Future Financial Sustainability Research Articles

YES: leading a Youth Employment Service towards increasing impact

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes for this case study are as follows: learning outcome 1: evaluate the environmental context of Youth Employment Service (YES) and ascertain whether YES is a social enterprise. Students will provide an analysis of what is happening around the business, and why addressing youth unemployment is an urgent matter to address; learning outcome 2: apply basic financial principles to evaluate the basic profit and loss statement of YES. In a business management class, students need to recognise the importance of applying basic financial principles to ensure the financial sustainability of a business. Therefore, the objective is for students to evaluate the basic profit and loss statement in the case’s exhibit. The focus is not necessarily on the numbers, but rather on the insight that students will gain into the organisation’s strengths and development areas; and learning outcome 3: create recommendations by considering the exploitation of existing opportunities and the exploration of new opportunities to innovate. Students should understand the principles of organisational ambidexterity and provide suggestions on how they can be used by organisations to reshape their desirable future. Case overview/synopsis On 31 March 2022, Leanne Emery Hunter, the chief operating officer of the YES, was considering how YES could increase their impact. Hunter considered how to convince more corporations to sponsor their efforts in creating work experiences for South African youth. In addition to exploiting these efforts that they were already involved with, YES could explore new opportunities to increase their impact, such as focusing on the community hubs and the innovative products they were developing. Expanding YES’s community hubs to serve as support to the youth would require a capital investment in technology and specific skills within the next six months. Hunter, therefore, faced the dilemma of managing the tensions between focusing on YES’s existing offering, which had a social impact, while paying attention to secure their future by focusing on the financial sustainability and expansion of YES. Its ceremonial inauguration in March 2018 was ushered by President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, followed by its registration in October 2018. YES was challenged to look for new ways of creating a proactive growth strategy. YES had a social mission to address youth unemployment, students will, however, need to ascertain whether YES is a social enterprise. The case shares financial results and students have an opportunity to calculate profit and loss and offer recommendations on the financial viability of YES while fulfilling their social mission of contributing to youth employment. Students must give recommendations to resolve the dilemma of Hunter in managing the tension between their existing social impact and the future financial sustainability of the business. Complexity academic level The case is suitable for post-graduate courses in business management in business administration programmes. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Factors impacting sustained coverage inthe context ofdonor transitions: experience from Sri Lanka.

Although not reliant on donor funding for health, the external assistance that Sri Lanka receives contributes to the improvement of the health system and health outcomes. In this study, we evaluated transition experiences of the expanded programme on immunization (EPI) that received Gavi funding to expand the vaccine portfolio and the Anti-Malaria Campaign (AMC) that received funding from the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to scale-up interventions to target and achieve malaria elimination. We assessed if EPI and AMC programmes were able to sustain coverage of previously donor-funded interventions post-transition and explain the facilitators and barriers that contribute to this. We used a mixed methods approach using quantitative data to assess coverage indicators and the financing mix of the health programmes and qualitative analysis guided by a framework informed by the Walt and Gilson policy triangle that brought together document review and in-depth interviews to identify facilitators and barriers to transition success. The EPI programme showed sustained coverage of Gavi-funded vaccines post-transition and the funding gap was bridged by mobilizing domestic financing facilitated by the Gavi co-financing mechanism, full integration within existing service delivery structures, well-established and favourable pharmaceutical procurement processes for the public sector and stewardship and financial advocacy by technically competent managers. Although the absence of indigenous cases of malaria since 2012 suggests overall programme success, the AMC showed mixed transition success in relation to its different programme components. Donor-supported programme components requiring mobilization of operational expenses, facilitated by early financial planning, were successfully transitioned (e.g. entomological and parasitological surveillance) given COVID-19-related constraints. Other key programme components, such as research, training, education and awareness that are dependent on non-operational expenses are lagging behind. Additionally, concerns of AMC's future financial sustainability within the current structure remain in the context of low malaria burden.

Engaging a new generation of donors: A relationship management theory approach to communication between nonprofits and millennials

AbstractCurrent evidence on philanthropic giving to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) suggests that NPOs are not successfully cultivating relationships with prospective donors in the millennial generation; this has negative implications for the organizations' future financial sustainability. The current investigation employed a framework grounded in relationship management theory to explore how NPOs can better engage with this target audience. A series of focus groups revealed nuanced factors that facilitated relationship‐building between millennials and NPOs, rooted in the theoretical constructs of trust and openness. These results can be used to guide NPOs' donor‐engagement strategies focused specifically on millennials, thus guiding long‐term donor relations efforts.

The financial sustainability of public pensions in Cuba: The impact of ageing, structural reforms and the economic crisis

AbstractThis article analyses Cuba’s pension system from 2006–2021 with respect to its financial and actuarial sustainability and impact on the population. It includes discussion of the ageing population; the sharp cut in social expenditures since 2009; the deficit in pension financing and the impact of the 2008 parametric reform; the devaluation of pensions; structural reforms and the expansion of poverty and the curtailing of social assistance; the impact of the current economic crisis on pensions; and projections of the future financial sustainability of pensions.

Will COVID‐19 hinder or aid the transition to sustainable urban mobility? Spotlight on Portugal’s largest urban agglomeration

This study discusses the possible effects of two major COVID‐19 disruptions – that is, the widespread adoption of working from home and the ‘bio‐security’ fear affecting public transport – on travel patterns in Lisbon urban agglomeration. Drawing on evidence from the literature on the effects of teleworking on travel demand and the determinants of public transport, together with the analysis of travel data before and during the pandemic, the study concludes that the pandemic may hinder, more than aid, the transition to a sustainable mobility paradigm in Lisbon and its metropolitan area. The analysis of monthly travel demand shows that car use has recovered at a faster rate than public transport use, reaching pre‐pandemic levels in some of the main arterial roads serving Lisbon. There appears to be a substitution of public transport trips by both driving and active micromobility. The main losers so far are public transport operators: the pandemic increased operating deficits and the need for additional public subsidies, putting at risk the future financial sustainability of public transport. Without serious commitment by local and national governments, the pandemic is likely to be another missed opportunity to transition to a better, more sustainable, urban mobility system.

India’s Demographic Dividend: The Millennials’ Savings Conundrum

India’s working-age group has been over 60 per cent of its population for over two decades, with a record high of 66 per cent in 2018. The gross domestic savings (GDS), yet, plummeted during the previous decade, recording a low of 29.34 per cent in 2018. This is a divergence from the demographic theories which indicate that a rising working-age population will increase savings. Past research on India’s demographic transitioning implications on economic growth and demographic dividend focused on the working-age group. This article brings in a new dimension to existing studies and analyses savings trends by examining working-age youth, and the millennials within this subgroup, in particular. By considering data from between 1980 and 2017, the article investigates the influence of these two demographic variables on the GDS, along with key macroeconomic variables. The estimation techniques applied are the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration technique and the vector error correction model (ECM). The results indicate that the millennial youth’s influence on GDS is statistically significant. Though the long-term influence of the millennial youth working-age group indicates a positive effect on GDS, the adverse impact reflected in the short run may be pointing towards the future financial sustainability of this segment. Although youth savings are expected to be the lowest in the working-age segment, the significant fall in the youth ratio of employment-to-population in the 20–29 years segment, especially since 2005 onwards, raises the thrust for youth policies that can unravel the millennial savings conundrum and thereby pave the way for India’s demographic dividend.

What Makes People Worry about the Welfare State? A Three-Country Experiment

AbstractWelfare states are exposed to a host of cost-inducing ‘reform pressures’. An experiment implemented in Germany, Norway and Sweden tests how variousreform pressure framesaffect perceptions about the future financial sustainability of the welfare state. Such perceptions have been shown to moderate electoral punishment for welfare reform, but little is known about their origins. Hypotheses are formulated in dialogue with newer research on welfare state change, as well as with older theory expecting more stability in policy and attitudes (the ‘new politics’ framework). Research drawing on ‘deservingness theory’ is also consulted. The results suggest large variations in impact across treatments. The most influential path to effective pressure framing is to ‘zoom in’ on specific economic pressures linked to undeserving groups (above all immigration, but also to some extent low employment). Conversely, a message emphasizing pressure linked to a very deserving group (population aging) had little effect. A second conceivable path to pressure framing entails ‘zooming out’ – making messages span a diverse and more broadly threatening set of challenges. This possibility, however, received weaker support.

PENSION DEFICIT IN BRAZILIAN SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM: LEGAL REMARKS AND STRATEGIES TOWARDS FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

The present article consists in the brief analysis of the evolution of the Brazilian General Regime Social Security, depicting its frailty against subsequent legal reforms through which it has passed in recent years. It also deals with the impact of socioeconomic changes on the current and future financial sustainability of the Brazilian pension system. In fact, the evolution of the statistics concerning such social indicators can be quite decisive for the future sustainability of the Brazilian social security system. For this, we used the phenomenological method - hermeneutics, by privileging theoretical studies and analysis of documents and texts. Such research is very important in order to provide a glimpse of the general social security regimen in Brazil and its future prospects. The main results show that there is a budgetary concern due to the growth in life expectancy and declining birth rate. Even with the absence of the current financial deficit proclaimed by the media and the federal government, there will be the need for reform to fit the budget of Brazil’s future Social Security System. According to our analysis, the improvement of Brazilian Social Security requires legal autonomy of the Social Security Revenue (thus preventing the withdrawal of it funds to defray social security benefits belonging to another public sectors), the increase of minimum wage in the country, and public policies to stimulate the entry of informal workers in the General Social Security Regimen. Furthermore, this article suggests that, as a matter of immediate public policy, the Brazilian government should focus more energetically in improvement of educational systems, which presents itself as a strong indicator for the improvement of social welfare budget.

PENSION DEFICIT IN BRAZILIAN SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM: LEGAL REMARKS AND STRATEGIES TOWARDS FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

The present article consists in the brief analysis of the evolution of the Brazilian General Regime Social Security, depicting its frailty against subsequent legal reforms through which it has passed in recent years. It also deals with the impact of socioeconomic changes on the current and future financial sustainability of the Brazilian pension system. In fact, the evolution of the statistics concerning such social indicators can be quite decisive for the future sustainability of the Brazilian social security system. For this, we used the phenomenological method - hermeneutics, by privileging theoretical studies and analysis of documents and texts. Such research is very important in order to provide a glimpse of the general social security regimen in Brazil and its future prospects. The main results show that there is a budgetary concern due to the growth in life expectancy and declining birth rate. Even with the absence of the current financial deficit proclaimed by the media and the federal government, there will be the need for reform to fit the budget of Brazil’s future Social Security System. According to our analysis, the improvement of Brazilian Social Security requires legal autonomy of the Social Security Revenue (thus preventing the withdrawal of it funds to defray social security benefits belonging to another public sectors), the increase of minimum wage in the country, and public policies to stimulate the entry of informal workers in the General Social Security Regimen. Furthermore, this article suggests that, as a matter of immediate public policy, the Brazilian government should focus more energetically in improvement of educational systems, which presents itself as a strong indicator for the improvement of social welfare budget.

PENSION DEFICIT IN BRAZILIAN SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM: LEGAL REMARKS AND STRATEGIES TOWARDS FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

The present article consists in the brief analysis of the evolution of the Brazilian General Regime Social Security, depicting its frailty against subsequent legal reforms through which it has passed in recent years. It also deals with the impact of socioeconomic changes on the current and future financial sustainability of the Brazilian pension system. In fact, the evolution of the statistics concerning such social indicators can be quite decisive for the future sustainability of the Brazilian social security system. For this, we used the phenomenological method - hermeneutics, by privileging theoretical studies and analysis of documents and texts. Such research is very important in order to provide a glimpse of the general social security regimen in Brazil and its future prospects. The main results show that there is a budgetary concern due to the growth in life expectancy and declining birth rate. Even with the absence of the current financial deficit proclaimed by the media and the federal government, there will be the need for reform to fit the budget of Brazil’s future Social Security System. According to our analysis, the improvement of Brazilian Social Security requires legal autonomy of the Social Security Revenue (thus preventing the withdrawal of it funds to defray social security benefits belonging to another public sectors), the increase of minimum wage in the country, and public policies to stimulate the entry of informal workers in the General Social Security Regimen. Furthermore, this article suggests that, as a matter of immediate public policy, the Brazilian government should focus more energetically in improvement of educational systems, which presents itself as a strong indicator for the improvement of social welfare budget.

International benchmarking and best practice management: in search of health care and hospital excellence.

Hospitals worldwide are facing the same opportunities and threats: the demographics of an aging population; steady increases in chronic diseases and severe illnesses; and a steadily increasing demand for medical services with more intensive treatment for multi-morbid patients. Additionally, patients are becoming more demanding. They expect high quality medicine within a dignity-driven and painless healing environment. The severe financial pressures that these developments entail oblige care providers to more and more cost-containment and to apply process reengineering, as well as continuous performance improvement measures, so as to achieve future financial sustainability. At the same time, regulators are calling for improved patient outcomes. Benchmarking and best practice management are successfully proven performance improvement tools for enabling hospitals to achieve a higher level of clinical output quality, enhanced patient satisfaction, and care delivery capability, while simultaneously containing and reducing costs. This chapter aims to clarify what benchmarking is and what it is not. Furthermore, it is stated that benchmarking is a powerful managerial tool for improving decision-making processes that can contribute to the above-mentioned improvement measures in health care delivery. The benchmarking approach described in this chapter is oriented toward the philosophy of an input-output model and is explained based on practical international examples from different industries in various countries. Benchmarking is not a project with a defined start and end point, but a continuous initiative of comparing key performance indicators, process structures, and best practices from best-in-class companies inside and outside industry. Benchmarking is an ongoing process of measuring and searching for best-in-class performance: Measure yourself with yourself over time against key performance indicators. Measure yourself against others. Identify best practices. Equal or exceed this best practice in your institution. Focus on simple and effective ways to implement solutions. Comparing only figures, such as average length of stay, costs of procedures, infection rates, or out-of-stock rates, can lead easily to wrong conclusions and decision making with often-disastrous consequences. Just looking at figures and ratios is not the basis for detecting potential excellence. It is necessary to look beyond the numbers to understand how processes work and contribute to best-in-class results. Best practices from even quite different industries can enable hospitals to leapfrog results in patient orientation, clinical excellence, and cost-effectiveness. Despite common benchmarking approaches, it is pointed out that a comparison without "looking behind the figures" (what it means to be familiar with the process structure, process dynamic and drivers, process institutions/rules and process-related incentive components) will be extremely limited referring to reliability and quality of findings. In order to demonstrate transferability of benchmarking results between different industries practical examples from health care, automotive, and hotel service have been selected. Additionally, it is depicted that international comparisons between hospitals providing medical services in different health care systems do have a great potential for achieving leapfrog results in medical quality, organization of service provision, effective work structures, purchasing and logistics processes, or management, etc.

PENSION DEFICIT IN BRAZILIAN SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM: LEGAL REMARKS AND STRATEGIES TOWARDS FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

The present article consists in the brief analysis of the evolution of the Brazilian General Regime Social Security, depicting its frailty against subsequent legal reforms through which it has passed in recent years. It also deals with the impact of socioeconomic changes on the current and future financial sustainability of the Brazilian pension system. In fact, the evolution of the statistics concerning such social indicators can be quite decisive for the future sustainability of the Brazilian social security system. For this, we used the phenomenological method - hermeneutics, by privileging theoretical studies and analysis of documents and texts. Such research is very important in order to provide a glimpse of the general social security regimen in Brazil and its future prospects. The main results show that there is a budgetary concern due to the growth in life expectancy and declining birth rate. Even with the absence of the current financial deficit proclaimed by the media and the federal government, there will be the need for reform to fit the budget of Brazil’s future Social Security System. According to our analysis, the improvement of Brazilian Social Security requires legal autonomy of the Social Security Revenue (thus preventing the withdrawal of it funds to defray social security benefits belonging to another public sectors), the increase of minimum wage in the country, and public policies to stimulate the entry of informal workers in the General Social Security Regimen. Furthermore, this article suggests that, as a matter of immediate public policy, the Brazilian government should focus more energetically in improvement of educational systems, which presents itself as a strong indicator for the improvement of social welfare budget.

Preferences on Policy Options for Ensuring the Financial Sustainability of Health Care Services in the Future: Results of a Stakeholder Survey

Universal access to health care in most western European countries has been a given for many decades; however, macroeconomic developments and increased pressure on health care budgets could mean the status quo cannot be maintained. As populations age, a declining proportion of economically active citizens are being required to support a larger burden of health and social care, while increasing availability of novel technologies for extending and improving life continues to push health care costs upwards. With health expenditure continuing to rise as a proportion of national income, concerns are raised about the current and future financial sustainability of Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) health care systems. Against this backdrop, a discussion about options to fund health care in the future, including whether to raise additional health care finance (and the ways to do so), reallocate resources and/or ration services becomes very pertinent. This study elicits preferences among a group of key stakeholders (payers, providers, government, academia and health-related industry) on the issue of health care financial sustainability and the future funding of health care services, with a view to understanding the different degrees of acceptability between policy interventions and future funding options as well as their feasibility. We invited 842 individuals from academia, other research organisations (eg. think tanks), national health services, providers, health insurance organisations, government representatives and health-related industry and related advisory stakeholders to participate in an online survey collecting preferences on a variety of revenue-generating mechanisms and cost/demand reducing policies. Respondents represented the 28 EU member states as well as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Australia, Russian Federation, Canada and New Zealand. We received 494 responses to our survey from all stakeholder groups. Across all groups, the highest preference was for policies to modify lifestyle and implement more extensive screening within risk groups for high burden illnesses. There was a broad consensus not to reallocate resources from social security/education. Between stakeholders, there were differences of opinion between industry/advisory and a range of other groups, with industry being generally more in favour of market-based interventions and an increased role for the private sector in health care financing/delivery. Conversely, stakeholders from academia, government, national health services and insurance were relatively more in favour of more restrictive purchasing of new and expensive technologies, and (to varying extent) of higher income/corporate taxes. Taxes on cigarettes/alcohol were by far considered the most politically feasible option. According to this study, policy options that are broadly acceptable across stakeholder groups with different inherent interests exist but are limited to lifestyle modification, screening interventions and excise taxes on harmful products. Representatives from the private sector tend to view solutions rooted in the private sector as both effective and politically feasible options, while stakeholders from academia and the public sector seem to place more emphasis on solutions that do not disproportionately impact certain population groups.

Building Public Services Through the Nonprofit Sector: Exploring the Risks of Rapid, Government Funded Growth in Human Service Organizations

As the public sector increasingly relies on grants to nonprofits to provide human services, both public and nonprofit partners are exploring the implications of this relationship in order to ensure the best possible outcomes. A key issue that has emerged in the public sector literature is the concept of “thin markets” where public sector entities become reliant on a limited pool of private providers. At the same time, the nonprofit literature explores how to make nonprofits financially viable and develop relationship with government without straying from their mission. We combine these two perspectives to understand how a large influx of government grant funding to human service nonprofits impacts organizations’ future financial sustainability, recognizing that the stability of the relationship between government and nonprofits is crucial to providing quality services. Using a 13 year panel dataset of IRS 990 data from over 50,000 human service nonprofits we find that nonprofits who experience rapid growth from government grants do not build financial reserves to serve as a cushion during economic downturns creating a situation where declines in funding forces immediate expense reductions. We recommend approaches to the grant process for both government and nonprofit organizations to encourage long-term sustainability ensuring continuity of services, especially during unforeseen economic downturns.

The Challenges of Publishing on Health Informatics in Developing Countries

The Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries was established to meet a perceived need for Health Informaticians in developing countries to be able to share the results of their research in an affordable and easy-to-access online publication. The journal was developed using the open source platform "Open Journal System," and has now published 67 articles across 13 issues. A collaborative editorial approach has been established to address the problems of limited research budgets, difficulties with translating to English and other problems specific to authors from developing countries. The journal faces many challenges including ensuring future financial sustainability and inclusion in journal indexing systems. However, the continuing support of an international body of Associate Editors and Editorial Board Members has enabled a wide range of useful and informative health informatics research to be disseminated across the developing world.

Gestation length in first calving Aberdeen Angus x Limousin and Limousin x Aberdeen Angus heifers mated using a synchronised artificial insemination programme

Recent changes to beef production subsidy schemes in the UK has focussed attention on the fertility and reproductive output of suckler beef systems in an attempt to ensure future financial sustainability. Adoption of modern cattle breeding technologies may be more common in the future than they have been in the past as a result of this renewed focus on commercial profitability rather than subsidy reliance. However, relatively little information is available on the biological parameters encountered when modern breeding approaches are employed within commercial crossbred suckler beef management systems in the UK. Previous work (Penny, 2005) has detailed the development of either a triple or double synchronised artificial insemination (AI) programme suitable for use with both multiparous suckler cows and first calving heifers managed as a commercial spring calving suckler herd. The objective of the current report is to detail the effects of breed type and calf sex on average gestation length (GL) in first calving crossbred suckler replacement heifers when mated using a synchronised AI programme.