Stakeholders Consumers Research Articles

Multicriteria evaluation of demand side management (DSM) implementation strategies in the Indian power sector

In recent years, demand side management (DSM) has emerged as an efficient utility planning strategy for reducing capacity shortages and improving system load factors. The Indian government is adopting various policies to implement DSM programs. DSM implementation involves a variety of interests with conflicting objectives, and a range of possible implementation strategies with varying implications for effectiveness, cost, feasibility, efficiency and stakeholder acceptance. This necessitates a critical comparison of the strategies to determine a preferred strategy or combination of strategies from each specific stakeholder's point of view. The present study evaluates DSM implementation strategies from a multiobjective perspective using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Eight strategies and six criteria were considered. Forty utility, regulator, and consumer stakeholders were surveyed. The most highly ranked strategies involved creating dedicated funds and providing technical support to end users for effective implementation of DSM.

Research Capacity Building: A True Action Agenda

In late April, I attended a meeting titled “Rehabilitation Medicine Summit: Building Research Capacity.” The overarching goal of the Summit was to discuss obstacles to and opportunities for research capacity building in the field of rehabilitation, and the intent was to bring together rehabilitation research leaders with others who have a stake in disability research. Attendees reviewed position papers prepared in advance of the Summit and, over 2 days, engaged in in-depth discussion. The specific objective of the Summit was to draft an action agenda that rehabilitation stakeholders could use to strengthen efforts to build research capacity in rehabilitation. For me, the meeting was remarkable in 2 important ways. First, the planning for this Summit and the composition of its attendees were truly inter-disciplinary. Attendance was by invitation and was limited to 100 invitees drawn from diverse groups, including researchers, practitioners, educators across all major rehabilitation disciplines, and representatives of government agencies and disability advocacy groups. All of the rehabilitation professions and major professional and consumer stakeholder groups received an invitation; most sent a representative to participate. The Foundation for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation spearheaded planning for the Summit and asked the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the …

Consumer as Stakeholder in Service Crises: Perspectives from Services Marketing

This paper seeks to increase understanding of the subtleties of the consumer stakeholder role in crises that affect service organisations. In so doing, it focuses on research findings that have adopted a consumer perspective on service failures and service recovery, and evaluates current services marketing research on the fundamental notion of consumer participation in service production. A case study of an organisation that was subject to two crises over a two-year period is used to highlight the elements of a services marketing approach to service recovery, and to make clear the effect of consumers' participation in services on their behaviours in service crises. While there is some evidence, in the case study, of the appropriateness of ‘standard’ service recovery strategies, it is argued that it is the implications of consumer participation in services—especially the roles of dysfunctional consumers, and the dynamics of consumer-to-consumer interactions—that are the most important in understanding the consumer stakeholder role in service crises. In summary, the ‘customer as stakeholder’ approach from services marketing advocated in the paper further enhances the necessarily multifunctional risk management processes that companies require to improve their operational and strategic resilience.

The Issue of Governance and the Role of the Regulator: Lessons from the California Deregulation Experiment

The deregulation of the California electricity industry began as a collaborative effort between the regulatory institutions, legislature, the regulated utilities and consumer stakeholders. However, the authorizing legislation failed to define the ongoing role and authority of the principal regulatory institution in the State—the Public Utilities Commission. As a consequence, roles and responsibilities were assumed largely by institutional initiative as opposed to a master plan with the result that competition for authority extended through State and Federal jurisdictions without formal resolution. Under the weight of an inverse relationship of wholesale to retail costs, the wholesale electricity market began to disintegrate. In response, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the California Governor’s Office and the California Legislature began to exert or assert authority over operations and regulation of the market. The result was confusion, increased cost, limited response to extraordinary conditions and ultimately loss of regulatory control by the Public Utilities Commission. Options were available to forestall or avoid the eventual outcome but were not adopted or advocated in time. The lessons learned should help craft future deregulation efforts.

Fourth Generation Evaluation of Health Services: Exploring a Methodology That Offers Equal Voice to Consumer and Professional Stakeholders

This article explores the need for a clear understanding of fourth generation evaluation as a necessary requirement for those hoping to achieve an effective analysis of health services. The weaknesses of the traditional approaches to evaluation are fully examined so that an effective choice of evaluation methodology can be made. Current health service thinking highlights the need to recognize the importance of both consumer and professional stakeholders, allowing each an equal voice. The authors aim to assist evaluators to select a methodology that will be the most effective medium for allowing this to occur.