Marketing as a means to transformative social conflict resolution: lessons from transitioning war economies and the Colombian coffee marketing system

Social conflicts are ubiquitous to the human condition and occur throughout markets, marketing processes, and marketing systems.When unchecked or unmitigated, social conflict can have devastating consequences for consumers, marketers, and societies, especially when conflict escalates to war. In this article, the authors offer a systemic analysis of the Colombian war economy, with its conflicted shadow and coping markets, to show how a growing network of fair-trade coffee actors has played a key role in transitioning the country’s war economy into a peace economy. They particularly draw attention to the sources of conflict in this market and highlight four transition mechanisms — i.e., empowerment, communication, community building and regulation — through which marketers can contribute to peacemaking and thus produce mutually beneficial outcomes for consumers and society. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for marketing theory, practice, and public policy

A simulation model approach to analysis of the business case for eliminating health care disparities

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Purchasers can play an important role in eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care. A need exists to develop a compelling "business case" from the employer perspective to put, and keep, the issue of racial/ethnic disparities in health care on the quality improvement agenda for health plans and providers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To illustrate a method for calculating an employer business case for disparity reduction and to compare the business case in two clinical areas, we conducted analyses of the direct (medical care costs paid by employers) and indirect (absenteeism, productivity) effects of eliminating known racial/ethnic disparities in mammography screening and appropriate medication use for patients with asthma. We used Markov simulation models to estimate the consequences, for defined populations of African-American employees or health plan members, of a 10% increase in HEDIS mammography rates or a 10% increase in appropriate medication use among either adults or children/adolescents with asthma.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The savings per employed African-American woman aged 50-65 associated with a 10% increase in HEDIS mammography rate, from direct medical expenses and indirect costs (absenteeism, productivity) combined, was $50. The findings for asthma were more favorable from an employer point of view at approximately$1,660 per person if raising medication adherence rates in African-American employees or dependents by 10%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>For the employer business case, both clinical scenarios modeled showed positive results. There is a greater potential financial gain related to eliminating a disparity in asthma medications than there is for eliminating a disparity in mammography rates.</p

How much does industry matter in Taiwan

ABSTRACT This study examines the relative importance of year, industry, corporate, business unit, and transient industry effects on Taiwan business unit profitability between the years 1994 and 2000. Consistent with previous studies, our results indicate that in Taiwan business unit effects are considerably more important to profitability than other effects. When compared to the United States, we find that transient industry effects are more important to profitability in Taiwan, inasmuch as Taiwan manufacturing faced changes in its management environment when industrial investment transferred to Mainland China during the 1990s. This transfer resulted in a rapid change in Taiwan&apos;s industry structure that affected profitability. Our findings suggest that Taiwanese firms cannot control the structural factors of industry within the rapidly changing management environment. This may indicate that the competitive advantages of the business unit have a relatively larger influence on firm profitability in Taiwan than in the U.S. JEL Classification: L1

Prevalence of MPL W515L/K Mutations in Taiwanese Patients With Philadelphia-negative Chronic Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

The discovery of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2)-V617F has provided important insight into the pathogenesis of Philadelphia-negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (Ph-negative MPNs); however, the etiology of JAK2V617F-negative Ph-negative MPN remains unidentified. MPLW515L and MPLW515K (MPLW515L/K) are 2 gain-of-function mutations, which have been found in some Ph-negative MPN patients from Western countries. However, little is known about the incidence of these mutations in Taiwanese Ph-negative MPN patients. Methods: We determined the MPL sequence of DNA samples from 105 patients, including 88 patients with Ph-negative MPNs and 17 with myelodysplastic syndrome, using polymerase chain reaction amplification of the cytokine receptor MPL exon 10 sequence. Results: All the patients were normal at codon 515 regardless of their JAK2 status. Conclusion: The MPL W515L/K mutations are rare in Taiwanese patients with Ph-negative MPNs