ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING CAPABILITY AND FIRM INNOVATIVENESS OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN THE SOUTH-SOUTH OF NIGERIA

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Organizational learning capability and firm innovativeness of manufacturing firms in the south-south of Nigeria. The study offers an empirical assessment of the relationship as based on its model – 4 null hypothetical statements are put forward. The research design adopted was the cross-sectional survey and data for this study was generated from managers and key personnel of the target organizations using structured questionnaire. The study adopted the Spearman’s rank order correlation in its assessment for the bivariate correlations between dimensions of organizational learning capability (managerial commitment and system orientation) and measures of firm innovativeness (propensity to create new products and propensity to create new processes). The findings reveal significant relationships between dimensions of organizational learning capability and the measures of firm innovativeness. In conclusion, it was stated that organizational learning capability, through dimensions such as managerial commitment and system orientation, offers the necessary support, orientation and knowledge control for enhancing firm innovativeness.

The emerging organizational role of the maintenance function: a strategic perspective

PurposeWith the growing importance of performance measurement and management, this exploratory study intends to examine the practices of maintenance managers with regards to maintenance measures, as used in their organizations. In this process, the study attempts to uncover the relevant maintenance performance dimensions from the perspectives of the surveyed managers. In addition, the mediating effect of information availability on the main performance measures utilization is studied.Design/methodology/approachThe research at hand is survey-based. It utilizes the responses of a sample of ninety-five (95) experienced maintenance managers to identify the most relevant maintenance performance measures. Factor analysis is then utilized to uncover the important dimensions of performance, as seen by the respondents. Additionally, using the Partial Least Squares method, several models were studied.FindingsThe findings of this exploratory research appear to suggest that maintenance managers are beginning to broaden their perspective with regard to performance management. While machine and plant-related performance measures are still emphasized, maintenance managers are slowly moving toward a wider organizational orientation. While the manufacturing organizations are becoming more and more customer-oriented open systems, the maintenance function of these organizations is still, for the most part, operating under the semi-open system orientation. Overall, it appears that an emerging maintenance strategy is slowly taking shape.Research limitations/implicationsFor the most part, performance measures and measurement related to maintenance have not received enough attention from researchers. Therefore, the literature dealing with the different facets of performance in maintenance has not been forthcoming. The study attempts to fill this apparent gap in the literature. This is important, as maintenance managers are being asked to contribute to the achievement of the competitive strategies of their organizations. Therefore, they must quickly learn how to view maintenance from a coherent strategic organizational perspective. Such a perspective should help in integrating the maintenance, resources, capabilities, and technical know-how in order to serve the strategic goal of their organization. The research at hand is limited to a sample from Portugal. Therefore, the results and conclusions must be interpreted accordingly.Practical implicationsAs maintenance managers struggle to move from a machine-orientation to a more organizational-wide strategic orientation, they are often left with many questions and few answers. This study attempts to bring this problem to the spotlight so that it can receive more systematic empirical and practical research. In this context, the role of maintenance managers in the process of organizational strategy formulation should be examined.Originality/valueThe study presented in this article has practical, as well as theoretical contributions. It deals with an area of performance measurement, which so far has been relatively ignored. It uses a system orientation (closed vs open), in addition to the strategic orientation (single vs multi-faceted strategy) in order to shed some light on the need to have consistency between the nature of the system and its strategic objective.

United States Physician Preferences Regarding Healthcare Financing Options: A Multistate Survey

Background: Not much is currently known about United States (US) physicians’ opinions about healthcare financing, specifically subsequent to the creation and implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Objectives: A four state survey of practicing US based physicians’ opinions about healthcare financing following ACA passage and implementation. Methods: Physician leaders practicing in the state of New York, Texas, Colorado and Mississippi were surveyed. Two factor analyses (FA) were conducted to understand the underlying constructs. Results: We determined the final response rate to be 26.7% after adjusting it for a variety of factors. Most physicians favored either a single payer system (43.8%) or individualized insurance coverage using health savings accounts (33.2%). For the single-payer system, FA revealed two underlying constructs: System orientation (how the physicians perceived the impact on the healthcare system or patients) and individual orientation (how the physicians perceived the impact on individual physicians). Subsequently, we found that physicians who were perceived neutral in their attitudes towards physician-patient relationship and patient conflict were also neutral in reference to system orientation and individual orientation. Physicians who were perceived as stronger on the physician-patient relationship were more supportive of a single-payer system. Conclusion: This study brings attention to the paradox of social responsibility (to provide quality healthcare) and professional autonomy (the potential impact of a healthcare financing structure to negatively affect income and workload). Efforts to further reform healthcare financing and delivery in the US may encounter resistance from healthcare providers (physicians, mid-level prescribers, pharmacists, or nurses) if the proposed reform interferes with their professional autonomy.