Maintain maintenance: a look at some threats in the sector

[EN] Industrial maintenance is a key factor in ensuring the availability of the production systems of companies. Furthermore, it also has a significant impact on energy efficiency and on safety. The study of the status of the maintenance departments activity in the industrial sector in Spain (and probably in other European countries) shows negative aspects that indicate little innovation, lack of resources or personnel, poor planning and a downward trend in own staffing levels, while hiring with outside companies increases. Many companies perceive maintenance as an unavoidable cost. To change these negative trends it is necessary to make visible to the management staff the cost-benefit analysis of the maintenance activity and justify the investments to improve their results. This article highlights some of the threats that affect the activity of maintenance departments in industry, as perceived through statistics on industrial activity and sectoral surveys in Spain. Secondly, the article proposes the basis of a cost-benefit analysis, based on the avoided costs that maintenance department activity can generate. The authors propose this model as a simple tool to justify investments in the maintenance departments of companies.Roldán-Porta, C.; Cárcel Carrasco, FJ.; Escrivá-Escrivá, G.; Roldán-Blay, C. (2014). Maintain maintenance: a look at some threats in the sector. International Journal of Services Technology and Management. 20(6):233-250. doi:10.1504/IJSTM.2014.068856S23325020

Collaborative Research In Service Science: Quality And Innovation

The unprecedented shift in customer, corporate and societal demand for services and the management of corresponding resources has created a critical need for research, education, and outreach in service systems. Universities worldwide are addressing this need through the establishment of collaborative research centers, such as the Center for Services Science, Quality and Innovation (SSQI) at Virginia Tech. This paper discusses service science as a promising field of research and suggests opportunities for collaboration across disciplines, institutions and cultures

An application of recent developments of Data Envelopment Analysis to the evaluation of secondary schools in Portugal

This paper highlights the potentialities of Data Envelopment Analysis to evaluate the performance of organisations, using the concept of super-efficiency - an extension of DEA which increases its performance - and presents an example from the public sector to illustrate the method. The example selected is that of a school network where a place in a school can be seen as a perishable good, as places which are not occupied during an academic year are wasted. Results for the Portuguese Secondary school network show that the average efficiency of overcrowded schools, that is, those exceeding their capacity, is lower than that of schools which are less crowded. This shows clearly that overcrowded schools, on average, are less efficient in transforming their inputs into academic performance. It is this conviction, seldom proved scientifically, which leads governments and international organisations to recommend planning criteria for public facilities

Operational Excellence in Manufacturing, Service and the Oil & Gas: the Sectorial Definitional Constructs and Risk Management Implication

The current global business climate has not been favorable to most firms irrespective of industry affiliation. That condition necessitated companies to adopt operational excellence as a strategy for optimising output with little resources, reducing lead time with the efficient use of assets and employees and avoiding safety and health issues to people and the environment. As a result of the need for operational excellence, many kinds of literature defined the concept based on the context of industry or sector. Industries such as manufacturing, services, oil and gas, mining and so many industries to mention a few, have their unique construct in the definition and therefore causing dilemma on which dimension to hold on to. It is against this backdrop that this paper synthesizes and integrate all the varying dimensions and fuses out similarities, differences and the antecedence of research directions taken on the few mentioned sectors. The paper thus concludes that the unique construct among all the definitions is continuous improvement, cost reduction, quality, time utilization, operational efficiency, staff involvement and output optimisation. However, they varied on risk management, staff health, safety and the concern for the environment, which is unique to oil and gas industry and that can affect the choice of research variables

KIBS role in the innovation and internationalization processes of firms: a bibliometric overview

In recent decades, KIBS have been one of the most dynamic segments of the service sector in European countries and are one of the fastest growing sectors of the European Union economy. KIBS are firms that provide knowledge-intensive inputs to the business processes of other organizations. In the regional and national economy, KIBS have played a central role in innovation as carriers, producers and mediators of knowledge. Consequently, this knowledge has a critical impact on the internationalization of firms. New sources of information and knowledge help firms compete and grow in markets of which they possess little or no prior knowledge. Firms face difficulties in foreign markets, so they need to develop a strong knowledge base to successfully compete across borders. The intensity of knowledge and the diversity of knowledge sources positively impact both the internationalization of firms and their innovation. Knowledge-intensive firms represent a link between their customers and the knowledge base available across the economy, and therefore act as a catalyst for innovation and internationalization. Recognizing the important role played by KIBS and to provide as overall picture of the research field, a bibliometric approach was performed, based on a mapping of scientific publications, intellectual structure and research trends related to the area under study, highlighting the current approaches of reference on the subject of innovation, internationalization and knowledge. In light of this consideration, the main objective of this study is to identify some of the most relevant research in this field and some of the newest trends, according to the information found in the Web of Science database, thus contributing to the enrichment of the existing literature. The specific objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to identify how the concepts of KIBS, innovation and internationalization are defined in the literature and assess the evolution achieved in the field of research; (2) to identify and measure research productivity, the trend of collaboration between countries, and the main and most relevant journals and authors; and (3) to analyze and map cocitations and research topics to identify the intellectual structure of the literature

The increasing risk of mortality in breast cancer: A socioeconomic analysis between countries

Abstract. The risk of mortality in breast cancer among women is a critical health issue worldwide. Scholars argue that breast cancer mortality rates have decreased in many advanced countries overall. However, about 50% of world population in 2017 was in poor and developing countries (more than 3,652 million with 50.24% female) and breast cancer mortality rates differ among nations also because of socioeconomic factors. This study investigates, at global level, breast cancer mortality in association with breast cancer incidence and some factors of socioeconomic ecosystem between poor and rich countries, to explain trends that can be used to gain insights into country-level “best practices” for health improvement. Global data regarding breast cancer incidence and mortality as the age standardized rate per 100,000 population in 78low-to-middle income countries (LMICs), 50 upper-to-middle-income countries (UMICs) and 63 high income countries (HCIs) were obtained from IARC/WHO for 2012 and 2018. Data regarding GDP per capita, population and mammography (MMG) were obtained from World Bank, United Nations and WHO. Data, transformed in log scale to have normal distribution, were analyzed with descriptive statistics, partial correlation, regression analyses and paired-Samples T Test procedure to assess the statistical significance of increase or decrease of mortality and incidence in breast cancer from 2012 to 2018.Results reveal that a 1% higher level of breast cancer incidence, increases the expected mortality by 0.79% (p-value < .001) in LMICs, by 0.50% (p-value <.001) in UMICs and by 0.31% (p-value < .008) in HICs. These results, confirmed by other analyses here, seem to suggest that breast cancer mortality is increasing over time worldwide in rich and in particular developing countries. The global analysis here reveals that though an improvement of wealth and wellbeing worldwide, the risk of incidence and mortality in breast cancer is increasing. This result suggests that situational factors in the ecosystem of countries support the growing increase and mortality of breast cancer that improvement in healthcare and medicine of the last 40 years are not been sufficient to slowdown. These conclusions need for much more detailed research to investigate into the interaction between factors of socioeconomic systems, health improvement, and breast cancer causes.Keywords. Breast cancer, Wealth of nations, Epidemiology.JEL. I14, I15, I18, I39, O10, O3, O55, Q50

An application of recent developments of Data Envelopment Analysis to the evaluation of secondary schools in Portugal

This paper highlights the potentialities of Data Envelopment Analysis to evaluate the performance of organisations, using the concept of super-efficiency - an extension of DEA which increases its performance - and presents an example from the public sector to illustrate the method. The example selected is that of a school network where a place in a school can be seen as a perishable good, as places which are not occupied during an academic year are wasted. Results for the Portuguese Secondary school network show that the average efficiency of overcrowded schools, that is, those exceeding their capacity, is lower than that of schools which are less crowded. This shows clearly that overcrowded schools, on average, are less efficient in transforming their inputs into academic performance. It is this conviction, seldom proved scientifically, which leads governments and international organisations to recommend planning criteria for public facilities

Theories of the evolution of technology based on processes of competitive substitution and multi-mode interaction between technologies

Abstract. Evolution of technology is a stepwise advancement of a complex system of artifact, driven by interaction with sub-systems and other systems, considering technical choices, technical requirements and science advances, which generate new and/or improved products or processes for use or consumption to satisfy increasing needs and/or to solve complex problems of people in society. This study explains evolution of technology with two different approaches: theories based on processes of competitive substitution of a new technology for the old one and theories considering a multi-mode interaction between technologies, such as the theory of technological parasitism. These theories described here can encourage further theoretical and empirical exploration in the terra incognita of the evolution of technology to explain economic and social change in human society.Keywords. Evolution of technology, Technological evolution, Technological change, Technological progress, Technological advances, Technological parasitism.JEL. F34, F43, F63, C01