Bostjan Gomiscek

Do corporate sustainability practices enhance organizational economic performance

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to clarify the relation between sustainability practices and financial and market performance, and also, the role of non-financial performance outputs in this relation. Corporate sustainability is a growing area of importance for organizational development. Managing sustainability practices successfully is an imperative in achieving competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach – Using empirical data based on a large-scale survey among organizations in five countries (i.e. Germany, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain), this paper utilized mediation analysis to estimate and test the mediated effects in a multiple mediator model. As such, the sizes of indirect effects of sustainability practices on financial and market performance through potential mediators were estimated. Findings – The results showed that innovation performance exerts a mediation effect in the relation between sustainability practices and financial and market performance. The main conclusion is that a greater engagement in sustainability practices leads to an increased innovation performance, which in turn leads to financial and market performance. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first attempts to empirically validate sustainability exploitation and sustainability exploration practices. Besides, the analysis of the direct and indirect effects of sustainability exploration and sustainability exploitation practices on financial and market performance has not been yet addressed to a great extent.

Effect of sustainability-oriented innovation practices on the overall organisational performance : an empirical examination

One major means to address corporate sustainability practices in organisations are sustainability-oriented innovation practices, which tend to result in significantly improved products, services, processes or even management systems. Prior research has widely discussed the relevant issues about integrating sustainability aspects into innovation process; however, little empirical research has been conducted to analyse the link between sustainability-oriented innovation practices and the overall organisational performance. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the underlying structure of sustainability-oriented innovation practices as well as their effects on the particular performance dimensions (i.e. economic performance, quality performance, innovation performance, environmental performance and social performance). The large-scale web-based survey yielded 266 usable responses encompassing both the manufacturing and service industries across 5 countries: Germany, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain. The results of the regression analysis demonstrate that sustainability-oriented innovation practices are positively related with the overall organisational performance. The empirical evidence suggests that when organisations strongly emphasise sustainability practices, they can improve both economic and non-financial performance. From a practical perspective, the findings of the study may provide a clue regarding how organisations can embed sustainability aspects in their innovation processes with the aim of improving their performance.

Role of nurse practitioners in reducing cardiovascular risk factors: a retrospective cohort study

AIMS AND OBJECTIVESnTo determine the impact of nurse practitioners counselling on reducing cardiovascular risk factors in patients participating in routine preventive check-ups.nnnBACKGROUNDnA new model of renewed family practice was introduced in Slovenia as a pilot project in 2011, in which nurse practitioners are included in a team carrying out preventive activities and managing patients with stable chronic diseases.nnnDESIGNnA retrospective cohort study.nnnMETHODSnThis study was conducted in 16 family medicine practices (eight renewed and eight regular family practices). In each family practice, a systematic sample was selected of registered patients participating in a cardiovascular preventive check-up. Data on sex, age, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, smoking, level of physical activity and cardiovascular risk were collected. Patients attending renewed family practices received counselling on risk factors from nurse practitioners (test group), and patients attending regular family practices received counselling from family physicians (control group). Data were collected again at least one and no more than five years after the baseline consultation.nnnRESULTSnThere were 128 patients in the test group and 129 patients in the control group. At the control visit, the patients counselled by nurse practitioners had significantly lower levels of systolic blood pressure and cholesterol and practiced regular physical activity significantly more often than patients counselled by family physicians.nnnCONCLUSIONnNurse practitioners can be at least as successful as physicians when counselling patients on cardiovascular risk factors during their preventive check-ups.nnnRELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICEnThis study showed that nurse practitioners have an important role in managing patients at the primary care level.

Study on the quality management and health and safety aspects on perceived live working implementation dimensions

The purpose of this paper is to compare the quality management and safety aspects within the Live working (LW) framework. The study draws upon study carried out among the Slovenian electrical distribution and international study which was carried out among Slovenian and foreign LW experts. The results of the first study suggested that health and safety aspects of LW are vital for achieving efficiency and effectiveness of LW. Furthermore, it can be argued that there are no substantial differences among workers and coordinators. Similarly, the results of the international survey showed that health and safety aspects of LW are considered as very important in achieving desired outcomes of LW as expressed by the foreign LW experts. However, the results indicated that Slovenian experts perceived the elements of LW in a similar way as foreign experts.

Safety management in healthcare by means of live working

An interesting parallel has been discovered when studying the sources of quality and safety management in healthcare and carrying out of live working in the maintenance of electrical installations. The awareness and efforts of healthcare professionals focused on the increase in patient safety as well as the electrical profession in carrying out live working have a hundred year tradition. In both fields, the first success was observed in Slovenia in the last decade. Patient safety is the first priority of all the persons involved in the healthcare system. The Slovene health policy started the systematic preparation of supporting documents in 2006 in order to assist the implementation of continuous improvement in quality and safety management in hospitals. In recent years, several medical institutions have started and successfully completed the certification under the quality management standards and many of them efficiently concluded the process of accreditation in accordance with the international standards. Live working was introduced into the Slovene electric power system in 2006 when the discussions about the benefits of preventive maintenance of electrical installations started In 2009, live working officially began in the Krško Nuclear Power Plant. In 2011, it was started in the Slovene electricity distribution and in the University Medical Centre (UKCL) when a very complex re-connection on the main low voltage panel was required. When reviewing the scientific and professional literature a large gap was discovered in patient safety when the reliable supply of healthcare institutions with electricity is to be provided and high requirements of standards in electrical installation maintenance in healthcare facilities are to be met. The paper presents the connections between live working, patient safety and the valuable Slovene experience in carrying out live working in healthcare. It has to be pointed out that the contribution of live working to the safety management in healthcare is indispensable.

On a Design of a Maintenance Performance Measurement System: a Sustainability Perspective

Measuring maintenance performance is important for companiesto monitor whether their planned objectives are achieved or not. It isessential to have a good overview about the performance of maintena ...

Contribution of live working to the quality, safety, efectiveness and efficiency of the maintenance processes

Subject review In spite of the fact that live working has been carried out in the world for over a hundred years, it has been used in Slovenia as a tool of preventive maintenance of electrical installations only for the last few years. Live working is a novelty for the Slovene electricity environment, so it deserves professional and scientific attention. A review of secondary sources shows that there are many professional sources mainly covering the narrow field of the development of live working technology, equipment and tools, personal protective equipment and training in live working. This review of the literature presents the area of live working where its possibilities for a broader use are offered. The analysis of live working effects is presented under the integration of corrective and preventive maintenance as well as the concepts of health and safety at work, quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the live working method.

The role of quality management activities in achieving high performance of maintenance processes

In today’s highly competitive environment maintenance, quality, and productivity are essentially related components and very important operational issues for a modern, successful, economic, and profitable production system. The focal point in this paper emerges from the lack of understanding how various quality management approaches and practices can contribute to the overall maintenance performance. The aim of this study is therefore, to define the impact of quality management practices on maintenance performance. The questionnaire survey was carried out among Slovenian organisations in order to address the research problem. Several statistical analysis methods including correlation analysis as well as regression analysis are utilised to accomplish the objective of this study. Results of the study indicate that quality management practices incorporated into maintenance processes have positive impact on maintenance performance. We conclude that these results can benefit to organisations seeking for an app...