Towards personalized data-driven bundle design with QoS constraint

Singapore National Research Foundation under its International Research Centre @ Singapore Funding Initiativ

Age- and region-specific hepatitis B prevalence in Turkey estimated using generalized linear mixed models: a systematic review

Toy M, Önder FO, Wörmann T, et al. Age- and region-specific hepatitis B prevalence in Turkey estimated using generalized linear mixed models: a systematic review. BMC infectious diseases. 2011;11(1): 337.BACKGROUND: To provide a clear picture of the current hepatitis B situation, the authors performed a systematic review to estimate the age- and region-specific prevalence of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in Turkey. METHODS: A total of 339 studies with original data on the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in Turkey and published between 1999 and 2009 were identified through a search of electronic databases, by reviewing citations, and by writing to authors. After a critical assessment, the authors included 129 studies, divided into categories: 'age-specific'; 'region-specific'; and 'specific population group'. To account for the differences among the studies, a generalized linear mixed model was used to estimate the overall prevalence across all age groups and regions. For specific population groups, the authors calculated the weighted mean prevalence. RESULTS: The estimated overall population prevalence was 4.57, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.58, 5.76, and the estimated total number of CHB cases was about 3.3 million. The outcomes of the age-specific groups varied from 2.84, (95% CI: 2.60, 3.10) for the 0-14-year olds to 6.36 (95% CI: 5.83, 6.90) in the 25-34-year-old group. CONCLUSION: There are large age-group and regional differences in CHB prevalence in Turkey, where CHB remains a serious health problem

The Proactiveness Dimension of International Entrep reneurship : A Qualitative Study On Born Global Firms

Kuruluşlarını takiben kısa süreler içerisinde uluslararası pazarlarda faaliyet göstermeye başlayan, geleneksel uluslararasılaşma sürecine ilişkin yaklaşımların öngördüğü aşamalardan geçmeyen küçük ve orta büyüklükteki işletmeler alan yazında “Küresel Doğan İşletme” olarak anılmaktadır. Küresel doğan işletmelerin baskın özelliklerinden birisi de uluslararası girişimcilik yönelimidir. Alan yazında uluslararası girişimciliğin yenilikçilik, risk alma ve proaktiflik olmak üzere üç boyutundan bahsedilmektedir. Bu araştırmada, uluslararası girişimciliğin proaktiflik boyutu ele alınmıştır. Araştırmanın amacı, küresel doğan işletmelerin uluslararası girişimcilik yöneliminin bir boyutu olarak proaktif olmalarını etkileyen faktörleri tespit etmektir. Araştırmada, Sakarya ilinde, farklı sektörlerde bulunan, yedi küresel doğan işletme tespit edilmiş ve nitel araştırma yöntemi kullanılarak incelenmiştir. Araştırmanın amacına ve niteliğine uygun olarak örnek olay deseni tercih edilmiştir. Verilerin analiz sürecinde Nvivo 8 yazılımından faydalanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, küresel doğan işletmelerin proaktif olmalarını etkileyen faktörler; fuarlar, bilgi, bilgi kaynakları, yönetici özellikleri, ağ bağlantıları ve güven olmak üzere altı başlık altında toplanmış ve açıklanmıştır.Born global firm approach can explain the early involvement of internationalized small and medium sized enterprises in international markets soon after inception without going through the steps proposed by traditional internationalization process. International entrepreneurship is one of the dominant characteristic of the born global firms. In the literature, three dimensions of international entrepreneurship orientation (which are risk taking, innovativeness and proactiveness) are emphasized. The aim of this study is to determine the factors which influence the proactive orientation of born global firms as being one of the dimensions of international entrepreneurship orientation. In the research, seven born global firm in different sectors in Sakarya have been identified and analyzed using qualitative research methods. Case study pattern is preferred in accordance with the purpose of the study. Nvivo 8 software was utilized in data analysis process. As a result of the research, factors affecting proactiveness of born global firms -including trade fairs, knowledge, knowledge sources, management characteristics, networks and trust- are discussed under six different headings

The mediating role of person-organization fit in the supportive leadership-outcome relationships

This study examines whether person-organization fit (P-O fit) would mediate the relationships of supportive leadership with the outcome variables of turnover intentions and job satisfaction. We collected data from a survey of 310 telecommunication employees in Turkey. Our results show that P-O fit fully mediates the relationship between supportive leadership and turnover intentions, while P-O fit partially mediates the relationship between supportive leadership and job satisfaction. Therefore, person-organization fit is an intermediary mechanism that explains the supportive leadership-outcome relationships. In other words, supportive leadership behavior influences job satisfaction and turnover intentions through the person-organization fit. Specifically, higher levels of supportive leadership behavior predicts greater P-O fit, which in turn is a significant predictor of higher levels of job satisfaction and lower levels of turnover intentions. We evaluated both Baron & Kenny’s approach and Sobel test together in order to achieve more powerful strategy when testing mediation (P-O fit). Both approaches provide evidence for the mediation effect of personorganization fit in this study. Age, gender, and tenure were controlled in order to eliminate spurious relationships. Further, we also examined a series of confirmatory factor analyses, which includes our hypothesized four factor model and three alternative models in order to provide additional evidence for the discriminant validity. Results reveal that hypothesized four factor model fit the data better than any of the three alternative models. The findings of the study suggest important implications for management theory and practice. For instance, when managers provide support and create friendly and psychologically supportive work environments, this promotes employees’ perceived value congruence with their organization and employees probably perceive that they will fit better to such organization, which in turn results with increased level of job satisfaction and decreased level of turnover intentions