In this paper, we examine in detail 35 final assembly location decisions to gain understanding of the manufacturing location decision from strategy and economic policy perspectives. We are particularly interested in the decision to locate final assembly specifically in a high‐cost (high GDP per capita) environment. In contrast with the earlier literature, we focus not just on manufacturing activities themselves, but also the key linkages between production, market, supply chain, and product development. These linkages are examined using three key concepts from theories of organization design: formalization, specificity, and coupling. Using these concepts, an analysis of the micro‐structure of each case reveals important commonalities that inform our understanding of location decisions. We conclude by discussing the policy implications of our findings.

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This article explores how disruptive technologies increase the intelligence of goods and revitalize business models in the circular economy. Applying the industrial ecology perspective, we discuss how intelligent goods can boost the sustainability of industrial ecosystems. North American and European cases highlight how business model innovators utilize goods-related information to develop more competitive closed-loop systems. We identify three archetypes of closed-loop systems -inner circles, decentralized systems, and open systems -and delineate how they leverage information resources for collaboration. This study advances the understanding of closed-loop systems in the circular economy, which is more dependent than ever on digital platforms.

This article describes the methodological challenges associated with disease-based international comparison of health system performance and how they have been addressed in the EuroHOPE (European Health Care Outcomes, Performance and Efficiency) project. The project uses linkable patient-level data available from national sources of Finland, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The data allow measuring the outcome and the use of resources in uniformly-defined patient groups using standardized risk adjustment procedures in the participating countries. The project concentrates on five important disease groups: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), ischemic stroke, hip fracture, breast cancer and very low birth weight and preterm infants (VLBWI). The essentials of data gathering, the definition of the episode of care, the developed indicators concerning baseline statistics, treatment process, cost and outcomes are described. The preliminary results indicate that the disease-based approach is attractive for international performance analyses, because it produces various measures not only at country level but also at regional and hospital level across countries. The possibility of linking hospital discharge register to other databases and the availability of comprehensive register data will determine whether the approach can be expanded to other diseases and countries.

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