Contributions published at Department of Business Administration (Egon Franck)

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Opportunities and risks must undergo careful assessments in order to survive in the world of globalization. This applies not only to the private but also to the public sector, including governmental, political and educational institutions. New control mechanisms must be developed and implemented to measure and monitor the performance of political programs. These tools primarily employ evaluation techniques and performance indicators. The need for such instruments is most acute in political programs and processes where large sums of money are involved, where little information is available about the recipients of monetary contributions and where significant public emotional involvement is apparent, such as in education, social security or public health issues.

This article examines the dynamics of inter- and intra-firm networks in technical standard setting initiatives, and how complex social networks align in these initiatives. Specifically, we argue that in standardization, complex economic and social interactions are blended. In standardization activities, firm behavior and the behavior of individuals within firms is best explained through an integration of social, political, and economic perspectives. In this article we use two main bodies of theory. First, we draw on the economic literature on standard setting and alliance formation. Second we use social network theory to complement economic arguments. In this paper we integrate streams of literature on the creation and diffusion of technical standards from industrial organization economics, strategic management, and innovation economics with recent literature concerning the social construction of technology in order to analyze the process of standard setting. We develop our arguments with the help of three in-depth case studies of standardization initiatives in the telecommunications industry. Two case studies are in the realm of telecommunications infrastructure. The third case study analyzes the standardization of a wireless data link. The cases can be characterized as examples of the successful creation of both de facto and de jure standards.

Background and Objectives: Learning curves for anesthesia procedures in adult patients have been determined, but no data are available on procedures in pediatric anesthesia. The aim of this study was to assess the number of caudal blocks needed to guarantee a high success rate in performing caudal epidural analgesia in children. Methods: At a teaching hospital, the technical skills of 7 residents in anesthesiology who performed caudal blocks were evaluated during 4 months using a standardized self-evaluation questionnaire. At the start of the study period, the residents had no prior experience in pediatric anesthesia or in performing caudal epidural blocks. All residents entered the pediatric rotation after a minimum of 1 year of training in adult general and regional anesthesia. The blocks were rated using a binary score. For comparison, the success rates of 8 experienced staff anesthesiologists were collected during the same period using the same self-evaluation questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed by generating individual and institutional learning curves using the pooled data. The learning curves were calculated with the aid of a least-square fit model and 95% confidence intervals were estimated by a Monte Carlo procedure with a bootstrap technique. Results: The success rate of residents was 80% after 32 procedures (95% confidence interval of 0.59 to 1.00). The pooled success rate of the staff anesthesiologists was 0.73 (mean) with a standard deviation of 0.45, which was not statistically different from the success rate of the residents. Conclusion: High success rates in performing caudal anesthesia in pediatric patients can be acquired after a limited number of cases. Success rates of residents learning this procedure are comparable to the results of staff anesthesiologists