Health of the Slovenian population: Where do we stand?

Aim: Aiming at assessing the state of the Slovenian population health according to the latest available data, and comparing it with health in selected countries, the objective was to analyse the burden of disease (BoD) data available in a selected database. Methods: The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Global Burden of Disease Study (IHME-GBD) database was used. Causes of all three big IHME-GBD groups: A) communicable, maternal/neonatal conditions, and nutritional deficiencies, B) non-communicable diseases, and C) injuries, in total 18 groups of causes, were observed. Overall mortality, Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), Years of Life Lost (YLLs) and Years Lived with Disability (YLDs) (all per 100.000 population), were used as indicators. Percentage of BoD generated by selected cause, and the ratios of rates in 2019 versus rates in 2014 (reference year) in Slovenia, and the ratios of rates in Slovenia versus rates in Western Europe Region countries (WERC) were analysed. Ratios >1.20 or ˂0.83 were considered as important. Results: When considering mortality, the greatest burden was generated by cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms. In maternal/neonatal conditions, an important decrease in overall (0.68) and premature (0.68) mortality, while in nutritional deficiencies an increase in overall mortality (1.27) were observed. An increase in overall mortality was noticed also in neurological disorders (1.21), diabetes (1.21) and skin diseases (1.24). Mortality rates were higher in Slovenia than in WERC in digestive diseases, substance use, unintentional injuries and self-harm. When considering disability, the greatest burden was generated by musculoskeletal and mental disorders, and unintentional injuries. Disability rates were higher in Slovenia than in WERC in maternal/neonatal conditions, and unintentional and transport injuries. Conclusion: In the observed five-year time span, cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms remained at the forefront. However, their burden didn’t change. Causes with burden expressed by disability, musculoskeletal and mental disorders, and unintentional injuries, which has been neglected in the past due to lack of indicators, proved to be an important problem as well. MPHPs in which a lot has to be done to reach rates in WERC, digestive diseases, substance use, and injuries, were identified

Product-service innovation and performance:the role of collaborative partnerships and R&D intensity

R and D Management, Special Issue: Industry and International Aspects on R&D Management Funding: European Commission under the Horizon 2020 -MAKERS project: Smart Manufacturing for EU Growth and Prosperity, Spanish Government (grant nr. ECO2014-58472-R), Junta de Andalusia (grant nr. P11SEJ-792 7294) and EPSRC (grant nr. EP/K014064/1, EP/K014072/1 and EP/K014080/1)Treating the intersection of the strategic partnerships, R&D intensity and servitisation literatures, this study explores empirically whether external collaborative service development and provision and industrial R&D intensity help to unpack the complex relation between product-service innovation (servitisation) and performance. We argue that manufacturing firms implementing services benefit from strategic partnerships with Knowledge-Intensive Business Service (KIBS) firms. KIBS partnering provides opportunities for downsizing, externalising risks and sharing knowledge. Additionally, manufacturers in R&D-intensive industries are more likely to benefit from implementing service provision than firms in other sectors because of industry dynamics and reduced customer uncertainty. The study surveys executives in 370 large manufacturers worldwide. Results reinforce the importance of concentric strategic partnerships to successful product-service innovation in high R&D industries.authorsversionpublishe

Servitization, digitization and supply chain interdependency

This study draws on literature at the intersection of servitization, digital business models and supply chain management. Work empirically explores how digital disruption has affected Business-to-Business (B2B) interdependencies. Dematerialization of physical products is transforming the way firms are positioned in the supply chain due to a reduction in production and transport costs and the different ways business engage with customers. Specifically, we propose that these new market conditions can empower downstream firms. We further propose that upstream firms can still capture additional value through digital service if their servitized offer includes difficult to imitate elements. The context of the analysis is the publishing industry. The Payment Card method employed is used to test UK and US consumer’s perceptions of digital formats (eBooks) and assess their willingness to pay in relation to printed formats. The method undertaken enables us to elicit aggregated consumer demand for eBooks which in turn identifies optimal pricing strategies for the digital services. Analysis demonstrates that during digital servitization upstream firms should seek to deploy unique resources to ensure their strategic position in the supply chain is not diminished

Improving new product development using big data: a case study of an electronics company

Big data is becoming more important to the new product development (NPD) efforts of global firms. Although the term of big data is not new, very few studies have investigated how firms can harvest big data to facilitate NPD. The purpose of this article is to present the means by which big data can be used to assist firms in NPD to shorten the time to market, improving customers’ product adoption and reducing costs. This research is based on a two-step approach. First, we identified and analysed three world-leading firms that have successfully integrated big data in supporting their NPD. Then, the observations from the firms were used to determine the principle involved in leveraging big data to reduce product development lead times and costs. Given the exploratory nature of the research objective, a participant-observation case study is adopted in which during a 6-month period a NPD project in a fast moving high-tech industry was investigated. This study provides empirical confirmation for the three principles to big data supported NPD: (a) Autonomy; (b) Connection; and (c) Ecosystem. It is termed the ACE principles which we believe represent a paradigm shift to help firms unlock the power of big data and make NPD faster and less costly. This article provides guideline to firms in harvesting big data to better support their NPD: it allows organisations to launch new products to market as quickly as possible; it helps organisations to determine the weaknesses of the product earlier in the development cycle; it allows functionalities to be added to a product that customers are willing to pay a premium for, while eliminating features they do not want; and it identifies and then prioritises customer needs for specific markets

From data to value: A nine-factor framework for data-based value creation in information-intensive services

Service is a key context for the application of IT, as IT digitizes information interactions in service and facilitates value creation, thereby contributing to service innovation. The recent proliferation of big data provides numerous opportunities for information-intensive services (IISs), in which information interactions exert the greatest effect on value creation. In the modern data-rich economy, understanding mechanisms and related factors of data-based value creation in IISs is essential for using IT to improve such services. This study identified nine key factors that characterize this data-based value creation: (1) data source, (2) data collection, (3) data, (4) data analysis, (5) information on the data source, (6) information delivery, (7) customer (information user), (8) value in information use, and (9) provider network. These factors were identified and defined through six action research projects with industry and government that used specific datasets to design new IISs and by analyzing data usage in 149 IIS cases. This paper demonstrates the usefulness of these factors for describing, analyzing, and designing the entire value creation chain, from data collection to value creation, in IISs. The main contribution of this study is to provide a simple yet comprehensive and empirically tested basis for the use and management of data to facilitate service value creation

Analytics-based decision-making for service systems: A qualitative study and agenda for future research

While the use of big data tends to add value for business throughout the entire value chain, the integration of big data analytics (BDA) to the decision-making process remains a challenge. This study, based on a systematic literature review, thematic analysis and qualitative interview findings, proposes a set of six-steps to establish both rigor and relevance in the process of analytics-driven decision-making. Our findings illuminate the key steps in this decision process including problem definition, review of past findings, model development, data collection, data analysis as well as actions on insights in the context of service systems. Although findings have been discussed in a sequence of steps, the study identifies them as interdependent and iterative. The proposed six-step analytics-driven decision-making process, practical evidence from service systems, and future research agenda, provide altogether the foundation for future scholarly research and can serve as a step-wise guide for industry practitioners

The importance of practical experiences and acquired formal education in recruitment of human resources graduates

Bodoči diplomanti in diplomantke kadrovskega menedžmenta se v času študija pogosto sprašujejo katere so tiste kompetence, s katerimi bodo po pridobljeni končni visokošolski izobrazbi najbolj zaposljivi in jim bodo zagotovile pridobitev prve zaposlitve. Predvsem so v dvomih ali se naj osredotočijo zgolj na pridobivanje končne formalne visokošolske izobrazbe, ali pa je pomembno tudi, da v času študija pridobijo čim več praktičnih izkušenj in drugih kompetenc z opravljanjem študentskega dela tekom študija in z vključevanjem v raznovrstne obštudijske dejavnosti. S tem pridobijo dodatne kompetence, s katerimi si povečajo možnosti zaposlitve po koncu študija in tudi kasneje tekom svoje kariere, saj je na zaposljivosti potrebno delati ves čas, zato je pomembno, da se mladi kadroviki zavedajo pomembnosti vseživljenjskega učenja ter pridobivajo kompetence, ki jim bodo koristile in jih bodo lahko uporabili tudi kasneje na svoji karierni poti.During their studies, future human resources graduates often wonder which competencies will make them the most employable after obtaining their final higher education and will ensure that they get their first employment. Above all, they are in doubt as to whether they should focus solely on obtaining the final formal higher education or whether it is also important to acquire as much practical experience and other competences as possible during their studies by doing student work and by getting involved in various extracurricular activities. In this way they acquire additional competences that increase their chances of employment after the end of their studies and also later in ther career, as on employability is necessary to work all the time, so it is important that human resources graduates are aware of the importance of lifelong learning and acquire competences that will be useful later on in their career path

ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF YOUTH DURING THEIR SCHOOLING PERIOD

V diplomskem delu želim motivirati študente za neformalno izobraževanje. Na študente želim apelirati, da izkoristijo ponujene možnosti v najrazličnejših oblikah praktičnega usposabljanja. Hkrati pa tudi, da se bodo zavedali pridobljenih kompetenc, ki jim bodo koristile ob vstopu na trg dela. Trenutno stanje med študenti sem ugotovila s pomočjo empirične analize, v okviru katere sem sestavila anketni vprašalnik. Gre za kvantitativno metodo. Odgovori anketirancev so prikazani z grafi, ki jim sledijo komentarji. S pomočjo empirične analize sem ovrednotila svojih pet hipotez. Da je trenutno stanje boljše, kot je bilo pričakovano glede udeleževanja obštudijskih aktivnosti, sem sklepala že vnaprej. Z empirično analizo pa se je poleg tega izkazalo, da je tudi razlog za vključevanje pri večini študentov tisti pravi – torej da se vključujejo z namenom pridobivanja izkušenj. Moje raziskovanje je predvsem koristno za fakultete, ki posodabljajo programe, saj se je izkazalo, da si študenti želijo mnogo več praktičnega usposabljanja. Praksa se jim zdi najbolj koristno znanje, pridobljeno med študijem. Tega pa vsekakor ne gre zanemariti, spregledati. Poseben prispevek je namenjen tudi vsaki izmed oblik praktičnega usposabljanja. Pri tem bi izpostavila tutorstvo, ki je med študenti še vedno premalo poznano in preredko koriščeno. Moje delo naj pripomore k temu, da bi bile izkušnje, pridobljene v okviru neformalnega izobraževanja enako cenjene kot tiste formalne, pridobljene na fakulteti.In the thesis, I would like to motivate students about practical education. I would like to appeal to students to take advantage of all these options which are offered in a variety of forms of practical education. At the same time I wish they could be aware of competences, they have got, because they would be needed when searching jobs. With my analysis I found out the current mindset of students. I carried out a survey, which is a quantitative method. Responses are showed in graphs with following comments. The analysis helped me critically evaluate my five hypotheses. It showed the current mindset of students is better than expected. That includes attending activities and also choosing the right reason for joining in. The right reason is to gain experiences. My research work is beneficial for the faculties in the first place which are improving their programs as students aim for more practical education. The experiences are in their opinion the most useful knowledge, they got during schooling period. On the other hand my work has also dedicated to each form of practical education. Here I want to emphasize especially to tutoring which is still mainly unknown among the students. I would like to conclude with a vision, in which the experiences acquired during the practical education would be valued as much as the formal experiences