Supply Chain Strategies to Ensure Delivery of Undamaged Goods

Supply chain leaders in the oil and gas industry face significant logistical challenges regarding the efficient and safe delivery of undamaged products to their customers. Within the conceptual framework of business process orientation theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that supply chain leaders used to ensure delivery of undamaged goods to their customers. Four supply chain leaders in the oil and gas industry in Texas were purposefully selected as participants because they had successfully implemented strategies to ensure the delivery of undamaged goods. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and review of publicly published documents from 4 companies. Data were analyzed using Yin\u27s 5-step data analysis process of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, data interpretation, and conclusion. Four themes emerged from the analyzed data: process strategy, inspection strategy, information technology strategy, and employee training strategy. The findings of this study may provide knowledge to business leaders on how to reduce the cost of product delivery and increase profitability. The study\u27s implications for positive social change include the potential for supply chain leaders to reduce material wastage and environmental pollution through the safe delivery of undamaged oil and gas products to customers

Exploring Customer Service Through Hospital Management Strategies

Patient demand for a better quality of healthcare and services has increased as insurance companies have decreased payments to hospitals. The purpose of this qualitative single exploratory case study was to explore hospital managers\u27 strategies to improve customer service. Data were gathered from semistructured interviews with 5 hospital managers who implemented customer service strategies in their hospital systems, hospital policy and procedure documents, and qualitative data from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Hospital Compare website. Expectation-confirmation theory served as the conceptual framework that grounded the study. Data were analyzed using methodological triangulation, and 3 themes emerged: the need to improve interpersonal communication, address issues in the hospital environment, and provide employee training. Engaging in interpersonal communication, maintaining a clean and welcoming hospital environment, and providing employee training can help hospital managers increase customer satisfaction by giving internal and external customers a sense of empowerment and self-worth. The findings from the study, regarding the hospital managers\u27 customer service strategies, could apply with other healthcare managers and leaders working to improve customer service within their organizations. Healthcare professionals and leaders, patients, family members, and the community may benefit from the study by gaining knowledge of the successful strategies hospital managers use to obtain quality service. These strategies promote respect, compassion, and a better quality of life, which are essential to social change in hospitals

Examination of Strategies to Implementing Chip-and-Personal Identification Number Credit Card Authentication Infrastructures

Chip-and-Personal Identification Number (PIN) technology is seen as a game changer in many e-commerce industries and a transformational technology in the 21st century. However, security concerns have made chip-and-PIN adoption relatively slow. Massive unauthorized card payment transactions in the United States (U.S.) cost victims an estimate totaling billions of dollars. Information Technology (IT) managers are concerned with credit card fraud\u27s financial loss and liability cost. Grounded in Rogers’s diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic study was to explore strategies used by IT managers to transition their e-commerce organizations to chip-and-PIN credit card authentication infrastructures. The participants were six IT managers from companies in the U.S. with experience implementing chip-and-PIN infrastructure securely. Data were collected using semistructured interviews, statistics provided by their organizations, and publicly available data. A thematic analysis revealed 3 major emerging themes: (a) elements influencing the selection of strategy, (b) payment card industry data security standards regulatory compliance, and (c) value to the business and customer experience. A key recommendation is for business leaders to mitigate the risk of credit card fraud by implementing payment card industry data security standards. The implications for positive social change include the potential to inform consumers and business owners, secure electronic funds transactions, instill trust in e-commerce payment systems, and reduce instances of credit card fraud and crimes

The Largest Unethical Medical Experiment in Human History

This monograph describes the largest unethical medical experiment in human history: the implementation and operation of non-ionizing non-visible EMF radiation (hereafter called wireless radiation) infrastructure for communications, surveillance, weaponry, and other applications. It is unethical because it violates the key ethical medical experiment requirement for “informed consent” by the overwhelming majority of the participants. The monograph provides background on unethical medical research/experimentation, and frames the implementation of wireless radiation within that context. The monograph then identifies a wide spectrum of adverse effects of wireless radiation as reported in the premier biomedical literature for over seven decades. Even though many of these reported adverse effects are extremely severe, the true extent of their severity has been grossly underestimated. Most of the reported laboratory experiments that produced these effects are not reflective of the real-life environment in which wireless radiation operates. Many experiments do not include pulsing and modulation of the carrier signal, and most do not account for synergistic effects of other toxic stimuli acting in concert with the wireless radiation. These two additions greatly exacerbate the severity of the adverse effects from wireless radiation, and their neglect in current (and past) experimentation results in substantial under-estimation of the breadth and severity of adverse effects to be expected in a real-life situation. This lack of credible safety testing, combined with depriving the public of the opportunity to provide informed consent, contextualizes the wireless radiation infrastructure operation as an unethical medical experiment