ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF ECR ON FINANCIAL AND OPERATING PERFORMANCE

A debate has emerged in the literature and trade press whether the adoption of Efficient Consumer Response (ECR), the supply chain management initiatives for the food industry, leads to improved inventory and financial performance. Using regression analysis, the financial performance for adopters of ECR is about 3 to 4% higher than for non-adopters. However, the growth in profit does not appear to come from improved performance for traditional inventory measures (such as inventory turnover, inventory-to-sales, or inventory-to-assets). The driving force behind these improved financial measures can be attributed to changes leading to a shorter cash conversion cycle. In addition, size matters; ECR is more effective due to economies of scale, information technology, and buying power.Industrial Organization,

THE FINANCIAL EFFECTS OF ECR

Agribusiness,

Care Quality for Adult Medicaid Beneficiaries With Type 2 Diabetes Varies by Primary Care Provider Subspecialty

The Georgia Medicaid primary care case management (PCCM) program, phased in over the 1994-1997 period, has now given way to a capitated managed care model of regional care management organizations (CMOs). Using Georgia Medicaid eligibility and provider claim data for 1996-1998, this study investigated diabetes care quality and whether it varied by primary care provider subspecialty in a longitudinal follow-up of newly diagnosed adults with type 2 diabetes during the early phase of the PCCM program. Results indicated that the quality of diabetes care was suboptimal and varied significantly by PCP subspecialty, with patients seen by generalists least likely to have their HbA1c monitored as recommended during office visits (odds ratio = 0.34, (95% confidence interval 0.16-0.73). No PCP subspecialty consistently performed better or worse on all diabetes care quality indicators investigated. The lessons learned from this investigation are that variations in Medicaid care quality by PCP subspecialty is likely to remain and the new CMO model of care will unlikely demonstrate immediate improvement in diabetes care quality

The Evolution of Professional Nursing Culture in Italy: Metaphors and Paradoxes

We explored the perceptions of Italian nurses regarding their developing culture as a health profession. We sought to understand the ongoing evolution of the nursing profession and the changes that were central to it becoming an intellectual discipline on par with the other health professions in Italy. In 2010, the Regulatory Board of Nursing established a center of excellence to build evidence-based practice, advocate for interdisciplinary health care, and champion health profession reforms for nursing. In this study, focus groups—involving 66 nurse participants from various educational, clinical, and administrative backgrounds—were utilized to better ascertain how the profession has changed. Six themes, three of them metaphors—“vortex,” “leopard spots,” and “deductive jungle”—explain nurses’ experiences of professional change in Italy between 2001 and 2011 and the multiple dimensions that characterize their professional identity and autonomy

The Oombulgurri Project Clancy Committee report

In early August the Oombulgurri community requested assistance in the following terms. On behalf of the Oombulgurri Community, we invite assistance in developing the grain and pasture cropping at Oombulgurri. We have experimented with peanuts, sorghum, and many varieties of vegetables. This has tested the reality of hopes to expand acreage and varieties to become self-sufficient in stock feed. The Farm and Garden Guild now needs the expertise of your services to plan a four-year programme. vie need assistance in choosing from the many options, opinions and advices available from Australia and elsewhere, for grain production, pastures, methods appropriate to our geography, and machinery, to minimise expenditure and produce food for the stock expansion necessary to be self-sufficient in locally produced food for the town. Our concerns so far have been to start poultry, pigs, goats and horses stocking to provide useful work for everyone and food „ ually increase production and decrease imports with the appropriate use of manpower, water and other resources. We believe we can produce stock feed locally and grad- We attach our initial estimates of need which includes an estimate of projected stocking and machinery needs as well as a list of what is on hand