakas itse. Tämä ei kuitenkaan ole mahdollista ilman riittävää yhteistyötä, oikeanlaista informaatiota tai sopivia tuoteominaisuuksia. Tämän työn tarkoitus on esitellä kriittiset menestystekijät valmistajan kannalta, kun näkyvyys todelliseen kysyntään on heikko ja kyseessäolevat tuotteet ovat ominaisuuksiltaan toimintamalliin huonosti soveltuvia. VMItoimintamallin soveltuvuus matkapuhelimia valmistavan yrityksen liiketoimintaan, sekä sen vaikutus asiakasyhteistyöhön, kannattavuuteen ja toiminnan tehostamiseen on myös tutkittu.

International comparison of Russian food processing industry -Finnish perspective

Työn päätavoitteena on kartoittaa Venäjän elintarviketeollisuutta ulkomaisen investoijan näkökulmasta. Tutkimus arvioi liiketoimintamahdollisuuksia ja kilpailutilannetta Venäjän elintarviketeollisuudessa ja auttaa ulkomaisia yrityksiä toteuttamaan liiketoimintastrategioitaan Venäjällä. Venäjän ja muiden siirtymätalousmaiden markkinatilannevertailujen lisäksi Venäjän alueita verrataan keskenään. Myös mahdollisen WTO jäsenyyden vaikutuksia arvioidaan. Kommunismin perintö vaikuttaa edelleen Venäjän elintarviketeollisuuteen ja maatalouteen. Maatalouden tuottavuus on kaukana länsimaisesta tasosta ja maatiloilta puuttuu rahoitusta. Etenkin maidon- ja lihanjalostajat kärsivät raaka-ainepulasta. Venäjän kriisi vuonna 1998 vahvisti paikallista teollisuustuotantoa mutta aiheutti ongelmia ulkomaisille investoijille ja yrityksille, jotka vievät tuotteitaan Venäjälle. Edut, joita mahdollinen maailmankauppajärjestö WTO:n jäsenyys tuo, ovat merkittävämpiä Venäjälle kuin sen kauppakumppaneille. Venäjän alueet eivät ole yhtäläisesti kehittyneitä ja kuluttajien ostovoima vaihtelee paljon. Itsestään selvin ja houkuttelevin vaihtoehto menestyvien elintarvikeyritysten laajentumiselle löytyy alueilta, joilla ostovoima on suurin. Tähän asti kansainväliset elintarvikeyritykset ovat olleet enemmän kiinnostuneita Itä- ja Keski-Euroopan maista. Käytettävissä olevat tulot ovat Itä- ja Keski-Euroopan maissa suurempia kuin Venäjällä, joten tuottajat pystyvät myymään myös kalliimpia tuotteita. Työvoimakustannukset Venäjällä tulevat olemaan suotuisia vielä muutaman vuosikymmenen ja markkinoiden koko on merkittävä. Siksi kansainvälisillä elintarvikeyrityksillä riittää kiinnostusta tulevaisuudessa investoida myös Venäjälle.

New Product Development (NPD) Success Factors: A Review of the Literature

This paper reviews the literature on managerially actionable new product development success factors and summarises the field in a classic managerial framework. Because of the varying quality, breadth and scope of the field, the review only contains post-1980 studies of tangible product development that are of a rigorous scientific standard. Success is interpreted as a commercial success. The field has gained insight into a broad set of factors that vary in scope, abstraction and context. Main areas that contribute to NPD success are top management support exhibited through resource allocation and communicating the strategic importance of NPD in the organisation. The right projects need to be selected for investment at the beginning of the process and should be aligned to the organisation's internal competencies and the external environment. The NPD process should use cross-functional teams and a competent project champions. Marketing research competency is crucial, as an understanding of the market, customers and competitors is repeatedly highlighted. Product launch competency was also consistently shown to be important. In terms of controlling the NPD process, strict project gates are required to maintain control.