This study mainly integrates the mature Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework and recently developed Human-Organization-Technology (HOT) fit model to identify factors that affect the hospital decision in adopting Hospital Information System (HIS).
This study presents one of the first attempts to focus on critical success factors influencing the entrepreneurial intensity of Malaysian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) as they attempt to expand internationally. The aim of this paper is to evaluate and prioritize the entrepreneurial intensity among the SMEs using multicriteria decision (MCDM) techniques. In this research FAHP is used for finding the weights of criteria and subcriteria. Then for the final ranking of the companies, VIKOR (in Serbian: VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) method was used. Also, as an additional tool, TOPSIS technique, is used to see the differences of two methods applied over the same data. 5 main criteria and 14 subcriteria were developed and implemented in the real-world cases. As the results showed, two ranking methods provided different ranking. Furthermore, the final findings of the research based on VIKOR and TOPSIS indicated that the firms A3 and A4 received the first rank, respectively. In addition, the firm A4 was known as the most entrepreneurial company. This research has been done in the manufacturing sector, but it could be also extended to the service sector for measurement.
Our current dependency on the oil and gas (O&G) industry for economic development and social activities necessitates research into the sustainability of the industry's supply chains. At present, studies on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices in the industry do not include firm-internal factors that affect the sustainability strategies employed by different functional areas of its supply chains. Our study aims to address this gap by identifying the relevant internal factors and exploring their relationship with SSCM strategies. Specifically, we discuss the commitment to and preparedness for sustainable practices of companies that operate in upstream and downstream O&G supply chain. We study the impact of these factors on their sustainability strategies of four key supply chain functions: supplier management, production management, product stewardship and logistics management. The analyses of data collected through a survey among 81 companies show that management preparedness may enhance sustainable supply chain strategies in the O&G industry more than commitment does. Among the preparedness measures, management of supply chain operational risks is found to be vital to the sustainability of all supply chain functions except for production management practices. The findings also highlight the central importance of supplier and logistics management to the achievement of sustainable O&G supply chains. Companies must also develop an organizational culture that encourages, for example, team collaboration and proactive behaviour to finding innovative sustainability solutions in order to translate commitment to sustainable practices into actions that can produce actual difference to their SSCM practices.
Accreditation is a process by which official accrediting bodies evaluate institutions using a set of criteria and standards, following established procedures, to ensure a high quality of education needed to produce highly competent graduates. Additional objectives include (1) ensuring quality institutional functioning, (2) strengthening capabilities of educational institutions for service to the nation and (3) improving public confidence in medical schools. The accreditation process provides an opportunity for the institution to critically reflect upon all the aspects of its programme and the level of compliance or attainment of the requirements. The self-evaluation exercise, which identifies strengths and weaknesses, is perceived as formative. It is envisaged that eventually institutions will adopt a learning culture for curriculum development, implementation, monitoring and matching the outcomes. In conclusion, periodic accreditation activities can act as a "monitoring" system to ensure that the quality of medical education is maintained according to established standards.
Scientific progress is a significant basis for change in public-health policy and practice, but the field also invests in value-laden concepts and responds daily to sociopolitical, cultural and evaluative concerns. The concepts that drive much of public-health practice are shaped by the collective and individual mores that define social systems. This paper seeks to describe the ethics processes in play when public-health mechanisms are established in low- and middle-income countries, by focusing on two cases where ethics played a crucial role in producing positive institutional change in public-health policy. First, we introduce an overview of the relationship between ethics and public health; second, we provide a conceptual framework for the ethical analysis of health system events, noting how this approach might enhance the power of existing frameworks; and third, we demonstrate the interplay of these frameworks through the analysis of a programme to enhance road safety in Malaysia and an initiative to establish a national ethics committee in Pakistan. We conclude that, while ethics are gradually being integrated into public-health policy decisions in many developing health systems, ethical analysis is often implicit and undervalued. This paper highlights the need to analyse public-health decision-making from an ethical perspective.