Exploration & Exploitation: Reconciling Product Innovation and Supply Chain Performance in Consumer Packaged Goods Manufacturing

Product innovation often introduces complexity within supply chains, hurting operational efficiency –yet companies must be innovative to survive. That is the central issue of this thesis. We analyze the innovation vs. efficiency trade-off from the supply chain perspective using multiple research methods and the lenses of the exploration & exploitation literature, aiming at developing a framework for dealing with product portfolio exploration & exploitation issues in consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturing operations.We conducted a thorough, systematic review of the relevant literature related exploration & exploitation and identified that operations management, being the discipline that deals with getting things done, may be the next frontier of this multidisciplinary research stream. We then empirically analyzed the impact of new product introductions on supply chain performance, using qualitative and quantitative methods: we identified the nuances of how this impact flows and also tested and measured the impact using cross-sectional-longitudinal operational data. We finally conducted an action research project in order to analyze how to build exploration-and-exploitation-enabling supply chain strategies.We found evidence that new product introductions imply an impact on supply chain performance; yet it mostly goes through the increased variability of production assortment and is associated with category-based long-term impacts. We claim that, for small businesses and single business units aiming to be both innovative and efficient, supply chain strategies should incorporate certain conflicting goals; however, certain actions can be taken to mitigate the negative impact of concurrent goals interfering into one another.This study contributes to the exploration & exploitation literature by: (1) analyzing and summarizing the evolution of the literature stream, being among the first to do it from the operations management perspective; (2) evaluating how new product introductions impact supply chain performance in a CPG manufacturing firm, providing a set of testable hypotheses; (3) testing and measuring the short-term and long-term impact of new product introductions on the supply chain performance in CPG manufacturing operations using robust panel data econometrics; (4) testing the moderation effects of product-level degree of innovativeness on the relationship between new product introductions and supply chain performance; (5) adding a different level of analysis –i.e. product category– to dealing with new product introductions; (6) employing the Conceptual System Assessment and Reformulation (CSAR) as a research method for the first time; and (7) unveiling a set of supply chain trade-offs that can be faced by CPG manufacturing companies willing to be both innovative and efficient, also challengingthe notion that a good supply chain strategy must be free of conflicting goals.This research is also carries managerial implications, as it: (1) provides a summary of the relevant literature on exploration & exploitation, which can be a helpful source for practitioners willing to overcome this dilemma; (2) improves the understanding about the how new product introductions impact supply chain performance; (3) quantifies the impact of new product introductions on supply chain performance, which can be a helpful decision-making tool when balancing exploration & exploitation; (4) improves managerial intuition for the conditional supply chain implications of product-level degree of innovativeness when introducing new products; and (5) provides guidance for building supply chain strategies to balance exploration & exploitation in CPG manufacturing firms.<br /

Polifarmácia no idoso: o papel da enfermagem na prevenção das iatrogenias / Polypharmacy in the elderly: the role of nursing in the prevention of iatrogenesis

Objetivo: Identificar o uso de medicamentos por idosos de uma Unidade Básica de Saúde da Família sob a perspectiva do cuidado na prevenção de iatrogenias. Introdução: Os tratamentos medicamentosos têm um papel muito positivo no tratamento e cura de diversas doenças, entretanto, quando são utilizados de maneira incorreta, podem acarretar diversos problemas de saúde. A assistência ao idoso precisa ser disponibilizada por profissionais capacitados, que busquem auxiliá-lo na utilização do medicamento prescrito e na escolha de estratégias, para minimizar as iatrogenias oriundas da utilização incorreta da medicação. Método: Trata-se de um estudo descritivo de abordagem quantitativa, que teve como população alvo 103 idosos. Trata-se de uma vertente extraída de um TCC que aborda a utilização de medicamentos por idosos de uma unidade de saúde. Aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética sob Protocolo n.º 45553615.0.0000.5189. Resultados: Os resultados demonstram que 81,6% (n=84) dos idosos utilizando diversos medicamentos diariamente. As classes de medicamentos utilizados no cotidiano dos idosos deste estudo são: Anti-hipertensivos(59,2%); Diuréticos(31,1%); Antidiabéticos(18,4%); Anti-Inflamatórios Não Esteroides(12,6%); Ansiolíticos(10,7%); Hipolipemiantes(10,7%); Antidepressivos(8,7%); Analgésicos(6,8%); Antiplaquetários, Broncodilatadores e Corticóides obtiveram a mesma porcentagem de idosos que referiram utiliza-los(4,9%); Antipsicóticos(1,9%); e Antiarrítmicos(1%). Conclusão: Polifarmácia com a utilização de medicamentos para diminuir a pressão sanguínea e hipoglicemiantes por parte dos idosos, inferindo a importância educacional dos profissionais de saúde, em especial o enfermeiro, no auxílio ao idoso para minimizar possíveis iatrogenias que a polimedicação pode causar.

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved