Getting the Right Mix: Developing a primary - secondary health provider IT interface in the Waikato District Health Board

The article presents a study on the electronic health record systems (EHR) developed by Waikato District Health Board (DHB) in New Zealand. The DHB develop EHR with the intention of integrating primary, secondary and tertiary provider information. The findings shows key issues like stability of a sound secondary health provider information technology (IT) infrastructure and basis of patient data on health industry standards

Categories of insight and their correlates: An exploration of relationships among classic-type insight problems, rebus puzzles, remote associates and esoteric analogies.

A central question in creativity concerns how insightful ideas emerge. Anecdotal examples of insightful scientific and technical discoveries include Goodyear's discovery of the vulcanization of rubber, and Mendeleev's realization that there may be gaps as he tried to arrange the elements into the Periodic Table. Although most people would regard these discoveries as insightful, cognitive psychologists have had difficulty in agreeing on whether such ideas resulted from insights or from conventional problem solving processes. One area of wide agreement among psychologists is that insight involves a process of restructuring. If this view is correct, then understanding insight and its role in problem solving will depend on a better understanding of restructuring and the characteristics that describe it. This article proposes and tests a preliminary classification of insight problems based on several restructuring characteristics: the need to redefine spatial assumptions, the need to change defined forms, the degree of misdirection involved, the difficulty in visualizing a possible solution, the number of restructuring sequences in the problem, and the requirement for figure-ground type reversals. A second purpose of the study was to compare performance on classic spatial insight problems with two types of verbal tests that may be related to insight, the Remote Associates Test (RAT), and rebus puzzles. In doing so, we report on the results of a survey of 172 business students at the University of Waikato in New Zealand who completed classic-type insight, RAT and rebus problems

Key points of value in B2B intermediated electronic networks

The Internet is an electronic network with open standards that is associated with the exchange of information at heightened levels of reach, richness, transparency, and speed often directly between buyers and suppliers. The growing prominence of the Internet has led to the blurring of industry boundaries, as well as the emergence of new online intermediaries, and the disappearance of traditional ones. Happening simultaneously has been the development of new modes of business such as the B2B (IE) network. When combining the characteristics of these business models with the increased efficiencies and reduced information processing costs associated with the Internet, it becomes important to identify these new value creating opportunities. Though the advantages of the Internet and associated models have been widely espoused, to date there has been scant empirical investigation into these areas. Furthermore, as networked trade grows in popularity, whether entering into online or offline trade opportunities, an ongoing understanding is required of this mode of business. Hence, this thesis has examined the question "Where are the key sources of value in a B2B (IE) network?" Structuration theory, situated within the mid-range theorising perspective has been used in this thesis as an ontological lens due to its recognition of the duality of structure between man and machine, with the business intermediary and Internet respectively. This lens has served to facilitate an examination of these two brokering bodies in the development of processes, rules, regulations, and relationships that are embedded within this network structure. My analysis and theoretical development attempt to build a bridge between the existing strategy, networks, and B2B (IE) networks literatures through the use of the grounded theory development approach by moving between a skeletal empirical framework and the data from three case studies. The first case study, M-co is a network that operates in the highly volatile New Zealand electricity industry to provide a bid/offer price mechanism. The second case study is Ecomex, a network that is positioned within the more moderately volatile New Zealand timber industry. It offers a range of price mechanisms, of which the negotiated method appears to be the one most favoured by traders. The third case study is EDIS, a network embedded within a more stable environment, offering a service to general product traders using a fixed price method. The key theoretical contribution that this thesis makes is the development of a dynamic model that identifies the network as the primary unit of analysis, with three secondary units of analysis: the informational unit, the relational unit, and the central core unit, each with separate underlying dimensions. Though these secondary units are important as individual entities in their own right, what is more important is the understanding of how these units interact in order to realise the full value creation potential in a B2B (IE) network. This interaction process was found to be led by the business intermediary, positioned in the central core

Adding unique value: how intermediary process development promotes market clearing in an online auction

Recent online auction models have not specifically focused on how the intermediary or auctioneer firm adopts processes to facilitate the information flow between buyers and sellers to promote price setting, where supply equals demand, and the market is cleared. The increase in number and complexity of online auctions makes it important to understand the role of the online intermediary firm. This paper presents an online auction brokering model that combines the hub-and-spoke network structure with the pre-sale, sale, and post-sale stages of the transaction process to identify how the intermediary integrates trader firm information needs with behavioural and relationship characteristics and the internet functionalities of reach, richness and transparency to promote market clearing. This model, which has wider implications for other online and offline intermediated business models, is supported by evidence from a case study on Market Company, an intermediary firm situated in the New Zealand electricity market

Risk taking, innovativeness and competitive rivalry: A three-way interaction towards firm performance

It is unclear how entrepreneurial firms should engage in risk taking and innovativeness in highly competitive environments. Using a sample of 167 New Zealand firms, we provide new insight to identify a significant three-way interaction effect between risk taking, innovativeness and competitive rivalry towards firm performance. We found high risk taking and innovativeness to be linked to higher firm performance, irrespective of the extent of competitive rivalry. Low innovativeness was found to be associated with differing levels of firm performance depending on the level of rivalry. These results have important implications for future research and for practitioners where competitive rivalry can influence dimensions of performance in entrepreneurial firms in ways that have not been previously recognized

Virtual team learning: An introductory study team exercise

This article outlines the design, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative virtual team exercise. Cognitive, affective, and action-learning outcomes highlight the relevance of this grounded experiential exercise for management education and practice. Details are provided to enable the exercise to be adopted in a wide range of programs. Prior online experience, motivation, resistance to online environment, and trade-offs were found affect an overall positive experience reported by students

e-Business connections in the health sector: IT challenges and the effects of practice size

The use of information technology (IT) in the health sector is critically important for enhanced patient care and ultimately cost savings. However, the uptake of IT in health has been slow when compared with other industry sectors, due to the range of issues and IT inconsistencies associated with the needs of its stakeholders. This study explored the challenges experienced by 108 New Zealand medical practitioners in their IT interface with other key primary and secondary health providers. We found IT interface challenges were negatively related to e-business activity (receiving) but held no effect on e-business activity (sending). Further, we tested for and found significant moderating effects of practice size, based on patient numbers. Large practices were able to buffer the negative influence of IT interface challenges on e-business activity (receiving), while small practices were severely hampered by IT interface challenges. The implications of operating in a modular industry structure are discussed

Entrepreneurship as worship: A Malay Muslim perspective

While Islam is the second largest religion in the world with 1.6 billion Muslims, there are variations in the interpretations of that law (i.e. Sharia). This diversity and variation may hold the key in explaining the different behaviours among Muslim entrepreneurs because of their views on the concept of work as worship. In this study, we examine how Malay entrepreneurs are guided in their sourcing and shaping of entrepreneurial opportunities through Shafii practice. Our contributions include identifying five central values that guided the participant's sourcing of opportunities: Fardhu Kifayah (communal obligation), Wasatiyyah (balanced), Dakwah (the call of joining the good and forbidding the bad), Amanah (trust), and Barakah (blessings). We also contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by demonstrating how these macro-level values of worship gave the entrepreneurs confidence in creating their new ventures

Online social networks: an emergent recruiter tool for attracting and screening

Purpose – The increased popularity in using online social networks by recruiters has received much positive attention, particularly in the popular press. Using social network theory this paper aims to examine how the structure and governance mechanisms of these networks can assist this process. The authors ask: how do recruiters use online social networks to effectively attract and screen prospective job applicants? Design/methodology/approach – The semi-structured interview approach is used to gather data from 25 recruitment specialists. Findings – The connector role is identified as a specific attraction mechanism recruiters use to create numerous weak ties, where some are so weak they barely constitute ties at all. The authors then identify branding, transparency and data specificity as three mechanisms recruiters use to strengthen these ties when performing the attracting and screening functions. Originality/value – This is the first paper to analyse online recruitment, using social network theory, and hence it has important implications for both academic and practitioner audiences involved in recruitment

Grounded learning from a strategy case competition

This article describes a case competition that reflects the four elements of a grounded learning exercise. These elements include creating a real-world experience, optimizing learning transfer, integrating theory and practice, and shifting learning responsibility to the students. The authors also provide details on implementing this exercise in an undergraduate capstone strategy course and using a real-time case that brings the competition to life