Improving Patient Safety Through Formal and Informal Learning Networks

This paper explores a novel perspective on patient safety improvements, which draws on
contemporary social network and learning theories. A case study was conducted at a Portuguese
acute university hospital. Data collection followed a staged approach, whereby 46 interviews
were conducted involving 49 respondents from a broad array of departments and professional
backgrounds. This case study highlights the importance of two major interlinked factors in
contributing to patient safety improvements. The first of these is the crucial role of formal and
informal, internal and external social networks. The second is the importance and the possible
advantage of combining formal and informal learning. The analysis suggests that initiatives
rooted in formal learning approaches alone do not necessarily lead to the creation of long-term
grounded internal safety networks, and that patient safety improvements can crucially depend on
bottom-up initiatives of communities of practice and informal learning. Traditional research on
patient safety places a strong emphasis on top-down and managerialist approaches and is often
based on the assumption that „safety? learning is primarily formal and context-independent. This
paper suggests that bottom-up initiatives and a combination of formal and informal learning can
make a major contribute to patient safety improvements.

Digital loyalty card 'Big Data' and small business marketing: Formal versus informal or complementary?

This article proposes that a complementary relationship exists between the formalised nature of digital loyalty card data, and the informal nature of small business market orientation. A longitudinal, case-based research approach analysed this relationship in small firms given access to Tesco Clubcard data. The findings reveal a new-found structure and precision in small firm marketing planning from data exposure; this complemented rather than conflicted with an intuitive feel for markets. In addition, small firm owners were encouraged to include employees in marketing planning.

Parcerias entre escolas e outras instituições do Concelho de Moura

Com a presente dissertação pretendemos caracterizar os possíveis contornos de uma parceria entre as escolas e outras instituições do concelho de Moura, de forma a melhorar a colaboração e com isso a maximização dos recursos materiais e humanos existentes no território. Com fundamento nos contributos de diversos autores relevantes no campo de conhecimento em análise e nas diferentes orientações legais, procuramos atingir os seguintes objetivos: a) identificar as instituições existentes; b) caracterizar as instituições; c) identificar domínios onde possam ser promovidas parcerias e d) identificar os recursos existentes na comunidade educativa de Moura. De forma a encontrar resposta às questões da investigação, (relacionadas com a promoção de parcerias locais, com base na partilha de recursos), optamos por uma metodologia mista, qualitativa/quantitativa, por se considerar mais apropriada ao objeto do estudo. Os dados foram recolhidos por meio de questionários aplicados a uma amostra do universo de instituições do Concelho de Moura. A análise originou um quadro de categorias, subcategorias e indicadores com os quais criamos uma base de dados. Após ter sido efetuada a investigação e a cartografia institucional do Concelho de Moura, chegámos aos seguintes resultados: a) foram identificadas áreas prioritárias para a promoção de parcerias; b) identificaram-se recursos plausíveis de serem utilizados em termos de parcerias. Apesar das suas limitações, este estudo poderá contribuir para: a) identificar áreas comuns de formação entre instituições da comunidade; b) facilitar a adaptação do currículo nacional à realidade envolvendo diversos parceiros; c) alertar para uma efetiva necessidade de articulação entre as instituições. /ABSTRACT - With this dissertation we intend to characterize the possible layouts of a partnership between the schools and other institutions of the Moura County as to improve the collaboration and thus maximize the material and human resources existing in the territory. Based on the contributions of several significant authors in the field of the knowledge in analysis and in the different legal diplomas, we aim to: a) identify the existing institutions; b) characterize those institutions; c) identify the areas where partnerships can be promoted and d) identify the existing resources in the school community of Moura. In order to find an answer to the questions of investigation, (connected to the promotion of local partnerships, based on the sharing of resources), we choose a mixed methodology, qualitative/quantitative, because we find it more appropriate to the matter in study. The data was gathered by the use of questionnaires applied to a sample of the universe of institutions of the Moura County. The analysis gave origin to a board of categories, and indicators with which we created a database. After the investigation and the institutional cartography of the Moura County, we came to the following results: a) priority areas for the promotion of partnerships were identified; b) resources that can be used in partnerships were identified. Despite its limitations, this study is able to contribute to: a) the identification of common training areas between institutions of the community; b) facilitate the adaptation of the national curriculum to the reality involving different partners; c9 to alert to a true need of articulation between the institutions.

Best practice factory for freight transport in Europe: demonstrating how ‘good’ urban freight cases are improving business profit and public sectors benefits

The objective of this study is to better understand why selected urban freight solutions represent innovations that are technically feasible, economically profitable in different contexts, sustainable, transferable, and with tangible beneficial impacts. A total of 15 solutions are evaluated in the fields of Urban Consolidation Centre, clean and electric vehicles, IT solutions, use of urban waterways, and others. Three solutions are analysed more thoroughly, the Cityporto Padova, the Basel Exhibition Centre logistics support system, and the Berlin laboratory area test of the Bentobox. This paper ends with a transversal analysis of the solutions observed, and with methodological conclusions.

Best practice factory for freight transport in Europe: demonstrating how ‘good’ urban freight cases are improving business profit and public sectors benefits

The objective of this study is to better understand why selected urban freight solutions represent innovations that are technically feasible, economically profitable in different contexts, sustainable, transferable, and with tangible beneficial impacts. A total of 15 solutions are evaluated in the fields of Urban Consolidation Centre, clean and electric vehicles, IT solutions, use of urban waterways, and others. Three solutions are analysed more thoroughly, the Cityporto Padova, the Basel Exhibition Centre logistics support system, and the Berlin laboratory area test of the Bentobox. This paper ends with a transversal analysis of the solutions observed, and with methodological conclusions.

How Formal and Informal Institutions of Middle Eastern Countries Influence Managerial Discretion: An Empirical Investigation

Managerial discretion is the focal theme bridging the clash between two schools of thoughts; whether executives have greater influence on their firms’ outcomes or other factors restrain their actions (Hambrick & Finkelstein, 1987). It is argued that constraints come from inertial, normative and environmental forces (e.g. DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). Of these restraints is the institutional environment in which a firm is headquartered. Our paper falls within this research stream and provides an extension for Crossland and Hambrick (2007, 2011) work. We investigate the national level of discretion in new cross-cultural contexts, provide deeper understanding of its concept, and shed the light on undiscovered discretion’s antecedents and consequences. We adopt a quantitative approach in which questionnaires represent our data collection instrument. We anticipate that in high discretion countries firms tend to follow what Miles & Snow (1978) labeled ‘Prospector’ strategy as opposed to low discretion countries in which firms incline to implement a ‘Defender’ strategy.

The Political Economy of St. Catharines' Illicit Taxi Trade

The global restructuring of production has led to increasingly precarious working conditions around the world. Post-industrial work is characterized by poor working conditions, low wages, a lack of social protection and political representation and little job security. Unregulated forms of work that are defined as “irregular” or “illegal”, or in some cases “criminal,” are connected to sweeping transformations within the broader regulated (formal) economy. The connection between the formal and informal sectors can more accurately be described as co-optation and, as a subordinate integration of the informal to the formal. The city of St. Catharines within Niagara, along with much of Ontario’s industrial heartland, has been hard hit by deindustrialization. The rise of this illegal service is thus viewed against the backdrop of heavy economic restructuring, as opportunities for work in the manufacturing sector have become sparse. In addition, this research also explores the paradoxical co-optation of the growing illicit taxi economy and consequences for racialized and foreign credentialed labour in the taxi industry. The overall objective of this research is to explore the illicit cab industry as not only inseparable from the formal economy, but dialectically, how it is as an integrated and productive element of the public and private transportation industry. Furthermore the research examines what this co-optation means in the context of a labour market that is split by race.

Spatial concentration in institutional investment in the UK: some comparisons between the retail and office sectors

Geographic diversity is a fundamental tenet in portfolio management. Yet there is evidence from the US that institutional investors prefer to concentrate their real estate investments in favoured and specific areas as primary locations for the properties that occupy their portfolios. The little work done in the UK draws similar conclusions, but has so far focused only on the office sector; no work has examined this issue for the retail sector. This paper therefore examines the extent of real estate investment concentration in institutional Retail portfolios in the UK at two points in time; 1998 and 2003, and presents some comparisons with equivalent concentrations in the office sector. The findings indicate that retail investment correlates more closely with the UK urban hierarchy than that for offices when measured against employment, and is focused on urban areas with high populations and large population densities which have larger numbers of retail units in which to invest.

Differentiated effects of formal and informal institutional distance between countries 2 on the environmental performance of multinational enterprises

This research examines the influence of environmental institutional distance between home and host countries on the standardization of environmental performance among multinational enterprises using ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression techniques and a sample of 128 multinationals from high-polluting industries. The paper examines the environmental institutional distance of countries using the concepts of formal and informal institutional distances. The results show that whereas a high formal environmental distance between home and host countries leads multinational enterprises to achieve a different level of environmental performance according to each country's legal requirements, a high informal environmental distance encourages these firms to unify their environmental performance independently of the countries in which their units are based. The study also discusses the implications for academia, managers, and policy makers.