Contracting outsourced services with collaborative key performance indicators

While service outsourcing may benefit from the application of performance‐based contracts (PBCs), the implementation of such contracts is usually challenging. Service performance is often not only dependent on supplier effort but also on the behavior of the buying firm. Existing research on performance‐based contracting provides very limited understanding on how this challenge may be overcome. This article describes a design science research project that develops a novel approach to buyer–supplier contracting, using collaborative key performance indicators (KPIs). Collaborative KPIs evaluate and reward not only the supplier contribution to customer performance but also the customer's behavior to enable this. In this way, performance‐based contracting can also be applied to settings where supplier and customer activities are interdependent, while traditional contracting theories suggest that output controls are not effective under such conditions. In the collaborative KPI contracting process, indicators measure both supplier and customer (buying firm) performance and promote collaboration by being defined through a collaborative process and by focusing on end‐of‐process indicators. The article discusses the original case setting of a telecommunication service provider experiencing critical problems in outsourcing IT services. The initial intervention implementing this contracting approach produced substantial improvements, both in performance and in the relationship between buyer and supplier. Subsequently, the approach was tested and evaluated in two other settings, resulting in a set of actionable propositions on the efficacy of collaborative KPI contracting. Our study demonstrates how defining, monitoring, and incentivizing the performance of specific processes at the buying firm can help alleviate the limitations of traditional performance‐based contracting when the supplier's liability for service performance is difficult to verify

Valid and reliable instruments for arm-hand assessment at ICF activity level in persons with hemiplegia: a systematic review

Contains fulltext : 110141.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Loss of arm-hand performance due to a hemiparesis as a result of stroke or cerebral palsy (CP), leads to large problems in daily life of these patients. Assessment of arm-hand performance is important in both clinical practice and research. To gain more insight in e.g. effectiveness of common therapies for different patient populations with similar clinical characteristics, consensus regarding the choice and use of outcome measures is paramount. To guide this choice, an overview of available instruments is necessary. The aim of this systematic review is to identify, evaluate and categorize instruments, reported to be valid and reliable, assessing arm-hand performance at the ICF activity level in patients with stroke or cerebral palsy. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed to identify articles containing instruments assessing arm-hand skilled performance in patients with stroke or cerebral palsy. Instruments were identified and divided into the categories capacity, perceived performance and actual performance. A second search was performed to obtain information on their content and psychometrics. RESULTS: Regarding capacity, perceived performance and actual performance, 18, 9 and 3 instruments were included respectively. Only 3 of all included instruments were used and tested in both patient populations. The content of the instruments differed widely regarding the ICF levels measured, assessment of the amount of use versus the quality of use, the inclusion of unimanual and/or bimanual tasks and the inclusion of basic and/or extended tasks. CONCLUSIONS: Although many instruments assess capacity and perceived performance, a dearth exists of instruments assessing actual performance. In addition, instruments appropriate for more than one patient population are sparse. For actual performance, new instruments have to be developed, with specific focus on the usability in different patient populations and the assessment of quality of use as well as amount of use. Also, consensus about the choice and use of instruments within and across populations is needed

A scoping review and thematic analysis of social and behavioural research among HIV-serodiscordant couples in high-income settings.

CAPRISA, 2015.Abstract available in pdf

Cross cultural adaptation and refinement of an English version of a Dutch patient-reported questionnaire for hand sensitivity: The Radboud Evaluation of Sensitivity

© 2017 Hanley & Belfus Study Design: Longitudinal clinical measurement. Introduction: Sensory alterations in the hand can present as both decreased sensation or numbness, and hyperesthesia, including mechanical allodynia and cold intolerance. However, few patient-reported outcomes have been developed and validated for evaluation, particularly for increased sensitivity. The Radboud Evaluation of Sensitivity was developed in the Netherlands for patient-reported evaluation of hand sensitivity in complex regional pain syndrome. Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was to translate into English and culturally validate the Radboud Evaluation of Sensitivity for the North American context. Methods: Forward and backward translation, followed by a psychometric evaluation of the synthesized version of the translated tool, was undertaken in a heterogeneous group of persons after hand injury, including nerve injuries, hand trauma, and complex regional pain syndrome. Results: Thirty-six persons completed test-retest reliability testing, yielding an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.92 (95% CI 0.85 to 0.96) for single measures. Internal consistency was also high at α = 0.96 in a larger sample (n = 56). Although some support for construct validity was generated, several validity hypotheses were not confirmed. Of interest, there appeared to be significant differences in the scores between persons with hypoesthesia as compared with those with hyperesthesia. Conclusions: The Radboud Evaluation of Sensitivity, English version appears to be a reliable tool for the self-reported evaluation of sensory alterations in the hand, including both hypoesthesia and hyperesthesia. More research is needed to add to the extent of and confidence in the validity and responsiveness of this assessment. Level of Evidence: Level II

Sustained Monopolistic Business Relationships: An Interdisciplinarity Case.

Business-to-business relationships within sustained monopolies, such as those within UK Defence Procurement, have received scant attention by Management Researchers. This is unusual because under these market circumstances there appear to be few incentives to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes despite their strategic policy importance. This paper argues that an understanding of the monopolistic environment using a Transaction Cost Economics theoretical framework and Supply Chain Management, Relationship Marketing and Transaction Cost Economics concepts provides an innovative, interdisciplinarity approach to solving this problem as well as testing aspects of these disciplines empirically in a novel area. This paper describes the results from a substantial research project to test this hypothesis in the UK Defence Procurement situation. It reveals a number of key dynamics within the sustained monopolistic relationships surveyed and suggests considerable potential for further research