Chronic diseases bear increasingly important costs on healthcare budgets. This article reviews examples from the field of e-health, looking at how gamification can help foster behavioural change, which can in turn improve patients' health. Ultimately, it can alleviate the cost incurred by treating the disease. Drawing from emerging best practices, the authors discuss how coupling gamification with e-health represents a significant advance in the management of chronic disease.
PurposeIn the continuing credit squeeze, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are still active in international lending and are eagerly sought out by large, cash‐strapped companies in the West. The purpose of this paper is to examine their nature and strategies before and after the onslaught of the credit crunch and global economic downturn in order to advise corporates on how best to design their strategies and terms in approaching the SWFs for funds.Design/methodology/approachAn analysis is made of SWFs in their dealings with Western corporate borrowers and a case study made of Barclays Bank which, faced with three major options in 2008 to raise a large amount of cash, chose to attract funding from three Gulf SWFs.FindingsSWFs certainly qualify as lenders of last resort (“white knights”), providing ready loans, albeit on premium terms, at a current time of severely restricted credit supply from other sources. Alternative sources of funds – stockholders and government bail‐out – also suffer from disadvantages relating to the characteristics of their loans.Practical implicationsCorporate borrowers should currently view SWFs as attractive “white knight” sources of loans when other providers are constrained. The analysis in this paper, including the experience of a major borrower, Barclays Bank, suggests that SWFs are demanding tougher terms as a result of their strong bargaining positions and historical losses, and that companies should tailor SWF loan contracts to contain maximum incentives and safeguards to produce successful results.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to analyse the new role and strategies of SWFs in the credit crisis context, as well as the required response of cash‐strapped companies seeking loans from them.
This paper examines how external market factors influence the choice of international market entry (direct investment, partnership or acquisition). It is based upon interviews in four industries and upon a longitudinal two-year case study working with a major German Food company entering the British, Italian and Polish markets. The research confirms the importance of external market factors such as market growth, market consolidation and value chain fragmentation. It proposes a practical framework to guide the company's entry strategy.
Purpose of the paper:The aim of this research is to investigate the role of telecommunication firms as technology partners in smart factory deployment and the potential impact on their own business model.Methodology: We adopted a qualitative methodology based on multiple-case study analysis with the purpose of theory-building.Results: i) Identification of three business model trajectories that are triggered by smart factory deployment both for recipient firms and for technology enabling firms; (ii) proposition of a directional framework that enables both smart factory recipient firms and technology partners to understand their options both in terms of Smart factory deployment and business model options and of the interconnections between them.Research limitations: Selected cases have been used according to the state of development of the project. A larger number of cases, as well as a more in depth analysis, would increase confidence in the findings.Practical implications: Identification of unexplored opportunities in the new, smart factory deployment paradigm that could transform the business model of the recipient firm as well as the role of the technology partners.Originality of the paper: We identify the central role of the technology partners focusing on Telecommunication companies, who can enable the evolution of the business model transformation of recipient firms as well as its own. Moreover, the identification of the ownership and accessibility of data produced by the Smart factory is considered the main barrier for technology partners to make their business model evolve beyond business model trajectories.
This paper investigated GP perception of artificial intelligence in relation to symptom checking, and specifically whether GPs view artificial intelligence as an opportunity or a threat. The authors advocate for a sustained collaboration between GPs and artificial intelligence as the way forward for patient and societal benefit. A collaborative approach requires broad-level adoption of artificial intelligence-enabled applications to complement rather than replace a GP's own expertise. Drawing on extant literature, this study investigated how measures of self-efficacy, being an individual's ability to believe in their own ability to organise and implement courses of action, influence the perception of artificial intelligence as an opportunity rather than as a threat. Prior work suggested that higher measures of self-efficacy would correlate with the view that artificial intelligence is an opportunity. In this work, 110 GPs from the UK were invited to be surveyed via a structured questionnaire about perceived self-efficacy and view of artificial intelligence. Of these, 26 GPs agreed to participate, giving a response rate of 24%. The results gave preliminary evidence that higher levels of perceived self-efficacy were associated with greater perceptions of artificial intelligence either as an opportunity or as a threat. This finding offers a new perspective for policy makers, leaders and academics, who are looking for predictors of artificial intelligence engagement. This work may form the basis for further research on the potential causal relationship between self-efficacy and AI adoption, which could ultimately help facilitate artificial intelligence adoption.
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