Suchergebnisse

In a global context characterized by a growing and rapid urbanization, achieving a good performance in the urban transportation domain is closely linked to the pursuit of sustainability, seen as the ability to satisfy social needs - i.e. improving quality of life - without compromising the ability of the future generation to satisfy theirs. Addressing sustainability assumes to deal with certain social characteristics - namely pluralism, institutional fragmentation and uncertainty - that makes the challenge complex. In order to deal with this complexity, literature embarked the road of developing detailed models to support planning activities and decision-making processes. However, a number of limits raised with reference to the usefulness of these models to planning processes. This paper suggests an innovative planning approach tailored to complex urban transportation systems. This approach is based on the Performance Management theory and the System Dynamics modelling.

PurposeLean Thinking is an operation management discipline which aims to identify, map and analyse the activities forming a process to detect "value waste" and outline the most effective flow of activities to execute in sequence. Process mapping is often developed in lean projects through the use of the Value Stream Map (VSM). Like many other management tools, the VSM adopts a static and non-systemic perspective in the representation of an organizational process. This may result in the implementation of Lean projects inconsistent with the overall organizational long-term strategy, thus leading to dysfunctional performance. In order to overcome this limit, the paper suggests combining VSM with System Dynamics (SD) modelling.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a review of the literature on VSM. This review is matched with an analysis of SD modelling principles aimed at explaining the practical and theoretical contribution of this approach to operation and strategic management practices. An illustrative case study is then provided to explore the practical implications of the proposed approach.FindingsOur results show that SD modelling provides robust methodological support to VSM and Lean Thinking due to its inner characteristics, namely: simulation, systemic view, explicit link between system structure and behaviour and effective visual representation.Originality/valueThis research proposes a novel approach to design VSMs aimed at fostering a strategic perspective in Lean Thinking applications. Such an approach connects two fields of research and practice – i.e. VSM and SD modelling – which have traditionally been kept separated or, at least, partially combined for specific organizational sub-systems, thereby neglecting a broader strategic view of the entire process system.

Economic and fiscal crisis and political instability has put the Italian health system under strain during the 2010-2014 period that saw accelerated ongoing political changes. Government interventions in the Italian NHS have taken the form of either urgent decrees or measures in the annual state budget law rather than systematic reforms and have mostly consisted in caps on specific spending areas [1]. At the same time, higher co-payments for outpatient care and drugs have been introduced, adding to private spending on health. On the other hand, the 2015-2017 policy period provided more room for designing and developing long-term policy reform tackling macro-system aspects (appropriateness and quality of hospital care or national chronic care plan). However, performance in terms of health protection and quality of care has showed large variation across regions, mainly (but not exclusively) between the northern and southern regions. The worsening economic conditions had a negative effect on access to health care services for the most vulnerable groups of the population and the short-term effect on health showed an increase in psychiatric disorders and quality of nutrition, posing major challenges in the long run. The political challenge ahead is the reconfiguration of powers between the national and regional governments, where more wealthy regions are calling for greater (full) fiscal decentralization.

PurposePublic health strategies and activities are intrinsically complex. According to the literature, this "wickedness" depends on the different interests and expectations of the stakeholders and the community, the fragmented governance of the related services and the challenges in measuring and assessing public health outcomes. Existent performance measures and management systems for public health are not designed to cope with wickedness since they are mainly focused on inputs and outputs, neglecting broader outcomes because of their long-term impact and the poor accountability of results. This research aims to tackle this shortfall by adopting a dynamic performance management (DPM) approach.Design/methodology/approachThis research explores the case of the vaccination campaign of a Regional Health System. Through the analysis of an illustrative case study, the research discusses both opportunities and limits of the proposed approach.FindingsThis research highlights that DPM supports performance management (PM) in wicked contexts, thanks to the adoption of a system-wide perspective and the possibility of using simulation to experiment with alternative strategies and benchmarking performance results with simulated trends.Originality/valueThis article tackles a gap related to the management of wicked problems both from a theory and a practical perspective. In particular, this research suggests the adoption of DPM as an approach that may support policymakers in tackling social pluralism, institutional complexity and scientific uncertainty all at once.

PurposeRecently, the relationship between gender representation and organizational performance has been the focus of various studies. However, some research gaps still exist. First, in the healthcare sector, this relationship has been poorly explored. Moreover, in public management studies, researchers focusing on performance tend to focus exclusively on gender differences at the top and/or middle management level. This research aims at exploring the relationship between women's representation and performance in public hospitals at all organizational levels.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the research objective, 63 healthcare organisations were analysed through ordinary least squares regressions on panel data from 2012 to 2018.FindingsResults show that, in the hospital setting, gender diversity and financial performance are related at every organizational level.Originality/valueTo the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies focusing on the link between gender and performance at every level of professional and employment category; avoiding focusing exclusively on top management, which was the case in previous studies on the topic. Moreover, it contributes to a poorly explored literature which is gender studies in public healthcare management.

PurposeThis study aims to systematically review the literature on the use of customer value for the evaluation of inter-organizational performance, with a wide perspective embracing different contexts and settings.Design/methodology/approachSearching within the Scopus and ISI Web of Science databases, a systematic literature review has been conducted analyzing 41 papers published between 1991 and 2020.FindingsCategorization of customer value and inter-organizational performance measures were developed and the main differences among different settings were discussed.Practical implicationsThe results presented in this study may be helpful for practitioners and managers who, in the completion of their activities, have to maintain strong and frequent relationships with other organizations. In fact, practitioners and managers interested in enhancing customer value and measuring inter-organizational performance may find an innovative perspective linking the two dimensions. They could find the categorizations presented in this study as a starting point for developing a performance evaluation framework suitable for evaluating their present business relationships. In fact, the categorizations provide a panorama of how scholars have measured until now inter-organizational performance through customer value, and therefore, they could choose the measures more appropriate for their situation.Originality/valueNo systematic literature review of the use of customer value for assessing inter-organizational performance has previously been undertaken, especially considering different settings.

ABSTRACT
The Accounting Historians Journal (AHJ) holds a prominent position as one of the pioneering international journals dedicated to the study of accounting history. Inaugurated in 1977, AHJ assumed the role previously held by its predecessor The Accounting Historian. Consequently, 2023 is its 50th anniversary, presenting an opportunity to share its origins and evolution over time. This study provides an overview of AHJ since its foundation, using bibliometric analysis based on similarity visualization from the VOSViewer software. It also uses citation analysis, cocitation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-occurrence analysis. The bibliometric analysis reveals four clusters centered on the following topics: Financial Reporting, Accountability, and Auditing; Luca Pacioli and Double-Entry Bookkeeping; Accounting Profession and Accounting Education; Taxation and Accounting Standards. Biographies are a subfield that was not captured by the co-occurrence analysis. This paper systematizes a scholarly understanding of AHJ to pinpoint key research domains and suggest potential directions for AHJ.