Beyond Climate Focus and Disciplinary Myopia. The Roles and Responsibilities of Hospitals and Healthcare Professionals

This paper calls for the need to address climate change within the concept of sustainable development, in recognition of the interrelationships between environmental, economic and social systems. So far, health- providing organizations such as hospitals have paid surprisingly little attention to the relationships between environmental change (e.g. climate change) and human health, or between hospitals (as professional organizations) and their impact on sustainable development. Although it is usually such industries as the chemical, extractive and metal industries, etc., that are associated with environmentally harmful activities, there is also an urgent need to emphasize the roles and responsibilities of hospitals and their embeddedness in a wider ecological, economic and social context. The key objective here is to discuss the relevance of sustainability and environmental management issues in a sector that until now has conveniently ignored its roles and responsibilities in relation to sustainability issues. The paper concludes that arguments based on systems theory, environment, medicine, economics and innovation strongly urge hospitals to reconsider their present roles and environmental responsibilities

Sustainability: Environmental studies and public health

This special issue ‘Sustainability: Environmental Studies and Public Health’ is part of the internationally leading 'International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health’. I was invited to be the guest editor, and to oversee the refereeing process and subsequent selection of timely, relevant and high quality papers highlighting particularly novel aspects concerned with sustainability issues in environmental studies. [...

The innovator’s dilemma revisited: The Home Communication Concept (HCC)

The case described in this article is based on an innovation project at Ericsson Denmark. The project has been called the home communication concept (HCC), and represents the response of a major ICT manufacturer to the reshaping of the telecom market, paved by internet technology. The project is described from its start in summer 1997 to the end of 2001. This is a unique case study in more than one respect. The first author followed the project very closely during his employment in a new business development department (BDD) at Ericsson Denmark. Secondly, the study covers all phases and aspects, from inception to field trials. Thirdly, it represents a radical innovation based on a disruptive technology (Internet technology), which transcends the traditional business of the company in question. The paper describes the entire project, and tries to present it within a framework capable of analysing the actual events. In this respect, it not only demonstrates the classical dilemma of management during disruptive technological development, but also illustrates the internal problem of allowing a creative BDD to become 'sectarian’, i.e. blindly believing in itself and suspicious of the rest of the world. Using the framework presented in this paper, several fundamental concerns regarding existing research are identified and discussed. In closing, implications for research and management are addressed

Kapital- og vækstforhold af betydning for iværksætteraktiviteter inden for vidensintensive sektorer

Økonomisk vækst er afhængig af tilstedeværelsen af et innovativt og dynamisk erhvervsliv herunder af evnen til at opdage og udnytte nye forretningsmuligheder. En bedre forståelse af iværksætterne og det grundlag, som de starter virksomhed på, har en central betydning i denne sammenhæng, da de normalt er nøgleaktørerne i forbindelse med erkendelsen og udnyttelse af nye muligheder. Denne artikel belyser indflydelsen af forskellige kapitalgrundlag på iværksætteraktiviteterne inden for vidensintensive sektorer og aspekter omkring vækst

A Review and Future Directions for Research

The main focus of this paper is on individuals and/or groups of individuals who create or seize a new technology-based or knowledge-intensive entrepreneurial opportunity. For this purpose, a theoretical framework for studying entrepreneurship, using financial, social and human capital, including social ties and networks, has been developed. Research themes or questions concerning how social ties and entrepreneurs’ background affect the funding, launching and subsequent development of a new venture in high-tech or knowledge-intensive sectors are outlined. Also of interest here is how the presence or absence of important environmental factors, such as financing opportunities and involvement in a technology business incubator, can affect the success or failure of entrepreneurial efforts. After reviewing the existing literature, the paper concludes by presenting future research challenges and practical implications for organisations and individuals willing to take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunitie

Stakeholder Management and Sustainability Strategies in the French Nuclear Industry

This paper describes how a nuclear power corporation integrates sustainability into corporate strategies and practices. The case study focuses on one of the world's largest nuclear power generators and describes the corporate capture of sustainable development in its strategic efforts to promote a growth strategy. The paper shows how corporate strategies to address sustainability concerns involve managing different stakeholders, enabling the corporation to sustain its economic growth strategy. Three types of stakeholder management strategy are identified: reinforcement strategies for supportive stakeholders, containment strategies for obstructive stakeholders and stabilization strategies for passive stakeholders. The paper argues that, despite claims of sustainable development in the nuclear industry, there is no significant shift in the ‘business as usual’ approach and that sustainable development is merely reframed as sustainable growth

Brain tumour diagnostics using a DNA methylation-based classifier as a diagnostic support tool

Aims: Methylation profiling (MP) is increasingly incorporated in the diagnostic process of central nervous system (CNS) tumours at our centres in The Netherlands and Scandinavia. We aimed to identify the benefits and challenges of MP as a support tool for CNS tumour diagnostics. Methods: About 502 CNS tumour samples were analysed using (850 k) MP. Profiles were matched with the DKFZ/Heidelberg CNS Tumour Classifier. For each case, the final pathological diagnosis was compared to the diagnosis before MP. Results: In 54.4% (273/502) of all analysed cases, the suggested methylation class (calibrated score ≥0.9) corresponded with the initial pathological diagnosis. The diagnosis of 24.5% of these cases (67/273) was more refined after incorporation of the MP result. In 9.8% of cases (49/502), the MP result led to a new diagnosis, resulting in an altered WHO grade in 71.4% of these cases (35/49). In 1% of cases (5/502), the suggested class based on MP was initially disregarded/interpreted as misleading, but in retrospect, the MP result predicted the right diagnosis for three of these cases. In six cases, the suggested class was interpreted as ‘discrepant but noncontributory’. The remaining 33.7% of cases (169/502) had a calibrated score <0.9, including 7.8% (39/502) for which no class indication was given at all (calibrated score <0.3). Conclusions: MP is a powerful tool to confirm and fine-tune the pathological diagnosis of CNS tumours, and to avoid misdiagnoses. However, it is crucial to interpret the results in the context of clinical, radiological, histopathological and other molecular information

Performance measurement : challenges for tomorrow

This paper demonstrates that the context within which performance measurement is used is changing. The key questions posed are: Is performance measurement ready for the emerging context? What are the gaps in our knowledge? and Which lines of enquiry do we need to pursue? A literature synthesis conducted by a team of multidisciplinary researchers charts the evolution of the performance-measurement literature and identifies that the literature largely follows the emerging business and global trends. The ensuing discussion introduces the currently emerging and predicted future trends and explores how current knowledge on performance measurement may deal with the emerging context. This results in identification of specific challenges for performance measurement within a holistic systems-based framework. The principle limitation of the paper is that it covers a broad literature base without in-depth analysis of a particular aspect of performance measurement. However, this weakness is also the strength of the paper. What is perhaps most significant is that there is a need for rethinking how we research the field of performance measurement by taking a holistic systems-based approach, recognizing the integrated and concurrent nature of challenges that the practitioners, and consequently the field, face