Andrea Moretta Tartaglione

The Inefficient Governance of a Net with no Brain. An Analysis of Town Centre Management

The study of an area and its related distributional and commercial dynamics of many types of products, especially with reference to certain territorial areas, calls for the recognition of new aggregative trends among economic operators which gravitate around retail businesses. Interpreting these aggregation tendencies, an organization identified as town centre management (hereafter TCM) has become important for urban development in many cities. The purpose of such an organization should be that of encouraging efficient management of local resources linked to the most attractive factor in the area (religion, commerce, art, culture, etc.) in pursuit of participatory governance through a sustainable point of view while mindful of the numerous demands made by territorial stakeholders. However, TCM often face governance problems due to the lack of a guiding centre and poor coordination and control. In this sense, a structural interpretation of TCM can be effectively made through a reticular point of view by critically analysing if and how much this approach is deemed useful and instrumental in identifying government support activities for TCM in itself. From this standpoint, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not TCM is comparable to a network and then to further analyse the governance potential of TCM.

The excellence of patient-centered healthcare: Investigating the links between empowerment, co-creation and satisfaction

Purpose Nowadays, international healthcare agendas are focused on patient centeredness. Policies are aimed at improving patient’s satisfaction by enhancing patient empowerment and value co-creation. However, a comprehensive model addressing the relationships between these constructs has not so far been developed. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model which explains the effects of patient empowerment and value co-creation on patients’ satisfaction with the quality of the services they experience. Design/methodology/approach The links between patient satisfaction, empowerment and value co-creation are theoretically outlined via an in-depth literature review. The resulting model is tested through a survey administered to 186 chronically ill patients. The results are analyzed through covariance-based structural equation modeling. Findings The results show that patient empowerment positively influences value co-creation which, in turn, is positively related to patient satisfaction. In addition, the analysis reveals that patient empowerment has no direct effects on satisfaction. Research limitations/implications Although the cross-sectional design made it possible to clearly estimate the relationships among variables, it overlooked the longitudinal dimensions of co-creation processes. Practical implications The study provides practitioners with suggestions to design patient-centered healthcare services by leveraging on patient knowledge, participation, responsibility in care and involvement in the value-creation process. Originality/value Over the last decade, healthcare management literature has shifted its focus from healthcare organizations to patients. The number of contributions about patient satisfaction, empowerment and value co-creation exponentially increased. However, these dimensions are often studied separately. This work advances available knowledge by clarifying and testing the relationships between these three constructs.

International networks as complex adaptive systems

This conceptual work is a part of the research project about the agents’ organizational behavior toward the internal and external relationships of international networks. The paper states that a framework based on the Complex Adaptive System approach (CAS) could stimulate the agents within international networks - public or private - toward adaptable and flexible relations with the turbulent environments and changing markets, increasing the network viability. It compares the traditional management model with the CAS approach, representing the organizational company’s behavior based on a hierarchical and heterarchical model, highlighting, in the latter, the compatibility with the CAS logic. Nevertheless, it supports the relevance of relations, information and value maximization in the network viability.