367,261 research outputs found
Improving Learning Performance by Applying Economic Knowledge
Digital information economies require information goods producers to learn how to position themselves within a potentially vast product space. Further, the topography of this space is often nonstationary, due to the interactive dynamics of multiple producers changing their position as they try to learn the distribution of consumer preferences and other features of the problem's economic structure. This presents a producer or its agent with a difficult learning problem: how to locate profitable niches in a very large space. In this paper, we present a model of an information goods duopoly and show that, under complete information, producers would prefer not to compete, instead acting as local monopolists and targeting separate niches in the consumer population. However, when producers have no information about the problem they are solving, it can be quite difficult for them to converge on this solution. We show how a modest amount of economic knowledge about the problem can make it much easier, either by reducing the search space, starting in a useful area of the space, or introducing a gradient. These experiments support the hypothesis that a producer using some knowledge of a problem's (economic) structure can outperform a producer that is performing a naive, knowledge-free form of learning.
Improving Learning Performance by Applying Economic Knowledge
Digital information economies require information goods producers to learn how to position themselves within a potentially vast product space. Further, the topography of this space is often nonstationary, due to the interactive dynamics of multiple producers changing their positions as they try to learn the distribution of consumer preferences and other features of the problem's economic structure. This presents a producer or its agent with a difficult learning problem: how to locate profitable niches in a very large space. In this paper, we present a model of an information goods duopoly and show that, under complete information, producers would prefer not to compete, instead acting as local monopolists and targeting separate niches in the consumer population. However, when producers have no information about the problem they are solving, it can be quite difficult for them to converge on this solution. We show how a modest amount of economic knowledge about the problem can make it much easier, either by reducing the search space, starting in a useful area of the space, or by introducing a gradient. These experiments support the hypothesis that a producer using some knowledge of a problem's (economic) structure can outperform a producer that is performing a naive, knowledge-free form of learning.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50435/1/improving-amec03-lncs04.pd
Healthy Universities: Concept, Model and Framework for Applying the Healthy Settings Approach within Higher Education in England
As part of a Department of Health funded project, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) â working with Manchester Metropolitan University â was commissioned by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), to:
- articulate a model for Healthy Universities whereby the healthy settings approach is applied within the higher education sector
- produce recommendations for the development and operationalisation of a National Healthy Universities Framework for England
- to ensure effective co-ordination of initiatives and propose next steps for progressing the Healthy Universities agenda.
In fulfilment of these objectives, this report provides a background to Healthy Universities, outlines the project implementation process, presents a model, discusses the key dimensions for consideration in formulating a framework, and makes recommendations for taking things forward
The development of absorptive capacity-based innovation in a construction SME
Traditionally, construction has been a transaction-oriented industry. However, it is changing from the design-bid-build process into a business based on innovation capability and performance management, in which contracts are awarded on the basis of factors such as knowledge, intellectual capital and skills. This change presents a challenge to construction-sector SMEs with scarce resources, which must find ways to innovate based on those attributes to ensure their future competitiveness. This paper explores how dynamic capability, using an absorptive capacity framework in response to these challenges, has been developed in a construction-based SME. The paper also contributes to the literature on absorptive capacity and innovation by showing how the construct can be operationalized within an organization. The company studied formed a Knowledge Transfer Partnership using action research over a two-year period with a local university. The aim was to increase its absorptive capacity and hence its ability to meet the changing market challenges. The findings show that absorptive capacity can be operationalized into a change management approach for improving capability-based competitiveness. Moreover, it is important for absorptive capacity constructs and language to be contextualized within a given organizational setting (as in the case of the construction-based SME in the present study)
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Skills, government intervention and business performance: implications for the regional skills partnership (RSP)
The aim of this briefing paper is to provide an understanding of the factors that determine the level of skills in the economy, the level and type of skills demanded by employers, and how these are translated into performance improvements by individual employees. The paper deals with these questions at the national and regional level, at the level of the firm and finally of the individual employee. It then uses this knowledge to identify the range of alternative measures available to policy makers
Action learning : co-creating value from collaborative sustainable projects
This article reports on the specific role that action learning plays in the promotion of sustainability and innovation in the Local Government sector. The study focuses on one organisation and the efforts of a senior manager to enact change. The senior manager utilized his participation in an MBA programme to bring the classroom learning into his business. As a consequence of the requirements of the programme and also the desire of the senior manager, he was able to instigate a change programme, which delivered measurable outcomes and had financial and cultural impact. This case study illustrates the favourable advantages of using action learning as an intervention approach by HEIâs in driving sustainable innovation in the Local Government sectorFinal Published versio
Beyond harsh trade? The relevance of âsoftâ competitiveness factors for Ugandan enterprises to endure in Global Value Chains
This article is based on an empirical study which examined the issues
of organization and coordination of global production and trade for the
case of trade between Uganda and Europe.Respective experiences of
34 exporters in Uganda and 19 importers in Europe were documented
through in-depth interviews and consequently analyzed. The article
discusses matters of cooperation between the exporters and importers and
points to its significance for upgrading and enhancing competitiveness of
the exporters studied. It further identifies firm level âsoft competitiveness
factorsâ (SCFs) of Ugandan exporters and discusses their relevance
for the firmsâ performance in Global Value Chains. The findings reveal
that deficiencies in SCFs can have damaging effects, and vice-versa.
Possession of the SCFs can yield significant competitive advantage for
exporters and help to strengthen the relationship with the importers.
Findings of ill-treatment of exporters by their importers highlight a
particular kind of challenge that is often overseen in the debate about
exports of African firms: the challenge regarding business behaviours,
practices, and ethics including the ability to engage in relations with
foreign buyers and leverage resources, knowledge and generally
cooperation from them, first, and the general issue of problematic business
practices in the global economy, second. The article policy recommends
Policy, practice and research should focus on economic, political, social,
cultural and institutional factors that impact on local levels of SCFs; to
improve and help exporting enterprises in Africa to survive and succeed
in GVCs, within the context of the state of the moral economy in global
capitalism
A Systems Thinking Approach to Redesigning the Patient Experience to Reduce 30 Day Hospital Readmission
INTRODUCTION
The cost of medical care is spiraling out of control, and one of the many reasons is lack of preventative care, poor communication to the patient and primary caregiver(s) both in an inpatient and outpatient setting. There are potentially many reasons for this cost escalation, one of the drivers of this cost is 30 day readmission after a hospitalization and this is what was examined in this analysis.
The purpose of this paper in particular is to share what has been learned using a systems thinking approach to hospital readmissions and the patient experience. It is critical to understand the problems that occurred in the past. In addition, we will explain the methodology utilized and bring awareness to the iterative process. We will also demonstrate a suggested redesigned model
Learning more effectively from experience
Developing the capacity for individuals to learn effectively from their experiences is an important part of building the knowledge and skills in organizations to do good adaptive management. This paper reviews some of the research from cognitive psychology and phenomenography to present a way of thinking about learning to assist individuals to make better use of their personal experiences to develop understanding of environmental systems. We suggest that adaptive expertise (an individualâs ability to deal flexibly with new situations) is particularly relevant for environmental researchers and practitioners. To develop adaptive expertise, individuals need to: (1) vary and reflect on their experiences and become adept at seeking out and taking different perspectives; and (2) become proficient at making balanced judgements about how or if an experience will change their current perspective or working representation of a social, economic, and biophysical system by applying principles of âgood thinking.â Such principles include those that assist individuals to be open to the possibility of changing their current way of thinking (e.g., the disposition to be adventurous) and those that reduce the likelihood of making erroneous interpretations (e.g., the disposition to be intellectually careful). An example of applying some of the principles to assist individuals develop their understanding of a dynamically complex wetland system (the Macquarie Marshes in Australia) is provided. The broader implications of individual learning are also discussed in relation to organizational learning, the role of experiential knowledge for conservation, and for achieving greater awareness of the need for ecologically sustainable activity
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