Suchergebnisse

Within the decentralization framework of Government, the Ministry of Health (MoH) Nepal initiated the decentralization of primary care services closer to citizens. This paper aims to examine and understand the effect of decentralization at the district health service from the perspectives of service users and providers.

To evaluate and reflect the sustainability of services in the region, an overall sector sustainability assessment was done, taking into account four main dimensions: access to services, quality of services, efficiency of services, and financing of services. Each of these dimensions is measured through three simple and objective indicators. For each indicator, best practice values are established by looking at the best performers in the region, and countries closest to those best performers are deemed to have a more mature sector. A more complete description of the methodology to assess sector sustainability is included in the Annex of the State of the Sector Regional Report from the Danube Water Program. The outcomes of this assessment for Hungary's water sector are displayed, which also shows average and best practices in the Danube region. The Hungarian sector sustainability score is 74, which is far above the Danube average sustainability of 64, and is among the best practices in the region. The assessment shows that, on average, the country performs well in terms of continuity of access to piped water and flush toilet, collection ratio, nonrevenue water and staffing level. The main deficiencies of Hungary's water sector identified through the sector sustainability assessment are the operating cost ratio, affordability, and investments. The main sector challenges are: achieving full cost recovery; preventing the degradation of assets in the long term; and preparing for the risks caused by climate change.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the social media profiles of logistics service providers, and understand how they use social media for elevating their services and differentiating their brands across industrial partners.


Design/methodology/approach
A content analysis was conducted on 3,215 social media posts, which were gathered from the official Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn pages of seven logistics service providers operating in Turkey.


Findings
The results demonstrated that logistics service providers engage with multiple social media channels with different branding motives, and that each company has a unique social media profile. The benchmarking analysis also revealed the branding strategies commonly pursued by the companies, and also indicated the alternative themes that differentiate their brands across their competitors.


Research limitations/implications
The findings contribute to the literature on the utilization of social media by business-to-business companies, particularly for logistics service providers, and recommend a frame of benchmarks for practitioners in the development of more effective social media branding strategies in services context.


Originality/value
Studies explaining the social media engagement of business-to-business companies in service sector are lacking, and also, the services branding literature in the context of social media is rather scarce. This study investigates the social media profiles of logistics service providers and explores how they use social media for branding their services.

This report analyzes the progress and challenges of 16 countries in the Danube watershed in delivering sustainable water and wastewater services to all, while meeting the European Union environmental acquis communautaire. After putting the services that are being delivered into context, the report analyzes the organization of services in the region and the level of access to services, that is, how well countries are doing in terms of providing access to water and wastewater services for the entire population. It then looks at the performance of the sector, including the quality of services provided and customer satisfaction with it. It also draws a picture of the efficiency of services, including whether they reflect accepted good practices. Finally, it analyzes the financing of services, looking at whether the financing of operation, maintenance, and investments is secured and affordable. The report draws largely from existing public data sources at the national and regional level, and consolidates them into a coherent, regional narrative, and analysis. The methods of analysis include horizontal comparisons among countries at a given point in time and trends within the countries or the region over a given period of time. Given shortcomings in the availability and comparability of data across 16 countries, the report seeks to encourage and inform a policy dialogue around sector challenges rather than provide a definitive set of policy recommendations.

AbstractApplication service providers (ASPs) are a business phenomenon of the Internet age. The ASP concept offers companies the rewards of best‐in‐class application functionality for a fixed monthly cost and easy usage scalability, thus liberating organizations from technological complexities. In exploring the effectiveness of the ASP model, this paper examines the development of ASPs and also reports the results of a UK study, 178 ASP service purchasers and providers, highlighting the nature and offerings of service providers and the levels of satisfaction with ASP services. It is argued that the ASPs' potential to induce transformational change in terms of business processes and thus on the total enterprise is extensive. Also, by highlighting concerns with current ASP services, the paper concludes on an optimistic note emphasizing a favourable outlook for ASPs in the future. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

People who have diabetes and visual impairment, especially those with diabetic retinopathy, are at risk of a variety of other complications of the disease. With an awareness of these potential complications, service providers can help clients to set vocational goals, follow precautionary measures, and achieve their maximum potential.

The objectives of this study are to investigate the traits that clients find important in professional social service providers, comparing confidence in client management skills (friendliness, experience, and knowledge) to desire for demographic characteristics (being of the same race and religion). To accomplish this task, we use multiple regression to analyze results of the Lehigh Valley Trust Survey of low-income recipients of social services. While most respondents find the professional traits important, there is significant variation in whether respondents consider demographic characteristics to be important. We find that having a provider of the same race is very important for African Americans and Hispanics, while having a provider with similar religious beliefs is extremely important for evangelical Protestants. Other predictive variables for homophilous preferences in race and religion are age, mobility, and education. Professional skills corresponding to organizational position are important to most people, but specific demographic groups prioritize racial, ethnic, and religious homophily. While we suggest some possible explanations (perceived or actual discrimination and cultural concordance), further research is needed to determine the causes. Adapted from the source document.

The significant level of physical and economic destruction in Syria has impacted the capacity of the state and its institutions to deliver services, which is much lower than prior to 2011. The Syrian government currently lacks the ability to meet the socio-economic needs of large sectors of the population and to provide adequate social services. The void has been partially filled by international humanitarian assistance and/or networks connected to the Damascus government. On the basis of interviews and reports on the socio-economic situation in Syria, this article addresses the general weakening of state services during the war and the lack of service provision in areas which have been recaptured by the Syrian government.