Elaborating on modular interfaces in multi-provider contexts

Based on the e-commerce logistics industry, the modularization mode of the cloud logistics platform of the STARS EXPRESS has been analyzed in this paper from 3 aspects of service through exploratory case analysis, which is called as service process modularization, service function modularization and service object modularization. By the exploratory case studies, we have analyzed the modularization service model of cloud logistics platform, and then put forward the realization method of modularization service mode of e-commerce logistics. As the discovery of research: E-commerce cloud logistics has begun to show the characteristics of service modularization, the service modularization and function aggregation effect of cloud logistics platform have begun to emerge; the network modularization structure led by the core enterprises of cloud logistics has been basically formed; the socialized logistics standards have been improved and promoted by the e-commerce logistics standards; and the logistics functions have been deconstructed by the service modularization. The purpose of this paper is to create a service modularization interface for cloud logistics platform, improve the information integration among the service modules and build a service modularization model for cloud logistics.

PurposeThis paper aims to conduct case studies in companies of different branches of the agribusiness sector to analyze the degree of adherence to lean production system, considering the use of techniques and tools, and how the specificities of the agribusiness system work.Design/methodology/approachBy contributing to the refinement of the theory, multiple type case studies were conducted in eight agribusiness units from different branches by applying structured interviews, on-site visits and document analysis. The comparative analysis of the cases occurred focusing on the degree of adherence to lean production system; use of techniques and tools; and influence of the specificities of agribusiness systems.FindingsThe adoption of lean production system occurs as an improvement mechanism of organizational performance. However, it is necessary to advance in the formalization of the actions, which need to encourage the creation of new leaders who spread the organizational philosophy. When comparing the degree of adherence to lean production with the use of techniques and tools, it was observed that there is no direct relationship, indicating that each organization should select only the techniques and tools that will improve their own organizational performance. At last, the specific characteristics of seasonality of consumption, quality and health surveillance and sociological aspects of the food have high influence on surveyed agribusiness systems, and its effects can be minimized by the techniques and tools associated with lean production system.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis is valid for the universe investigated due to the specific characteristic of the case study.Originality/valueThe literature regarding the lean production philosophy is vast; however, the agribusiness segment, one of the major sectors of the global economy, features a large gap in literature. This study is one of the first original papers to report this reality.

PurposeWhile service scholars see modularisation as balancing the efficiency of standardisation with the value added through customisation the relationships between these concepts are under-theorised. In addition, although information and communication technologies can facilitate all three service strategies, the degree to which they codify service knowledge is not explicitly considered in the extant literature. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a model that examines service strategy trajectories by specifically considering the ICTs used and the degree of knowledge codification employed.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on three qualitative case studies of service departments of firms involved in cardiovascular applications, orthopaedic, spinal and neuroscience product development and information technology support. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews, document analysis and non-participant observation.FindingsFindings show that ICTs were increasingly used to codify both standardised and customised services, though in different ways. For standardised services ICTs codified the service process, making them even more rigid. Due to the dynamic nature of customised services, drawing on experts' tacit knowledge, ICTs codified the possessors of knowledge rather than the service process they undertook. This study also identified a duality between the tacit development of customised services and modular service codification.Research limitations/implicationsThe model is validated using case studies from three companies in the medical and information technology sectors limiting its generalisability.Practical implicationsThe importance of considering the degree of tacitness or explicitness of service knowledge is important for service codification. The paper provides managers with empirical examples of how ICTs are used to support all three strategies, allows them to identify their current position and indicates possible future trajectories.Originality/valueThe papers main contribution is the development of a model that integrates the literature on service strategies with knowledge management strategies to classify service standardisation, customisation and modularisation in terms of both service orientation and degree of ICT codification.

Without careful methodological guidance, case studies in software engineering are difficult to plan, design and execute. While there are a number of broad guidelines for case study research, there are none that specifically address the needs of a software engineer undertaking multiple case studies in an industrial setting. Through a synthesis of existing best practices in case study research, we provide a set of comprehensive guidelines for conducting multiple case studies in software engineering research. Our guidelines can assist software engineering researchers with all stages of multiple case study research, although in this paper we concentrate on the early phases, such as focusing the case study and detailed plan design. To date, three exploratory research projects found our guidelines very useful. We illustrate our guidelines with examples from one of these projects.

We explored the perspectives of professionals working in health and aged care services in South Australia about factors that influenced successful transitions from hospital to home or residential aged care home for older people. We examined successful and recommended strategies that could support safe transitions following hospital discharge and reduce avoidable hospital admissions in South Australia. Nineteen professionals from acute, post-acute, primary, community and aged care settings in South Australia participated in semi-structured interviews. Qualitative content analysis was conducted. Participants reported that navigating service provision could be difficult, compounded by different funding arrangements for hospitals, community, primary care and aged care services. Some participants felt that there was an over-reliance on the hospital sector, leaving primary care and community-based services under-utilised to support hospital transitions. The importance of good communication between services and sectors was highlighted. Participants described different categories of services that supported safe transitions by supporting older people immediately post-discharge; services that provided support to stay at home in the weeks and months following discharge; and services that helped the person receive health care at locations other than hospitals or emergency departments when they were unwell. Participants noted that successful programs were not always maintained. Division of responsibility of aged and health-care services between state and national governance contributes to fragmentation of care in South Australia. Careful planning of transitions and coordination of services across sectors is required to ensure older people are supported in the months following discharge from hospital to reduce avoidable rehospitalisations.

This paper seeks to improve the understanding of how service-based companies can benefit from developing and delivering service offerings from a standardised core of service modules, which are organised through a service architecture. Research within the field is relatively sparse, and there is scope for an explicit definition of elements related to the development of modular service platforms and architectures. A study of the existing literature, combined with a comprehensive case study in a global engineering consultancy, has created the basis for development and evaluation of the conceptual model for modular service design synthesis presented in this paper. The case study is based on internal documentation and a high level of interview data. Inductive research methods have been used for the analysis. The presented conceptual model defines three suggested dimensions (Market Segmentation, Service Roadmap and Service Architecture Layout) to be included in development of modular service platforms and architectures. Testing indicates a significant standardisation potential for service configuration across service families. Our understanding is that the approach can increase strategic flexibility and adaptability to changes in a quick evolving service market. The empirical part of this paper is exploratory in nature and is limited to one provider of high-end engineering consultancy services. Thus, further research will be needed to verify the aspects of the presented methodology to allow a further generalisation of our findings. Nevertheless, this paper contributes to the emerging literature on service modularity by presenting a specific operational approach for description and utilisation of modular service platforms and architectures.

Modularity is one of the prominent principles in designing services which must be adhered during service design. Services can be simply defined as modular units which concentrate on a single business functionality. Focusing on a single business functionality, modular services can be easily reused in various contexts and also can be composed to satisfy new requirements. On the other hand, modularity in services prevents the propagation of changes to other services and thus simplifies maintenance of service-oriented systems. Since service-oriented analysis and design methods lack on providing a quantitative model for service modularity level evaluation, identification of optimally granular services is the key challenge in developing service-oriented solutions. Thus, it is necessary to define metrics to measure the degree of service modularity prior to the implementation, a concern rarely noticed in previous researches. In this paper, we propose a metric suite to measure the degree of modularity of a service at the design level from conceptual point of view. More precisely, using existing semantics in business processes, the proposed metrics evaluate modularity of a service considering three known aspects, i.e., decomposability, compos-ability and understandability. Finally, a case study is used to explain our metrics and demonstrate their effectiveness.

Neuromotor and functional assessment of the non-progressive to progressive transition in multiple sclerosis: a multiple case study

BackgroundIt is well documented that Canadian healthcare does not fully meet the health needs of First Nations, Inuit or Métis peoples. In 1996, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples concluded that Indigenous peoples’ healthcare needs had to be met by strategies and systems that emerged from Indigenous worldviews and cultures. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission also called on health organizations to learn from Indigenous knowledges and integrate Indigenous worldviews alongside biomedicine and other western ways of knowing. These calls have not yet been met. Meanwhile, the dynamic of organizational learning from knowledges and evidence within communities is poorly understood—particularly when learning is from communities whose ways of knowing differ from those of the organization. Through an exploration of organizational and health system learning, this study will explore how organizations learn from the Indigenous communities they serve and contribute to (re-)conceptualizing the learning organization and learning health system in a way that privileges Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing.MethodsThis study will employ a two-eyed seeing literature review and embedded multiple case study. The review, based on Indigenous and western approaches to reviewing and synthesizing knowledges, will inform understanding of health system learning from different ways of knowing. The multiple case study will examine learning by three distinct government organizations in Northwest Territories, a jurisdiction in northern Canada, that have roles to support community health and wellness: Tłı̨chǫ Government, Gwich’in Tribal Council, and Government of Northwest Territories. Case study data will be collected via interviews, talking circles, and document analysis. A steering group, comprising Tłı̨chǫ and Gwich’in Elders and representatives from each of the three partner organizations, will guide all aspects of the project.DiscussionExamining systems that create health disparities is an imperative for Canadian healthcare. In response, this study will help to identify and understand ways for organizations to learn from and respectfully apply knowledges and evidence held within Indigenous communities so that their health and wellness are supported. In this way, this study will help to guide health organizations in the listening and learning that is required to contribute to reconciliation in healthcare.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to further develop the construct of service platform and to clarify the definition of service platform in an industrial context. To do so, an understanding of the foundations for service platforms, based on a service perspective, is created.Design/methodology/approachThe study has adopted a qualitative case study approach and builds on in-depth interviews with remote service teams in two multinational firms: one in the food processing and packaging industry and the other in the pulp and paper industry.FindingsThe foundations for successful service platforms consist of modularising resources, integrations and service processes to create value propositions. The value propositions could result in variations of a service or in variations of different services. When defining the concept service platform, the perspective of service needs to be made evident; therefore, the authors define service platform as: value proposition(s) consisting of a modular structure that invites to and facilitates value co-creation between resources, through integration opportunities in a continuous service process.Research limitations/implicationsThe results are based on the perspective of two suppliers in similar industries; only remote services were studied. Firms from different types of industries and other types of services could add to the research on service modularity according to a service perspective. Moreover, information about customers and other actors’ involvement on the platform was gathered from the firms studied, no customers or other actors were interviewed.Practical implicationsThis study shows the importance of a firm involving itself in the value creation of the customer, that is, focusing on value co-creation. This implies a close cooperation between the manufacturer and its customer – not only at a given point in time but also over a longer period of cooperation. Through the different types of modules building up the service platform, value co-creation can take place in various ways.Originality/valueThis study offers original empirical contributions on platforms from a service perspective. The study contributes to servitisation, service modularity and service (dominant) logic research by developing an understanding of the foundations for service platforms based on a service perspective. It also contributes to platform research more specifically by developing a definition of service platform in an industrial context.

In the food delivery sector, the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has grown significantly. An important player in the Indian market for online food ordering and delivery, Swiggy, has been looking into how AI could improve its business processes and customer support. This topic intends to analyze the research on artificial intelligence (AI) utilisation in the food delivery sector and investigate its possible uses for Swiggy. The paper covers several AI applications and their effects on many business elements, such as logistics optimization algorithms, NLP-based chat bots, and picture recognition-based recommendation systems. According to the study, Swiggy could boost customer service, increase delivery efficiency, and give users tailored recommendations if it used AI. However, it is essential to assure the moral use of AI and address any potential privacy and prejudice issues. The study comes to the conclusion that AI offers a lot of potential for enhancing Swiggy's business processes and customer service, which would eventually improve customer satisfaction and retention. To do the findings of this topic the sample size of 400 restaurants were taken into account to know the customer preference and the service provided by the restauramt partners in the Swiggy platform and to rectify there problems and issues faced by them in accepting the orders and their online presence in the Swiggy app so that there customer ratings and service can be increased.

The CSRS Medicaid LOB Enablement project transforms customer service operations for Medicaid members through Salesforce Platform 1 integration. This​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ initiative is a response to the most important operational problems that affect the verification of eligibility, the processing of claims, obtaining prior authorization, and case management. The complex Medicaid regulations that apply in several states require the use of specialized workflows and the implementation of mechanisms for compliance. The solution introduces guided interactions for Customer Service Representatives that improve accuracy and reduce processing time. Real-time data retrieval from legacy systems eliminates information gaps that previously caused delays. Robust error handling converts ambiguous backend codes into actionable messages for CSRs. Call tracking integration with Q Next ensures accurate state-level reporting and audit compliance. Environment-specific deployment strategies maintain stability across diverse regulatory requirements. The platform serves a substantial user base across Medicaid, Commercial, Medicare, and Duals lines of business. Claim rework reduction and decreased repeat calls generate significant operational savings. Automated indicator updates and backend optimizations contribute additional efficiency gains. Besides the immediate enhancements, the project is laying down the architectural bases for the next AI-powered functionalities. They feature the generation of autonomous claim responses, CRM orchestration for omnichannel engagement, and automated case wrap-up. The program is a step toward long-term scalability and innovation for the platform. While it raises the bar for the use of AI in customer service in healthcare, it also ensures that the strictest regulatory compliances are observed. This transformation serves as a cornerstone in enterprise Medicaid modernization efforts.

Mechanisms that large organizations employ to facilitate corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement simply do not apply to start-ups due to distinct differences. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into how start-ups strive for sustainability in their business models by investigating internal and external drivers related to organizational processes, managerial characteristics, and stakeholder expectations. We explored key factors such as decision-making regarding CSR engagement, business values about sustainability, entrepreneurial orientation, and the relevance of the CSR theater (philanthropic orientation, disruptive innovation, or transforming the ecosystem). Multiple case studies and interview data elucidated how start-ups engage with their community and stakeholders to determine the best approach to sustainability demands, how start-ups embed sustainability practices within their business models, and how these practices match with the entrepreneurs’ personalities. On the basis of our case studies and data analysis, we propose that the decision to engage in CSR is treated as an investment decision. The business values of a start-up determine its CSR engagement. The philanthropic drive of a start-up determines its CSR initiatives, which are then in line with the field the start-up is operating in. Entrepreneurs’ willingness to adopt CSR practices is determined by their personalities and organizational expertise and experiences. CSR engagement within the business models of start-ups is based on a combination of financial and social capital, while financial benefits act as a continuous motivator for CSR engagement from inception.

Strategies to minimize preventable morbidity and mortality resulting from pandemics like COVID-19.

Background: There is a lack of studies on the waste of fruits and vegetables covering both distributors and the retail sector. Our study advances from previous ones by proposing the analysis of local retailers of different sizes and wholesalers. Our objective was to analyze the logistical practices to reduce the waste of fruits and vegetables in wholesalers and small retailers in Federal District, Brazil. Methods: A multiple case study was conducted with 19 retailers and eight wholesalers. We administered semi-structured interviews and performed documental analysis and direct observation. Results: The findings demonstrated the leading logistical practices of handling, conservation, management and control, and consumer awareness about food waste. The type of retailer was limited to grocery stores and fruit shops, and the type of food covered only fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, we considered the food waste generated in the logistics processes and not that after consumption. Conclusions: More than a third of the food produced worldwide is lost or wasted. A considerable part of the food waste is associated with the lack of an adequate structure of the logistical processes. The results may contribute to the adoption of practices related to reducing food waste by retailers and wholesalers.