This paper focuses on an important new service management strategy: the operations capabilities-service quality-performance (C-SQ-P) triad. In order to understand what generic operations capabilities influence the strategic behavior of high performing service firms, we explore three related questions: What generic operations capabilities are among the strategic determinants of service quality? Does service quality affect market performance? How is market conduct related to the C-SQ-P triad? These questions are investigated using a stylized capabilities-based model of service quality that simultaneously assesses their impact upon a firm's market performance. Several insights emerge from our research: a) generic operations capabilities affect service quality and performance, although not all relationships are direct; b) service quality know-how and innovations can be directly observed and imitated; c) the effects of technological leadership and market acuity on service quality are moderated by the absorptive capacity of employees to recognize and exploit their potential, and hence, investments in people are critical to success; d) market conduct influences the generic capabilities of the firm more than market performance, ceteris paribus; and e) total factor productivity and service quality are negatively correlated.operations strategy, capabilities-based competition, absorptive capacity, resource based view, competitive advantage, service management performance

The development of medical countermeasures against the hematopoietic sub-syndrome of the acute radiation syndrome requires well characterized and validated animal models. The model must define the radiation dose- and time-dependent relationships for mortality and major signs of morbidity to include other organ damage that may contribute to the morbidity and mortality. Herein, we define these parameters for the nonhuman primate exposed to total-body radiation and administered medical management. A blinded, randomized study (n=48 rhesus macaques) determined the lethal dose response relationship using bilateral, 6 MV linear accelerator photon radiation to doses in the range of 7.20 to 8.90Gy at 0.80Gy minute−1. Following irradiation animals were monitored for complete blood counts, body weight, temperature, diarrhea, and hydration status for 60 days. Animals were administered medical management consisting of intravenous fluids, prophylactic antibiotics, blood transfusions, anti-diarrheals, analgesics and nutrition. The primary endpoint was survival at 60 days post irradiation; secondary endpoints included hematopoietic-related parameters, number of transfusions, incidence of documented infection, febrile neutropenia, severity of diarrhea, mean survival time of decedents and tissue histology. The study defined an LD30/60 of 7.06Gy, LD50/60 of 7.52Gy, and an LD70/60 of 7.99Gy with a relatively steep slope of 1.13 probits per linear dose. This study establishes a rhesus macaque model of the hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome and shows the marked effect of medical management on increased survival and overall mean survival time for decedents. Furthermore, following a nuclear terrorist event, medical management may be the only treatment administered at its optimal schedule.

The dose response relationship for the acute gastrointestinal syndrome following total-body irradiation prevents analysis of the full recovery and damage to the gastrointestinal system, since all animals succumb to the subsequent 100% lethal hematopoietic syndrome. A partial-body irradiation model with 5% bone marrow sparing was established to investigate the prolonged effects of high-dose radiation on the gastrointestinal system, as well as the concomitant hematopoietic syndrome and other multi-organ injury including the lung. Herein, cellular and clinical parameters link acute and delayed coincident sequelae to radiation dose and time course post-exposure. Male rhesus Macaca mulatta were exposed to partial-body irradiation with 5% bone marrow (tibiae, ankles, feet) sparing using 6 MV linear accelerator photons at a dose rate of 0.80 Gy min−1 to midline tissue (thorax) doses in the exposure range of 9.0 to 12.5 Gy. Following irradiation, all animals were monitored for multiple organ-specific parameters for 180 d. Animals were administered medical management including administration of intravenous fluids, antiemetics, prophylactic antibiotics, blood transfusions, antidiarrheals, supplemental nutrition, and analgesics. The primary endpoint was survival at 15, 60, or 180 d post-exposure. Secondary endpoints included evaluation of dehydration, diarrhea, hematologic parameters, respiratory distress, histology of small and large intestine, lung radiographs, and mean survival time of decedents. Dose- and time-dependent mortality defined several organ-specific sequelae, with LD50/15 of 11.95 Gy, LD50/60 of 11.01 Gy, and LD50/180 of 9.73 Gy for respective acute gastrointestinal, combined hematopoietic and gastrointestinal, and multi-organ delayed injury to include the lung. This model allows analysis of concomitant multi-organ sequelae, thus providing a link between acute and delayed radiation effects. Specific and multi-organ medical countermeasures can be assessed for efficacy and interaction during the concomitant evolution of acute and delayed key organ-specific subsyndromes.

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Several radiation dose- and time-dependent tissue sequelae develop following acute high-dose radiation exposure. One of the recognized delayed effects of such exposures is lung injury, characterized by respiratory failure as a result of pneumonitis that may subsequently develop into lung fibrosis. Since this pulmonary subsyndrome may be associated with high morbidity and mortality, comprehensive treatment following high-dose irradiation will ideally include treatments that mitigate both the acute hematologic and gastrointestinal subsyndromes as well as the delayed pulmonary syndrome. Currently, there are no drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration to counteract the effects of acute radiation exposure. Moreover, there are no relevant large animal models of radiation-induced lung injury that permit efficacy testing of new generation medical countermeasures in combination with medical management protocols under the FDA animal rule criteria. Herein is described a nonhuman primate model of delayed lung injury resulting from whole thorax lung irradiation. Rhesus macaques were exposed to 6 MV photon radiation over a dose range of 9.0-12.0 Gy and medical management administered according to a standardized treatment protocol. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality at 180 d. A comparative multiparameter analysis is provided, focusing on the lethal dose response relationship characterized by a lethal dose50/180 of 10.27 Gy [9.88, 10.66] and slope of 1.112 probits per linear dose. Latency, incidence, and severity of lung injury were evaluated through clinical and radiographic parameters including respiratory rate, saturation of peripheral oxygen, corticosteroid requirements, and serial computed tomography. Gross anatomical and histological analyses were performed to assess radiation-induced injury. The model defines the dose response relationship and time course of the delayed pulmonary sequelae and consequent morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it may provide an effective platform for the efficacy testing of candidate medical countermeasures against the delayed pulmonary syndrome.