Realizing Innovations in Service Firms: new organizational forms and supporting processes

This paper describes a number of innovation forms that are of special relevance to firms in the service industry. Not only technological innovations but also organizational innovations have been distinguished. In the service industry organizational innovations seem to play a significant role. The literature on innovations makes little mention of new organizational arrangements in services. Based on the service management literature a scheme with three forms of organizational innovation and one form of technological innovation is developed. This scheme is illustrated and elaborated in ten case studies of firms in various service industries. The case studies shed some light on innovations in multi-unit forms, combinations of services and co-operation with customers. On a basis of the service management literature and the case studies some of the main processes supporting the (organizational) innovations are analysed.client as co-producer;multi-unit organization;supporting processes;technological innovations

Realizing Innovations in Service Firms: new organizational forms and supporting processes

This paper describes a number of innovation forms that are of special relevance to firms in the service industry. Not only technological innovations but also organizational innovations have been distinguished. In the service industry organizational innovations seem to play a significant role. The literature on innovations makes little mention of new organizational arrangements in services. Based on the service management literature a scheme with three forms of organizational innovation and one form of technological innovation is developed. This scheme is illustrated and elaborated in ten case studies of firms in various service industries. The case studies shed some light on innovations in multi-unit forms, combinations of services and co-operation with customers. On a basis of the service management literature and the case studies some of the main processes supporting the (organizational) innovations are analysed

Een weldaad voor de bijenteelt in Noord-Limburg

Noord-Limburgse imkers mochten braakliggende terreinen inzaaien, zodat er weer volop bijen kunnen vliegen. De bijenteelt maakt een moeilijke tijd door, doordat er lange tijd te weinig jonge imkers werden opgeleid. Hier lijkt nu verandering in te kome

Geen basis voor verlaging onderste leeftijdsgrens van bevolkingsonderzoek op baarmoederhalskanker

Doel:\ud Nagaan of de onderste leeftijdsgrens van het bevolkingsonderzoek op baarmoederhalskanker verlaagd moet worden.\ud \ud Opzet:\ud Retrospectieve data-analyse.\ud \ud Methode:\ud Uit de Nederlandse Kankerregistratie werden alle gevallen geselecteerd van invasieve baarmoederhalskanker, gediagnosticeerd in de periode 1989-2003. Voor de leeftijdsgroep van 25-39 jaar waren ook gegevens beschikbaar over 2004 en 2005. Gegevens over sterfte werden verkregen via het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. Trends werden beschreven met behulp van de geschatte jaarlijkse procentuele verandering en ‘joinpoint’-analyse.\ud \ud Resultaten:\ud Bij de 25-29-jarigen varieerde het aantal gevallen van baarmoederhalskanker van 0 tot 9 per jaar. De incidentie van baarmoederhalskanker daalde in de leeftijdsgroepen van 35-39 en 45-49 jaar (respectievelijk p < 0,001 en p = 0,012). Het aantal vrouwen dat stierf aan baarmoederhalskanker fluctueerde per jaar en daalde in de leeftijdsgroepen van 30-34 en 35-39 jaar (respectievelijk p = 0,01 en p = 0,03).\ud \ud Conclusie:\ud De incidentie- en sterftecijfers van baarmoederhalskanker onder vrouwen jonger dan 30 jaar zijn heel laag en stijgen niet. Met het verlagen van de onderste leeftijdsgrens van het bevolkingsonderzoek zouden veel afwijkingen worden opgespoord die normaliter in regressie zouden gaan. Omdat de voordelen van het verlagen van de leeftijdsgrens niet opwegen tegen de nadelen in termen van overbehandeling en angst heeft deze verlaging volgens ons op dit moment geen zin

Vaginal and (uncommon) cervical cancers in the Netherlands, 1989-2003

Background: The clinical and prognostic evaluation of cervical and vaginal tumors other than squamous cell and adenocarcinomas is hampered by the low incidence, and clinical and epidemiological studies on these uncommon tumors are scarce. Having close affinity with the pathology laboratories, the Netherlands Cancer Registry offers a great opportunity to study frequency, stage, treatment, and survival of uncommon tumors in the cervix and vagina and separately, the clear cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina and cervix.\ud \ud Methods: All invasive cervical tumors (n = 10,570) and all in situ and invasive vaginal tumors (n = 778) diagnosed in the Netherlands during 1989-2003 were selected from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Age, stage at diagnosis, and treatment were described for each histological subgroup to find differences between common and uncommon tumors, including 5-year relative survival rates.\ud \ud Results: Twenty-five patients (3%) with cervical cancer subsequently developed a vaginal tumor (during 1989-2003), and 19 of these patients underwent hysterectomy for their cervical cancer. A significantly worse prognosis was found for patients with small cell neuroendocrine cervical tumors and for patients with vaginal melanomas. Patients with clear cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina and cervix were found across all age categories.\ud \ud Conclusions: The less common histological types of cervical and vaginal cancers were clearly different from squamous cell carcinomas, especially with respect to age at diagnosis and survival rates. Spreading population-based knowledge of effects of treatment of these uncommon tumors should help clinical decision making and therefore improve prognosis

Perspectieven voor werkgelegenheid in de dienstensector; Een internationaal vergelijkende analyse

Economic

Incidence of gynaecological cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic:A population-based study in the Netherlands

Objective: To study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdown on the number of diagnoses of gynaecological malignancies in the Netherlands. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study using data from the Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR) on women of 18 years and older diagnosed with invasive endometrial, ovarian, cervical or vulvar cancer in the period 2017–2021. Analyses were stratified for age, socioeconomical status (SES) and region. Results: The incidence rate of gynaecological cancer was 67/100.000 (n = 4832) before (2017–2019) and 68/100.000 (n = 4833) during (2020) the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparing the number of diagnoses of the two periods for the four types of cancer separately showed no significant difference. During the first wave of COVID-19 (March-June 2020), a clear decrease in number of gynaecological cancer diagnoses was visible (20–34 %). Subsequently, large increases in number of diagnoses were visible (11–29 %). No significant differences in incidence were found between different age groups, SES and regions. In 2021 an increase of 5.9 % in number of diagnoses was seen. Conclusion: In the Netherlands, a clear drop in number of diagnoses was visible for all four types of gynaecological cancers during the first wave, with a subsequent increase in number of diagnoses in the second part of 2020 and in 2021. No differences between SES groups were found. This illustrates good organisation of and access to health care in the Netherlands.</p

End-of-life care for patients with advanced ovarian cancer in the Netherlands:A retrospective registry-based analysis

OBJECTIVE: Patients with advanced ovarian cancer have a poor prognosis and can experience debilitating symptoms in the last phase of life. Several analyses, mainly performed in the United States (US), show high rates of chemotherapy administration and hospital visits near the end-of-life in this patient category. No large European studies are available, while the organisation of palliative care differs between the US and Europe. We aimed to analyse the intensity of inpatient care near the end-of-life in the Netherlands and perform a cross-study comparison with previous reports. METHODS: All patients with ovarian cancer that died in 2016 and 2017 were identified from the Vektis database, a data warehouse including all insurance declarations in the Netherlands. For the last 6 months of life the following parameters of aggressive care were extracted: administration of chemotherapy, emergency room (ER) visits, surgical procedures, hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. The intensity of inpatient care was compared to previously reported European and US data. RESULTS: Data on medical care use was available for 1775 patients. During the last 6 months of life, half of the ovarian cancer patients were admitted to hospital. Chemotherapy administration near the end-of-life was infrequent: 12% in the last month of life. Surgery and ICU admissions in the final 6 months of life were rare (<10%). Our cohort showed the lowest percentages of all five indicators of aggressive care reported thus far. CONCLUSION: Aggressive medical care use in the final 6 months of life in this Dutch cohort of ovarian cancer patients was lower than in other previously reported cohorts