Chief Operating Officer Research Articles

Normothermic Regional Perfusion Experience of Organ Procurement Organizations in the US

Despite the unmet need for donor organs, organ use from donation after circulatory determination of death (DCD) donors has been limited by inferior transplant outcomes. Normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) improves recipient outcomes and organ utilization from DCD donors. There is variability in NRP policies and experience among US organ procurement organizations (OPOs). To determine OPO experience, identify operational inconsistencies, and explore needs related to NRP. This survey study included 55 OPOs in the US that had recovered DCD organs and completed a survey on operational, administrative, and educational components related to NRP in November to December 2023. Data analysis was performed from February to April 2024. The primary outcome was the number of OPOs participating in and/or anticipating NRP participation. Secondary outcomes were NRP implementation barriers, OPO education practices, and future needs regarding consensus NRP recommendations and standards. Of 55 respondents, 11 (20%) were chief executive officers, 8 (15%) were chief operating officers, and 36 (65%) were medical directors or chief clinical officers. Forty-nine OPOs facilitated NRP cases: 26 OPOs (53%) facilitated both thoracoabdominal NRP (TA-NRP) and abdominal NRP (A-NRP) cases, 16 OPOs (33%) facilitated only TA-NRP, and 7 OPOs (14%) facilitated only A-NRP. OPOs reported 606 NRP cases (421 TA-NRP [69%], 185 A-NRP [31%]); median (range) case experience was 8 (1-52). Fifty-two of 55 OPOs (95%) thought standardized guidance documents would be helpful. All 49 OPOs facilitated NRP at a transplant center's request; 39 (80%) had NRP initiated by a nonlocal transplant center. Twenty-three of 49 OPOs (47%) participated in NRP without a policy and without a policy pending approval. Positive donor hospital feedback was received by 29 OPOs (59%), primarily focused on increased organs transplanted and prerecovery communication. Allocation challenges were experienced by 21 OPOs (43%); their median (range) case volume was higher than those with no reported allocation challenges (11 [3-52] vs 6.5 [1-29]; P = .03). Eleven OPOs (22%) had incorporated NRP into general donor hospital education. In this survey study of US OPOs, wide variation existed with respect to NRP experience and practice. Allocation challenges occurred more frequently with increased NRP experience. NRP guidelines and standardization were desired by most OPOs to decrease allocation challenges and maximize the gift of organ donation.

NAVIGATING ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSITIONS SMOOTHLY: A COO’S GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE CHANGE MANAGEMENT

In today's dynamic business environment, organizational transitions are not just occasional occurrences but rather constant features of the landscape. Emphasize the pivotal role of COOs in orchestrating smooth transitions. Chief Operating Officers (COOs) serve as linchpins in facilitating these transitions, ensuring they unfold seamlessly. Effective change management becomes imperative for minimizing disruptions and sustaining operational excellence. Establish open channels of communication to keep employees informed throughout the transition process. Clearly articulate the reasons behind the transition and the anticipated outcomes. Encourage feedback and address concerns promptly to mitigate resistance. Collaborate with department heads, team leaders, and employees to solicit valuable insights and perspectives. Anticipate potential challenges and develop contingency plans to mitigate risks and minimize disruptions. The strategies COOs can employ to navigate organizational transitions adeptly, fostering a culture of adaptability and resilience within their organizations.

ABHW announces new leadership, Greenberg retirement

The Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW), the national voice for payers that manage behavioral health insurance benefits for over 200 million people, announced Sept. 10 that ABWH president and CEO Pamela Greenberg will retire after 26 years at the helm of the association. Debbie Witchey has been appointed the next president and CEO, effective Oct. 1, 2024. Greenberg plans to retire in November 2024. Under Greenberg's leadership, ABHW successfully advocated for numerous policy changes that have positively impacted the delivery of mental health and substance use disorder care, from the development and approval of national behavioral health billing codes to the passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and changes to substance use disorder privacy laws that allow care to be better integrated and coordinated. Witchey most recently served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC) where she cultivated productive board relations, member recruitment and retention, strategic planning and financial oversight activities in addition to advocating for all sectors of the health care industry in lobbying Congress on key issues affecting HLC members, including access and coverage, population health and Medicare.

Liberal arts schools become labs for college mental health innovation

When leaders of a charitable foundation asked the presidents of 13 liberal arts colleges to identify an area of common need for funding, there was little hesitation in the response. “Very quickly all of the presidents agreed that mental health was the largest challenge facing these institutions,” Lori Collins‐Hall, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont, told MHW.

Challenges faced by CEOs in executing turnaround strategies in state-owned enterprises in South Africa

Purpose: Building on theories of the firm, this research examines the challenges faced by chief executive officers (CEOs) in executing a turnaround strategy in the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in South Africa.Design/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative study conducted within 10 of the 21 SOEs classified as Schedule 2 (major public institutions) in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) that previously embarked on a turnaround. The study comprised 24 semi-structured interviews with CEOs, chief financial officers (CFOs), chief operating officers (COOs), boards, union representatives, regulators, and shareholders as the key players in a turnaround of a SOE. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data.Findings/results: This research suggests that political landscape and power struggles, inappropriate practices of board, politicians and shareholders, inefficient internal operations, leadership instability, legislation and corporate governance hinder the execution of turnaround strategies in the SOEs. This research is consistent with public choice, agency and resource dependence theories.Practical implications: State-owned enterprises need to be free from political interference to be able to turn around. Government, board, shareholders, communities, regulators, service providers and unions need to relook at how they portray the CEOs of SOEs, and rethink how they deal with them.Originality/value: This research contributes to policy, theory, practice, economy and society by expanding the theories of the firm, capturing real-life challenges the CEOs of SOEs face in executing a turnaround strategy and solutions to tackle the challenges. A roadmap to assist SOEs in executing a turnaround strategy successfully is recommended.

Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin ski area changes its marketing strategy: the Vail epic pass decision

Research methodology The case was developed from two 2-h interviews with the Chief Operating Officer of A-Basin, Alan Henceroth; there is no CEO of A-Basin. The second interview was recorded on a Zoom call to provide accuracy of quotations and information. A variety of secondary sources were used in terms of better understanding the current state of the ski industry, as well as its history. Case overview/synopsis Arapahoe Basin (A-Basin) is a historic, moderately sized, ski area with proximity to metropolitan Denver, Colorado. For over 20 years A-Basin partnered with Vail, allowing skiers to use the Vail Epic Pass, for which A-Basin received some revenue from Vail for each skier visit. The Epic Pass allowed pass holders unlimited days of skiing at A-Basin. More and more skiers were buying the Epic Pass, thus increasing the customer traffic to A-Basin. However, the skier experience was compromised due inadequate parking, long lift lines and crowded restaurants. The renewal of the contract with Vail was coming due, and A-Basin had to consider whether to renew the contract with Vail. The case is framed primarily as a strategic marketing case. The authors use Porter’s five forces model to assess the external environment of A-Basin, and the authors use the resource-based view and the VRIO tool to assess A-Basin’s internal strengths. Both frameworks provide useful analysis in terms of deciding whether to continue A-Basin’s arrangement with Vail or end the contract and pursue a different strategy. In 2019, after consultation with the Canadian parent company Dream, A-Basin made the decision to disassociate itself from the Epic Pass and Vail to restore a quality ski experience for A-Basin’s customers. No other partner had ever left its relationship with Vail. An epilogue details some of A-Basin’s actions, as well as the outcomes for the ski area. Generally A-Basin’s decision produced positive results and solidified its competitive position among competitors. Other ski areas have since adopted a similar strategy as A-Basin. A-Basin’s success is reflected in a pending offer from Alterra, Inc., to purchase the ski area. Complexity academic level The A-Basin case can be used in both undergraduate and graduate strategic (or marketing) management courses. It is probably best considered during the middle of an academic term, as the case requires students to apply many of the theoretical concepts of strategy. One of the best books to enable students to use Porter’s five forces is Understanding Michael Porter by Joan Magretta (Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2012). Magretta was a colleague of Porter for many years and was an Editor of the Harvard Business Review. For a discussion of the VRIN/VRIO concept, see Chapter 4 of Essentials of Strategic Management by Gamble, Peteraf and Thompson (New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2019).

How do investors perceive corporate general counsel? The role of monitoring and advising demand

We find that firms with a general counsel (GC) in top management (GC firms) have a higher ex-ante cost of equity implied in stock prices and analysts’ earnings forecasts. Lead-lag changes analysis shows that the cost of equity increases after, but not before, the appointment of GCs to top management. Cross-sectional analyses suggest that the cost of equity difference between GC and non-GC firms and the cost of equity increase following the appointment of GCs to top management are more pronounced for firms with greater monitoring demand and less pronounced for firms with greater advising demand. We also observe negative market reactions to proxy statements that reveal the appointment of a GC to top management. Finally, our falsification tests find no evidence that investors react to the addition of Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Operating Officers, or Chief Financial Officers to top management. Overall, our results suggest that investors’ perceptions of including GCs in top management depend on the firm’s demand for monitoring and advising.

Curating the elegance of Chikankari: a case of Ada

Learning outcomes Upon completion of the case study, the students will be able to conceptualize the importance of brand differentiation; suggest the implications of brand differentiation in the context of the traditional Chikan art form; examine the aspect of a brand’s product portfolio management; and critically analyse the competitive advantages of the brand using the VRIO framework. Case overview/synopsis The Chikankari art form gained worldwide recognition. In fact, it also received a geographical indication (GI) tag which is important for international branding. The case is centred around an entrepreneur, Mr. Vinod Punjabi, who redefined the essence of the existing Chikan art form by value addition in terms of intricate designs, patterns and exclusivity. He founded the brand Ada in 2015 aimed at preserving the traditional art form while curating elegance and exclusivity in its product portfolio. The case outlined Punjabi’s journey. The protagonist carefully analysed the open and unorganized Chikankari market and adopted the strategy of brand differentiation to stand apart from the competitors. Punjabi’s daughter, the chief operations officer of Ada, described the aspects. The journey was arduous, but over the years, Ada emerged as a successful name in the Chikankari market. The brand’s intent of becoming synonymous with Chikankari was successful owing to its authentic and exclusive hand-crafted products in the competitive environment of machine-made replicas. Furthermore, the brand also consistently worked on the aesthetic appearance of its store to attract a wide range of customers. Punjabi ensured that the brand was an amalgamation of all the essential elements for its survival in the long run. Complexity academic level The case is aimed for students pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration/diploma in management, marketing and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it will assist the management trainees in gaining valuable insights. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing.

THIS IS ME! The Financial Impact of Ad Agency CEOs and CCOs Who Are Women and People of Color in the C-Suite

Abstract: Although there have been many advances for women and people of color in corporate America, their representation in the top management positions, such as chief executive officer (CEO) and chief operating officer (COO), is still scarce. Among the CEO positions in the 2020 S&P 500, there are only four African American chief executives leading the largest 500 companies in the US. The advertising industry parallels corporate America when it comes to race, gender, and diversity in the top echelons of firms. Can these dismal statistics ever change? If given the opportunity, can White women and people of color excel as CEOs in the advertising industry? This study seeks to understand the role of ownership on revenues when diverse c-suite leaders manage multicultural or general market agencies. This work first posits the predictive relationship of private and public (holding company) advertising agency ownership on revenue. Next, the work leverages the theories of economic detour and resource dependence theory to hypothesize that the race or ethnicity of the advertising agency's CEO and agency type (general market or multicultural) are boundary conditions of this relationship. Results demonstrated that publicly-owned advertising agencies predicted increased revenues. This positive relationship was strengthened by multicultural advertising agencies yet inconclusive for advertising agency CEOs of color. CEOs of color perform at relative parity, in terms of revenue, in privately-owned versus publicly-owned advertising agencies. These findings demonstrate a racial and ethnic separation in the advertising industry, where advertising agency CEOs of color are revenue-constrained. Yet, if given the opportunity to excel into the c-suite, CEOs of color and White women can be very successful and make their ad agencies profitable. In closing, the authors discuss policy implications for advertising agency executive hiring practices as well as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts and trends.

Aldous Glare Trade & Exports: The Dilemma of Establishing an Assessment Centre

Aldous Glare Trade & Exports (AGTE) operates as a B2B technology reseller, offering computers, laptops, accessories, mobile phones and smart TVs. Founded in 1995 in Kochi, India, AGTE started with three members and with a capital of USD 4,000. Over time, it gained recognition, establishing sister concerns: ITnet and Alps Distributors for B2C goods and high-end computer sales. With a four-layered structure—CEO, functional heads, and senior and junior executives—AGTE employed 60 people. The HR manager handled human resources (HR) for AGTE, ITnet and Alps Distributors. It expanded with sales offices in Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kochi. By 2016, AGTE achieved USD 27 million turnover. In 2018, AGTE adopted an automated customer relationship management (CRM) system, though employee familiarity was incomplete. Customer complaints surged in April–December 2018, citing delivery and helpline issues. Directors set a USD 100 million turnover by 2025, allocating USD 300,000 for an assessment centre managed by the Chief Operating Officer Mohan Joseph. It aimed to curb the attrition of senior staff members and enhance CRM proficiency and sales certifications. AGTE aimed to transition from ad hoc training to structured recruitment training, overseen by Mohan Joseph and HR Manager Charles D’Souza. Challenges included seamless integration, past issue resolution and attrition management of senior staff members, balancing established practices with innovative strategies aligned with AGTE’s mission.

John Driscoll named new president, CEO of Caron

Last week Caron Treatment Centers, based in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, announced the appointment of John Driscoll as its next president and chief executive officer (CEO). Driscoll is the former chair of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) and senior vice president of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. He will take over from Caron's Chief Operating Officer Kristine Bashore, and Chief Clinical Officer David Rotenberg, who have been interim co‐CEOs since February.

The “nicest place on the Internet”? Trouble at Pinterest, Inc

Research methodology Data for the case came from public sources, including legal proceedings, court filings and Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The authors perused hundreds of court documents and identified 28 that were most relevant to this case. The authors also used press interviews with the women highlighted in the case. The authors have no relationship with the company and no one from the company has reviewed the information presented in this case. As the case is drawn from sworn legal testimonies, interviews and related documents in the public domain, the authors did not have to seek approval for publication. Case overview/synopsis Pinterest touted itself as “the nicest place on the Internet.” It had an almost 80% female user base and purported to have an inclusive culture that embraced diversity. However, in June 2020, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, two former female employees of color violated their non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to publicly accuse Pinterest of racial and gender discrimination. In August 2020, Pinterest’s former Chief Operating Officer, Francoise Brougher, filed a lawsuit charging the company with gender discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination, and authored a public blog post titled, The Pinterest Paradox: Cupcakes and Toxicity, detailing her own experience with the company’s discriminatory culture. Three days later 236 of Pinterest’s 2,545 employees staged a virtual walkout and 445 employees signed a petition in an attempt to change Pinterest’s policies and culture. The case provides a brief overview of Pinterest, including its mission, values and organizational culture, and details several incidents and complaints by female and minority employees. The case questions whether employee complaints are a relatively narrow issue involving disgruntled former employees who did not fit at the organization or a much broader issue involving discrimination and managerial neglect in creating and maintaining a nondiscriminatory, inclusive culture. Students are encouraged to evaluate the situation in which Co-Founder, Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Ben Silbermann finds himself, evaluate the actions taken and decide if Silbermann should take any additional actions to address the discrimination claims and ensure a positive culture for all employees. Complexity academic level This case is appropriate for graduate and advanced undergraduate level courses in organizational behavior, human resource management and business law or any course where discrimination and workplace culture are discussed.

Data Measures Selection and Factor Profiling: An illustration of Data-Mining Screens

Context The selection of the data-measurement metric should be the initial decision in the current field of Data Analytics [DA]. We discussed with DA-students and -colleagues re: vetting of the Nature of the Data to be used in decision-making. Uniformly, they indicated that rarely are vetting-screening-tests used for the accrued-data to determine if the Nature of the Data is in sync with the expected veracity of the DA-inferential results. This reticence seems to create inferential-issues that may well compromise the acuity and relevance of the inferential-output of DAs. To address these inferential-issues, we have selected a typical DA-screening problématique. First, we will vet the Nature of the Data and then address the problématique. Additionally, we will assume that the problématique requires the cooperative tri-interaction of: The Chief Operating Officer, The Financial Analysis Group & The Data Analytics Group. To illustrate these interactions, we suggest that Data Analytics Group is configured as “Internal Consultants” thus avoiding outsourcing elections. In this proposed Data Analytics Group-context, the Data Analytics Group elects to use a Factor Model [FM] as the Screening platform to “deconstruct” the Pearson Product Moment association profiles for the Data-Panels pursuant to addressing the problématique. Features: We will detail: (i) A Data-Panel Screening protocol, (ii) A Factor pedagogic illustration, (iii) The Carvalho-script re: electing the Geometric-data-context, and (iv) The demonstration of these cooperative tri-cooperative interactions using the Microsoft™, Inc. [MSFT] Data-Panel. The overall goal is to offer illustrations, the intention of which, is to assist the pedagogical needs for instructors, and to populate the panoply for researchers and practitioners with effective and efficient inferential tools. Results We found that the Geometric-context was likely for our sample of market-traded organizations. Thus, we used the ln-transformation for the Panel of Data for our sampled firms. Additionally, we used a Factor Model as the screening tool for addressing the selected the problématique. The Data Analytics Group was cast as an “InSource” as this seems to be current institutional configuration adopted by many MNCs.

Ransys Partners Ltd: digitalizing supply chain

Learning outcomes The case depicts an opportunity for undergraduate and postgraduate students to be exposed to the basic digitization of supply chain management, technology adoption, change management and cost-benefit analysis concepts. The study aims to encourage them to use the data given in the case and exhibits to compare and contrast physical and digital supply chains (SC); design the digitized version of the traditional SC; examine the nitty-gritty of technology adoption in the SC context; develop the change management plans for the successful adoption and implementation of SC digitization; design the risk register and Explore the business process management; and conduct the return on investment analysis. Case overview/synopsis Amber Yen, Chief Operating Officer Apparel Sourcing at Ransys Partners Ltd (RSL), was presented with the task of reducing physical sample production cost and time without impeding order pipeline. RSL was experiencing significant capacity constrain during the COVID-19 crisis, failing to deliver physical samples to international brands. To win large export orders, RSL had to adopt a new innovative way to reduce the sample approval process while meeting customer requirements. Ms Yen wanted to convert the entire sample approval process into a digital mode. She was facing multiple challenges related to the design, implementation and adoption of the digital sample approval process to coordinate the entire SC. She had limited time and was grappling with other impending constraints such as increasing cost, intense competition, demanding customers, shortage of labor due to COVID-19, reducing the bottom line. It was her time to test the idiom “necessity is the mother of innovation”. Complexity academic level The target audience for this case is management or business school students. This case can be used to teach digitization of SC, operations management, organization behavior, digitization of enterprises, IT for business, new service development, supplier management technology adoption, and change management in management or business schools. Supplementary material Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

Interview: Steve MacBeth, MSC, MSM, CD, Chief Operating Officer, Team Rubicon Canada

Simon Wells interviewed Steve MacBeth on December 7th, 2022. Here is the transcript of their discussion.

Through the Eye of a Needle [From the Editor’s Desk

On 31 December 2022, Steve Welby resigned from his position as executive director and chief operating officer (COO) of IEEE. Welby came to IEEE in January 2018, after serving for one term in the Obama administration as U.S. assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering. When he arrived at IEEE headquarters, Welby signed on for a five-year term. When he left at the end of last year, Welby announced that he wanted to spend more time with his family while exploring career options. Steve didn’t spend much time exploring. After coming home to his family who never left the Washington DC area, he returned to government service. His LinkedIn profile shows in February of this year serves in a new position as Deputy Director, National Security, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Serving as IEEE Division II director and as a member of the IEEE Board of Directors from 2018 to 2020, I had an opportunity to directly engage with Steve during the four-day Board Series meetings held four times per year. I had a front row seat observing Steve. I believe Welby was a transformational leader for IEEE and a consummate professional. “Through the eye of a needle” is, of course, a metaphor for navigating through a very narrow opening. I learned this to be one of Steve’s special skills.

British Ornithologists Union: Janet Kear Union Medal

British Ornithologists Union: Janet Kear Union Medal

Transforming challenges into opportunities – a case study of Shukan hospital during COVID-19

Learning outcomes This case analysis will make the audience aware of the sudden nature of the crisis, specifically the transboundary crisis. They will be introduced to the concepts of participative leadership and situational leadership. Majorly the audience would learn to remain composed in times of crisis and comprehend how a circumstance can transform a participatory leadership style into a situational leadership style. The case will allow the audience to brainstorm how to take innovative decisions to manage a crisis situation. The primary objectives of the case are as follows: ■ to understand a transboundary crisis and its characteristics to deal with it; ■ to visualise the application of participative and situational leadership and evaluate and analyse the most suitable leadership style during an unknown crisis; ■ to make the students aware of how to remain composed in times of crisis and, for instance, implementing the change of leadership styles per the situation's requirement; and ■ to make students learn to design innovative decision-making strategies to develop a crisis management plan for managing future crises. Case overview/synopsis The case highlights the successful management of the crises faced by a multi-specialty hospital named “Shukan-Caring Lives”, established in 2017 in Vadodara city of Gujarat, India. The case revolves around the Chief Operating Officer, his executive management body and the paramedical and medical staff of the hospital, who dealt with the grave Corona crisis. This case shows how the change in leadership style from participative to situational leadership style could manage the situation by taking brilliant initiatives and providing insightful solutions with a lot of dedication, showing how situational leadership can deal with the transboundary crisis. Complexity academic level The case is an excellent example of a transboundary crisis for any organisation and demonstrates a novel idea of transforming the participative leadership style into a situational leadership style as and when the need arises. The topics of transboundary crisis and management crisis can be taught in strategic management. At the same time, leadership styles and transformation of leadership style can be covered in organisation behaviour. Management development programmes can also include such kinds of cases to give exposure to crisis and its management. The target audience would be PG management students, management executives and senior-level managers in various courses. Supplementary material Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Research Survey Distribution during the Pandemic: The ECF Platform Provider as an Authority of the Sender and using a Plea for Help

The research follows the quantitative method in which data was collected using the survey instruments distributed among the key informants in an organization. The key informant refers to the decision-maker of the firms that successfully secure funding via equity crowdfunding from the year 2016-2019. The key informants include the founder, co-founder, director, chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO), and chief operating officer (COO). Also, they include other designated posts which hold the responsibility as a decision-maker of the firm with the appropriate knowledge to respond to the survey questions. The study's purpose is to increase the number of survey responders. 231 surveys were distributed to 77 MSMEs. Due to the pandemic, the government come out with the movement control order (MCO) where work from home (WFH) has been introduced. As such, the approach to distributing the survey questionnaires also changes. Instead of using the hardcopy and face to face approach, the google form has been used. In order to ensure that the survey reached the respondents, this study used "authority of sender” (AOS) representing the ECF platforms and "plea for help” (PLEA) approaches. The response rate increased from 0.02% (5 respondents) to 43.72% (101 respondents). Since the study examines the firm performance, out of 101 respondents, only 92 met the required criteria. The data answers the research questions and addresses the objectives to investigate the Equity crowdfunding (ECF) funded firms in Malaysia. Researchers in Malaysia should use the AOS and PLEA, especially in the area where the existence of AOS and PLEA would increase the respondents’ participation and completion of the distributed surveys.

Investor base, cost of capital, and new listings on the NYSE

Investor base, cost of capital, and new listings on the NYSE