Building resilience capacity through innovation: highlights from European reports

More than ever firms will be required to develop strategies for coping with shocks and stresses to our economic and social infrastructures. They will need to build the so called resilience capacity, which is an umbrella term for the planning and design strategies that can help firms develop the capacity to cope with challenges. The present work is based on an assessment of works that explored recent European reports on innovation performance. The discussion acknowledges that firms will have to find new ways to reduce their risk-aversion and become more flexible. To become more resilient, firms will need to adopt strategies that allow them to develop capacities that better respond and adapt to the economic and social stresses. These capacities must be planned to transform our current economic systems into much more flexible and dynamic ones. Small and medium enterprises are more exposed to competitive pressures. Thus, the choice of sectors and the design of public procurement policies are fundamental opportunities. With the polarization of knowledge creation across Europe, a few countries are responsible for the bulk of innovation and knowledge production. Therefore, attention should also be given to investment in knowledge diffusion and absorption depending on the specific national context. The fact of some characteristics of the national innovation system explain persistence on innovating in response to major external shocks sheds light on the resilient behavior of firms

Diagnóstico do SI do INEM: fragilidades e mudanças em curso

Os sistemas de informação constituem uma mais-valia na capacidade das instituições melhorarem sua actividade. Sendo o potencial dos sistemas móveis crescente, em especial na área da saúde, é diagnosticado o sistema de informação do INEM em algumas das suas fragilidades. Tratando-se de vidas humanas, que requerem rapidez e qualidade de atendimento em contexto e local específicos, é fundamental que as instituições de saúde implementem sistemas móveis e sensíveis ao contexto no sentido de suprimir falhas na prestação de cuidados desde o primeiro contacto ao atendimento do paciente. O artigo mostra uma arquitectura, facultada pelo técnico de desenvolvimento funcional da empresa Algardata em entrevista, orientada a serviços para ambientes dinâmicos. O objectivo é permitir que, sempre que o utente mude de local, sejam imediatamente descobertos os serviços que mais se ajustam às suas necessidades e determinar os recursos a afectar, incluindo a localização dos profissionais que se encontrem nas instalações

Information systems in healthcare. The case of INEM: use of mobile systems

Information systems are an asset in the capacity of institutions to improve their business. As the potential of mobile systems is increasing especially in healthcare, a diagnosis is made of the information system of INEM (National Institute for Medical Emergency) in terms of some of its weaknesses and changes. In the case of human lives, which require speed and quality of care in a specific context and location, it is essential that healthcare institutions implement mobile and context-aware systems in order to prevent gaps in care from the time of first contact with the patient. This paper presents a system’s architecture, provided by the technical and functional development department of a company (Algardata) for context-oriented systems in dynamic environments. The aim is, whenever the patient changes his location, to immediately discover the services that best fit his needs and determine the resources required, including the position of professionals who are on duty nearby

E-CRM and CMS systems: potential for more dynamic businesses

Any change in customer’s behaviour affects the customer’s value. In addition, profitability and economic viability also change. Most companies still do not know entirely their customer base characteristics. They find difficult to define criteria that segment their customer base to find high-value customers. They need to focus on target selections to carry on with marketing campaigns which involve high investments. Given the potential of e-CRM and CMS as powerful tools to guide customer-oriented understanding and analysis, greater attention is required. Several companies, operating within the same business and having access to the same information and technology, differ in e-CRM performance. Without sufficient evidence, managers are prone to making investment decisions that are neither efficient nor effective. So it is imperative to base the decision of e-CRM and CMS adoption, on not only their analytical power, but also on economic viability criteria for sustainable business dynamic

Aspectos a considerar em sistemas e tecnologias de informação

Os sistemas e tecnologias de informação(SI/Ti) constituem uma plataforma decisiva na capacidade das empresas responderem a novos imperativos de gestão com novas soluções que permitam ampliar sua posição competitiva no mercado. Sendo a gestão da informação reconhecida como uma área altamente diferenciadora, são comparadas várias empresas de diferentes sectores de actividade nomeadamente do comércio e serviços, localizadas (sede ou filial) na região do Algarve, a fim de sistematizar os principais aspectos diferenciadores no âmbito da adopção, reestruturação e implementação de SI/Ti. Realmente as constatações são incisivas sobre a necessidade premente de se avaliarem todos os benefícios e custos envolvidos, indirectos e escondidos. É fundamental que a empresa defina correcta e atempadamente um plano e, no caso de adopção e implementação de sistemas, avalie os resultados obtidos no seio desse plano e numa base anual da actividade do sistema estando este alinhado com a estratégia de negócio

An empirical approach of the distinctive aspects for socioeconomic development

This paper aims to present an integrative approach for examining key aspects, and their associations, of economic development. After a cross-country cluster analysis of profiles related to select indicators, discriminant analysis of the clusters identified variables that most differentiate them. This assessment acknowledges that their level of capital endowment, and the ability to exploit it, is crucial to economic performance. Intangible aspects are the elements necessary for creation and maintenance of distinct economic development. Economies with lower skills and knowledge activities lose governance and cohesiveness, explaining unemployment and inequalities and influencing the consumer-confidence index. Economies with higher confidence use new communication technologies. E-government and knowledge media play an important role since collective learning occurs through active social communication. As the learning environment matures, its elements gain new knowledge and entrepreneurship, valuing cohesiveness and governance. This study contributes an original integrative approach to indicators for cross-evaluation, applied to economies/regions or firms. The complements between cluster and discriminant analyses consolidate and sustain the approach, helping economists, policymakers, and researchers understand distinctive aspects of economic development and their associations for coping with future economic stress

Testing multidimensional keys of development: governance, entrepreneurship and social cohesion

This paper intends to contribute to an on-going change of perspective in territorial policies, more focused on a place-based integrative development strategy, which can be enhanced by social capital. This includes organizational and institutional learning for knowledge and skills’ transfer and governance coordination of the layers involved. Several concepts and indicators can be combined to support a conceptual framework for governance redefinition and sustainable growth. A comparison with related quantitative and qualitative indicators across countries highlights an approach for building a common culture that could facilitate governance and growth sustainability. It is less the size or the level of economic development that explains the different performances across countries/regions, than their levels of capital endowment (social, institutional, cultural) and the ability to properly exploit it. The most intangible aspects (entrepreneurship, participation, cohesiveness) are key elements in making the difference through the creation, valuation and maintenance of distinctive places and communities

Critical information as a success factor in organizations: objective and methodological approach

We are witnessing the need for a quick and intelligent reaction from organizations to the level and speed of change in business processes. These imperatives are very often associated to the emerging of new information systems and technologies, sometimes bursting change and other times being burst, which bring more challenges to organizations. The arising problems can be: from wrong information that lasts; systems not fully used or explored; too much staff; slow reaction to change; etc. This can be summarized in a governance problem that requires two main confluent action methods: people to synchronize their visions, ideas and strategies in the whole organization; and, in that context, select the information that strictly answers to the performance factors at the right moment. The proposed methodology is adequate here, once it turns to the potential of approach to the entrepreneurial architecture as well as to the potential of the information system in order to iteratively select and integrate the data and resources needed for that performance. The modeling of an information architecture of the company and its business helps in the identification of critical information, that is, of the one which is according to the mission, prospects and critical factors of business success at the required moment

How economic crisis is affecting firms? Building resilience capacity through innovation

More than ever firms will be required to develop strategies for coping with future shocks and stresses to our economic and social infrastructures. They will need to build the so called resilience capacity, which is an umbrella term for the planning and design strategies that help firms to develop the necessary capacity to meet challenges. The present paper, based on an assessment of works that explore recent European reports on innovation performance, discusses some underling effects of the economic crisis. This discussion reveals the main differentiating impacts of a major downturn on innovation behavior. Some of the conclusions acknowledge that firms will have to find new ways to reduce their risk-averse dependency and become more flexible. To become more resilient, firms will need to adopt planning and design strategies that allow them to develop the capacities to better respond and adapt to the emerging economic and social stresses. Developing these capacities will involve firms in a complex web of planning and development decisions that, in combination, must be designed to transform our current economic systems into much more flexible and dynamic ones. Small and medium enterprises are more exposed to high competitive pressures. Thus, they have to search for new business opportunities. The choice of sectors and the design of public procurement policies can provide new opportunities and it is very likely that those that manage to capture them will be the winners. With the polarization of innovation and knowledge creation across Europe, a few countries are responsible for the bulk of innovation and knowledge production. The technology gap provides a fundamental potentiality for lagging behind countries to catch-up. However, there is a general fragility as major effects of the crisis have shown. Therefore, a more articulated policy needs to be put in practice as suggested and more attention should be given to investment in knowledge diffusion and absorption depending on the specific national context. The fact that some structural characteristics of the national innovation system explain persistency of innovation in response to major exogenous shocks sheds some light on the behavior of firms during crisis. This represents a step forward in terms of understanding the mechanisms underlying the relationship between macro and micro-determinants of innovation

Professional training efficency: workplace influence factors for the transference of the training

The markets globalization, the new ways of work organization, the changes of demographic characteristics of active workforce and the literacy problems have lead to new demands, not only on individuals but also in organizations as a way to keep the their competitive advantage. Professional training has an increasingly important role as a way for workers to reach the level of proficiency needed to satisfy all those demands by achieving the necessary knowledge to perform more complex jobs. Training has a double goal in contributing to both personal and professional development and, by this way, to improve their organizational performance (Velada & Caetano, 2007). The acknowledgement of the strategic importance of professional training has contributed for a heavy financial investment and effort done by the organizations to trains their workers. This is way organizations spend more and more time and effort in training activities as a way ease the training activities and competences transference related with jobs (cfr. Cascio, 2000; Noe, Hollenbeck; Gerhart & Wright, 2006)