Strategic Management in the Media: Theory to Practice,by Lucy Küng

Abstract

Management has always been about communications. Business strategy in particular can only work, if implemented. Part of the process is communicating strategy to all company's stakeholders. The more team‐orientated a management style the more communications becomes a key success factor. By the same token, there has never been a management discipline for communications in its own right comparable to all the others that have developed over time: Neither Marketing nor HR nor even Finance were part of the original settings as, for example, laid out by Erich Gutenberg in the 1960s. All these “subs”; were initiated by increasing specialisation of business administration and developed to mature disciplines.

This article will argue for yet another management discipline, communications management. The reasons are mainly twofold: on the one hand there are increasing needs on different types of communications even without the world‐wide web (such as financial communications), which must be integrated in one holistic approach. And on the other hand there are increasing new challenges caused by the digital economy (such as customer related communications), which will have to be integrated in an even advanced holistic management approach. This article will combine both reasons, but mainly focus on the first aspect.     

The impact of virtual simulation tools on problem-solving and new product development organization

New product development nowadays makes heavy use of IT instruments such as virtual simulation tools. The main motivation for introducing virtual simulation tools in new product development is to speed up development and lower its cost. Virtual simulation tools, however, do much more. They introduce profound changes in the organization, including the nature of problem-solving, bearing the potential to increase new product development performance beyond cost and lead time reduction. Understanding these profound changes, we argue, holds the key to unlocking the potential of virtual simulation tools for improving new product development performance, including more innovative products. We support our argument with a case study from the European auto industry.     

Testing agile requirements models

INTRODUCTION One main purpose of requirements is to de-scribe the functionality of software. Thus re-quirements often serve as a basis for contracts aswell as for communication between customers anddevelopers. However, they are usually captured innatural language accompanied by a few top-levelinformal drawings like use cases or activity dia-grams that denote the structure of the functional-ities in an abstract way. One disadvantage of naturallanguage is that the developer has to cope with…     

Interference screws vs. suture anchors for isolated medial patellofemoral ligament femoral fixation: A systematic review

Purpose:The present study aimed to systematically review and compare 2 femoral autograft fixation techniques,namely,interference screws and suture anchors,for isolated medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction in patients with recurrent patellofemoral instability at mid-to long-term follow-up.Methods:A literature search was performed in September 2020.All studies reporting the outcomes of primary isolated medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction for recurrent patellofemoral instability were considered for inclusion.Only studies reporting the type of femoral autograft fixation under examination were considered.Studies reporting data from patients with elevated tibial tuberosity-tibial groove,patella alta,and/or Dejour’s trochlear dysplasia types C and D,were not included.Only articles reporting data with a minimum follow-up period of 18 months were considered.Results:Data from 19 studies(615 patients)were retrieved.The overall age was 24.4±6.7 years(mean±SD).The mean follow-up was 46.5±20.9 months.There were 76 patients in the anchor group and 539 in the screw group.Comparability was found with regard to age and follow-up duration between the 2 study groups.There was comparability between the Kujala,Lysholm,and Tegner scores at baseline.At the last follow-up,no worthy differences were found in terms of mean Kujala(+2.1%;p=0.04),Lysholm(+1.7%;p=0.05),and Tegner(+15.8%;p=0.05)scores.Although complications occurred almost exclusively in the screw cohort,no statistically significant difference was found.Conclusion:Femoral autograft fixation through interference screws or suture anchors report similar clinical scores and rate of apprehension test,persistent joint instability,re-dislocations,and revisions.These results must be interpreted within the limitations of the present study.     

Development of a magnetic immunosorbent for on-chip preconcentration of amyloid β isoforms: Representatives of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers

Determination of amyloid β (Aβ) isoforms and in particular the proportion of the Aβ 1-42 isoform in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients suspected of Alzheimer's disease might help in early diagnosis and treatment of that illness. Due to the low concentration of Aβ peptides in biological fluids, a preconcentration step prior to the detection step is often necessary. This study utilized on-chip immunoprecipitation, known as micro-immunoprecipitation (μIP). The technique uses an immunosorbent (IS) consisting of magnetic beads coated with specific anti-Aβ antibodies organized into an affinity microcolumn by a magnetic field. Our goal was to thoroughly describe the critical steps in developing the IS, such as selecting the proper beads and anti-Aβ antibodies, as well as optimizing the immobilization technique and μIP protocol. The latter includes selecting optimal elution conditions. Furthermore, we demonstrate the efficiency of anti-Aβ IS for μIP and specific capture of 5 Aβ peptides under optimized conditions using various subsequent analytical methods, including matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), capillary electrophoresis, microchip electrophoresis, and immunoblotting. Synthetic Aβ peptides samples prepared in buffer and spiked in human CSF were analyzed. Finally, on-chip immunoprecipitation of Aβ peptides in human CSF sample was performed.     

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity,executive functions and prefrontal brain oxygenation in children: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

Despite accumulating evidence that regular exercise improves executive functioning, the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms have rarely been investigated. The present study aimed to compare cognitive performance as well as task-specific concentration changes in oxygenated haemoglobin in the prefrontal cortex between children with higher and lower moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Physical activity was measured over 7 consecutive days using actigraphy. Afterwards, participants (N = 50) completed verbal fluency tests (VFTs) and mental arithmetic (MA) for the assessment of cognitive flexibility and working memory capacity. During the tasks, changes of oxygenated haemoglobin were measured with functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Using average MVPA of 11-year-old children as cut-point, the sample was divided into children with lower and higher MVPA. Analyses of variance revealed no significant differences in correct and false responses on the cognitive tests between groups. With regard to oxygenated haemoglobin, no group differences were found for concentration changes in response to the cognitive tasks. In conclusion, VFTs and MA increased children’s activation in prefrontal regions associated with cognitive flexibility and working memory, respectively. However, these executive functions and cortical activation were not different between children with lower and higher MVPA.     

Inclusive vocational schools in Canada and Germany. A comparison of vocational pre-service teachers′ attitudes,self-efficacy and experiences towards inclusive education

Both Canada’s and Germany’s school systems are transitioning into inclusive education systems. This transition is also happening in vocational schools. This paper addresses the new demands that vocational teachers face, due to the introduction of inclusive education in Germany and Canada, by examining Canadian and German pre-service vocational teachers’ attitudes, self-efficacy and experiences related to inclusive education. The study identifies significantly more positive ratings in the Canadian sample across all the three scales. We conclude that the different ratings relate to different school systems, experiences with inclusion and the teacher education systems. Based on these research findings, recommendations for teacher education are discussed.     

Counseling University Instructors Based on Student Evaluations of Their Teaching Effectiveness: A Multilevel Test of its Effectiveness Under Consideration of Bias and Unfairness Variables

Counseling instructors using evaluations made by their students has shown to be a fruitful approach to enhancing teaching quality. However, prior experimental studies are questionable in terms of external validity. Therefore, we conducted a non-experimental intervention study in which all of the courses offered by a specific department at a German university were evaluated twice with a standardized student evaluation questionnaire (HILVE-II; overall 44 instructors, 140 courses, and 2,546 student evaluations). Additionally, twelve full time instructors received counseling after the first measurement point. Long-term effects over a period of 2 years and transfer effects to other courses were analyzed using multi-level analyses with three levels. Possible influences by bias and unfairness variables were controlled for. Our results indicate a moderate to large effect of counseling on teaching quality. In conclusion, if students’ evaluations are accompanied by counseling based on the evaluation results, they present a useful method to assure and increase teaching quality in higher education.