(ID: 30) Exploring market dynamics affecting pharmaceutical prices in the Maltese National Health Service: a qualitative study

The main thesis guiding the conceptual development of our corporate performance measurement model is that business success – defined as long-term survival and growth – is determined by relationship quality (1) among the various organizational departments (internal stakeholders), (2) between internal and external stakeholders, and (3) between internal and distal stakeholders. Relationship quality among internal stakeholders is conceptualized and operationalized in terms of internal service quality. Relationship quality between internal and external stakeholders is conceptualized and operationalized in terms of external service quality. Relationship quality between internal and distal stakeholders is conceptualized and operationalized in terms of company goodwill. Thus, corporate performance of manufacturing firms can be measured by a survey of representatives of internal, external, and distal stakeholders. Corporate strategies can be developed as a direct function of strengths and weaknesses uncovered by corporate performance measurement.

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to identify and categorize disclosures from the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards) that have direct or indirect influence on health of external or internal stakeholders. Methodology: GRI core and comprehensive disclosures (as part of universal standards and topic-specific standards related to economic, environmental and social topics) that can be used by businesses for CSR reporting were grouped as to have direct or indirect influence on external and internal stakeholders’ health. Findings: The study proposes a systematic way of conceiving GRI standards in terms of direct or indirect influence on the health and well-being of internal and external stakeholders. Originality/Value: This is the first study that provides a classification of core and comprehensive GRI disclosures that have direct or indirect influence on the health of external or internal stakeholders. This classification will allow businesses to easily report those CSR activities that might be of importance to stakeholders’ health promotion.

Digital transformation and artificial intelligence are considered among the most vital trending topics in the process of hospitality sector evolution. Many scholars found that digital transformation and artificial intelligence cause a massive shift in all aspects of the hospitality sector and digital technology application that impact the whole facet of internal and external stakeholders' lives. However, the adoption of digitalization and artificial intelligence is considered a strength. Corporate digital responsibility (CDR) is a strategy that enhances trust between the companies adopting digitalization and their primary stakeholders. Internal and external stakeholders' satisfaction develop contemporary social responsibility (CSR) challenges in the decision-making process in acquiring, analysing, implementing, and assessing for adopting digitalization in the hospitality sector. This chapter aims to give a literature review focusing on CDR and its relation analyses to hotel industry's internal stakeholders' satisfaction trough a Hungarian case study.

The study aims to investigate the impacts of internal and external stakeholder pressures on the adoption of circular economy (CE) principles. The study explores the primary barriers to and causes (external or internal stakeholder pressures) of CE’s transition across Mexico and explores the effects of stakeholder pressures (internal and external) on the adoption of CE principles on economic and environmental performance. For this, data were collected from 433 respondents using a structured questionnaire. For analysis, the study used the PLS-SEM technique to examine internal and external stakeholders as barriers and motivators of economic and environmental performance through CE principles. Both the structural model and the measurement model were assessed. As well as mediation analysis, the direct and indirect effects were determined. The study found that economic (β = 0.178, p = 0.000) and environmental performance (β = 0.233, p = 0.000) is affected by most external stakeholders through the adoption of circular economy principles. Although the internal stakeholders don’t affect the environmental performance (β = 0.040, p = 0.492), with the adoption of circular economy principles mediating the relationship, internal stakeholders encourage environmental performance (β = 0.201, p = 0.000). The study motivates the public, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the government to adopt CE principles for the achievement of economic and environmental performance and participation in the sustainable development agenda.

Quality education is an everyday quest in Ethiopia, for both the educated and the lay. It has also become an issue of big scrutiny among both government and private institutions. But, the type and extent of roles to be played by different stakeholders are not yet clearly ascertained. One of the centers of attention in Ethiopia is health institution under the private holding. In this research, hence, attention was given to the role of stakeholders in improving education quality in private health institutions. For the materialization of the research, four private colleges were purposively selected as target research sites according to their ease for access of data. Such were Rift-Valley College, Central College of Health, Deborah and Keamed. Target informants were selected from among internal and external stakeholders. Accordingly, the informants among internal stakeholders were 40 students, 20 teachers and four officers. Likewise, four health professionals in the private health center were purposively chosen as data providers from among external stakeholders. The research data were collected in the form of responses to questionnaire from students and teachers; and, in the form of interview data from officers. After thorough analysis of the data, the researcher has come up with the findings that, internal stakeholders had stronger curricular and evaluative roles than external ones. Even among internal stakeholders, officers had the strongest role of making instructional and programmatic decisions while the chief ones, students, had the least. Overall, shortages were observed in terms of inter-collegial experiential exchange, research ties and human-resource exchange among the internal and the external stakeholders. So, the researcher has come to recommend the presence of workable ties with both internal and external stakeholders in order for the concerned health institutions to develop both instructional and field quality.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a multistakeholder scale for assessing an excellent human resource (HR) function to demonstrate the extent to which it is focused on creating value from the perspective of its key internal and external stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach At the first stage, an in-depth literature review was conducted to extract the best practices for an excellent HR function. Then, to test the validation of the developed framework, it was sent to HR academics and practitioners in different countries. The survey responses were analyzed using the methods of the structural equation modeling (SEM) and confirmatory factorial analysis. Findings This study proposes an excellent HR multistakeholder assessment scale consisting of ten criteria based on the perceptions of internal and external HR stakeholders. Research limitations/implications This study suggests a framework for assessing overall HR excellence based on the perceptions of key internal and external HR stakeholders. In addition, it is recommended that future researchers empirically test the developed scale across various industries and firm sizes. Practical implications HR managers, by using this framework, could continuously assess their HR excellence and compare their HR excellence with other companies’ HR excellence in the industry and then plan for continuous improvement in different HR areas to improve their stakeholders’ experiences. Originality/value This paper identifies the enablers and results of an excellent HR department and designs a multistakeholder feedback scale to better understand key internal and external HR stakeholders’ perceptions.

Developing Sustainable Relations with Internal and External Stakeholders in Universities: Vision And Mission Views

Academic Internal Stakeholder Condition: A Comparative Approach

Companies operating in the creative industries are struggling with the simultaneous pressure to be innovative and creative, which requires access to unique resources (such as knowledge and creative potential), but also means they must be effective in actions taken. To find a balance between those tensions, they are using the networking approach. Therefore, it seems that networking is becoming a high priority and that being involved in networks is a crucial part of such companies’ business models. Nevertheless, their competitive advantage is based on creative potential, which means that they are rooted in building and maintaining internal relations. As a result, in creative industries, relationships with internal and external stakeholders are crucial, but are strongly based on trust. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to investigate whether trust is the main factor influencing the approach to management. Moreover, we tried to understand the impact of trust on the managerial actions taken. We used the multiple case study research method to examine the role of trust in cooperation, as well as in shaping internal relations in companies operating in the creative industries. To achieve that goal, 10 companies from Poland and Portugal (5 from each country) were investigated in order to find any regularities. By analyzing the research results, it was possible to identify consistencies among the sample and present the main findings. Therefore, four approaches distinguished by the degree of trust were identified. When the level of trust is low, companies are operating within their network based on close relationships, as well as using collective participation where the team is perceived as a key success factor. On the other hand, when the level of trust is higher, companies move towards cooperative management (where the role of competitors is crucial) as well as individual participation (where an employee is engaged in the creative, as well as the decision-making, process). As a result, a theoretical model is proposed that includes the level of trust and the external and internal stakeholders’ perspective. Based on our research, trust can also be added as a fourth ‘T’ to the ‘3T’ (talent, tolerance and technology) concept proposed by Florida (2003).

Purpose of the article: The objective of this research was to examine the helpfulness of new IT tools which are used to project management. IT tools have been an important part of project management for a long time but after the pandemic time became an absolute necessity. The authors of this research examined whether project managers dealing with big international projects based on soft skills with the necessity of quick communication with internal and external stakeholders are convinced to work with a new tool and find it helpful.Methodology/methods: As a research sample, four consortiums of Interreg Central Europe have been chosen. Each consortium consists of 10 to 12 participant institutions, including the institutions of higher educations, NGOs and municipalities. The main objective of all selected projects is to support groups of migrants and refugees from programme countries. For the purpose of the research, the survey was designed and submitted to all institutions and project managers involved in four chosen projects.Scientific aim: The aim of the paper was to identify the issues regarding project management and risk management before and during the COVID-19 pandemic within Interreg Central Europe programmes considering internal and external stakeholders of the four chosen projects.Findings: The study showed that owing to the use of new IT tools, it was possible to maintain and improve communication in international project teams during the pandemic. The study also showed that surveyed project managers find helpful to work with new IT tools; however, they recognize risks related to communication with external project stakeholders. Most of those surveyed stated that new IT tool boosted the project teams’ communication but did not affect communication with digitally excluded stakeholders.Conclusions: In the authors’ opinion, the results confirm the purposefulness of using and developing the new IT tools despite issues with reaching external stakeholders. In the next step, the research will focus more on the external stakeholders’ issues with access to digital technologies, especially IT tools themselves.

Research purpose This study compared how internal and external stakeholders experience radical organizational change in sport organizations. Research methods A case study of U SPORTS was built through 32 internal and external stakeholder interviews and organizational documents (e.g. strategic plans, annual reports), and analyzed thematically. Results Findings showed how internal and external stakeholders experienced radical change both positively and negatively but in different ways. For internal stakeholders, themes included planning and preparation, stakeholder involvement, an increased workload, the loss of institutional knowledge, and challenges associated with gaining buy-in and support for the changes. For external stakeholders, themes included communication and consultation, decision-making, stakeholder responsibility and involvement, and the number and pace of change. Implications Findings highlight the importance of knowing and responding to stakeholder concerns, and the criticality of various internal stakeholders (i.e. staff, Board, and committee members) for maintaining institutional knowledge during radical change.

Organizational ambidexterity (OA)—the simultaneous pursuit of explorative and exploitative innovations—engenders nested (paradoxes manifesting across organizational levels) and knotted paradoxes (intertwined co-occurring paradoxes at the same or across organizational levels). Both nested and knotted paradoxes are managed by internal stakeholders using approaches that are socially constructed by influences emanating from within and beyond an organization. External stakeholders also help shape organizational innovations but their influence on the management of paradoxes has largely been overlooked. In this study, we collected and analyzed data from internal ( n = 19) and external stakeholders ( n = 18) in organizations pursuing explorative and exploitative clean energy transitions at nine Canadian energy utilities. We find that the external stakeholders engage with knotted inclusivity–efficiency and existing–emerging needs paradoxes. Our findings add to OA and business and society literature by revealing how the approaches that internal and external stakeholders adopt for paradox management have implications for each other, and thus OA. We also provide practical insight into how external stakeholder paradoxes can be managed through stakeholder inclusivity and enhanced transparency of innovation plans, with positive implications for OA.

The drug price is right—or is it?

This article investigates the nature of tensions “on the ground” between the internal and external stakeholders of arts organizations in terms of performance measurement. Based on the qualitative analysis of 19 interviews, the performance measurement practices of two different‐sized arts organizations highlight internal and external stakeholders' contrasting perspectives on a number of measurement dimensions. In endeavoring to understand tensions between internal and external stakeholders, the article highlights the main differences which result from seemingly opposed ways of knowing. Internal stakeholders tend more to reflect “phronesis,” based on value‐rationality, while external stakeholders are more inclined to technical (“techne”), or analytical (“episteme”) knowledge based on instrumental rationality. Nevertheless, there is some evidence of positive engagement between internal and external stakeholders. The article argues that in order to mitigate tensions, internal and external stakeholders should aim for culturally embedded understanding through evaluation‐focused dialogue. In providing both theoretical contributions to nonprofit literature and managerial implications, the article offers an original perspective that challenges existing practice and calls for greater understanding of conflicting interests when different stakeholders are involved in performance measurement.

This article examines the applicability and usefulness of the stakeholder strategy matrix in the context of festival management. An extensive literature review gave rise to the development of an online survey. Data for the study were collected from festival managers in the US. This empirical study indicated that internal and external festival stakeholders differ from each other in significant ways, and that different management strategies should be used to manage them. The stakeholder strategy matrix appears to be more effective for the management of internal festival stakeholders and the least effective for managing external festival stakeholders. Based on the results of the study, it can be postulated that the stakeholder strategy matrix can be applied effectively towards managing festival stakeholders and may provide useful management strategies for festival managers when managing their internal and external stakeholders. This is one of the first studies to be conducted in this area, and as such it contributes to the body of knowledge on management strategies for internal and external festival stakeholders.