Uncovering Hidden Costs in R&D Outsourcing: A Case Study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Gruszewski ◽  
Bruce H. Smith ◽  
Donald E. Thresh ◽  
James Van Bortel ◽  
Marcos Esterman
Keyword(s):  
Cost Savings ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Knowledge Loss ◽  
Product Features ◽  
Global Corporations ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
The Cost

Global corporations are facing competitive pressures and as result are outsourcing products or services to improve profitability, reduce delivery schedules, increase product features, and increase value to their shareholders. However hidden or unexpected costs can come with these benefits that erode the expected profits and outweigh the cost savings. This includes unintended consequences that arise from employee lay-offs and knowledge loss. This can result in negative perceptions on the value of outsourcing within the firm. This paper will report on a study of an outsourced development project at a Fortune 500 company that examined the drivers that impede accurate cost estimates used to assess the viability of outsourcing R&D activities. A result of the case study was that while there was hidden costs uncovered, significant misperceptions within the firm initially eroded the value of the outsourced activities.

Are Apprenticeships Still Relevant in the 21st Century? A Case Study of Changing Youth Training Arrangements in German Banks

ILR Review ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Finegold ◽  
Karin Wagner
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
New Firms ◽  
Workplace Flexibility ◽  
Transferable Skills ◽  
The Past ◽  
Detailed Case ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Youth Training

The authors present a detailed case study of the evolution of apprenticeships in German banking over the past two decades to analyze why employers continue to be willing to invest in these programs that provide workers with transferable skills. They explain employers' motivation in terms of two “logics.” Some considerations stemming from the logic of consequences, such as recruitment cost savings and enhanced workplace flexibility, encourage retention of the apprenticeship system. On balance, however, the cost calculus that is at the heart of the logic of consequences would, if unopposed, encourage head-hunting for apprentices trained by other firms, eventually undermining the system. The countervailing logic of appropriateness, however, discourages defections from the system by fostering trust among employers, encouraging new firms to participate in the system, supporting the strong reputational effect associated with training, and creating mechanisms with which banks can have a hand in keeping the system efficient.

How will the cost of biosimilars affect patients’ willingness to receive them?

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e18338-e18338
Author(s):  
R Donald Harvey ◽  
Megan McGrath ◽  
John W. Cook ◽  
Margie D Dixon ◽  
Rebecca D. Pentz
Keyword(s):  
Financial Burden ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Drug Market ◽  
Oncology Patients ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Anti Cancer ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
Oncology Care ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Patients Experience

e18338 Background: The cost of oncology care is increasing. The NIH projects that the oncology drug market will reach $111.9 billion by 2020. Studies show that oncology patients experience considerable financial burden, regardless of insurance status and in general believe that oncology medications are too expensive. However, there is some evidence outside of oncology that suggests patients may not trust generics or cheaper medications. Therefore, there is a need to assess oncology patients’ views of a biosimilars and their potential to reduce costs. Methods: We surveyed a convenience sample of 79 oncology patients in clinics and the infusion center. The survey consisted of five questions on cost and patient participation in decision making. Results: Of 79 patients approached, 75 (95%) completed the survey. Fifty (66%) believed that expensive medications do not work better than less costly ones for the same disease; yet only 30 of those 50 (60%) and 44% overall (33/75) would prefer that their doctor prescribe them the cheaper version of their anti-cancer medication. Of the 20 respondents who believed that expensive drugs do not work better but still wanted the more expensive drugs for themselves, 8 believed cancer was too serious of an illness to take any chances with a cheaper medication, 5 wanted the most expensive that insurance would cover and 2 wanted the best possible medication. 90.67% respondents (68/75) wanted to know if their physician was prescribing a cheaper version of their drug. Conclusions: Our results show that, overall, oncology patients agree that cheaper medications work as well as more expensive ones, but there are definite concerns among some patients that drug price may be a proxy for quality, particularly in cancer. Overcoming these negative perceptions among patients will be important if optimal cost savings are going to be realized with expanded biosimilar use.

scholarly journals Modelling the dynamic effects of elective hospital admissions on emergency levels in England

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 1933-1957
Author(s):  
Sergi Jimenez-Martin ◽  
Catia Nicodemo ◽  
Stuart Redding
Keyword(s):  
Cost Saving ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Primary Care Trust ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Elective Treatment ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
The Cost

Abstract In England as elsewhere, policy makers are trying to reduce the pressure on costs due to rising hospital admissions by encouraging GPs to refer fewer patients to hospital specialists. This could have an impact on elective treatment levels, particularly procedures for conditions which are not life-threatening and can be delayed or perhaps withheld entirely. This study attempts to determine whether cost savings in one area of publicly funded health care may lead to the increases in cost in another and therefore have unintended consequences by offsetting the cost-saving benefits anticipated by policy makers. Using administrative data from Hospital Episode Statistics in England, we estimate dynamic fixed effects panel data models for emergency admissions at Primary Care Trust and Hospital Trust levels for the years 2004–2013, controlling for a group of area-specific characteristics and other secondary care variables. We find a negative link between current levels of elective care and future levels of emergency treatment. This observation comes from a time of growing admissions, and there is no guarantee that the link between emergency and elective activity will persist if policy is effective in reducing levels of elective treatment, but our results suggest that the cost-saving benefits to the NHS from reducing elective treatment are reduced by between 5.6 and 15.5% in aggregate as a consequence of increased emergency activity.

New Deal Regulation and the Revolution in American Farm Productivity. A Case Study of the Diffusion of the Tractor in the Corn Ielt, 1920–1940

1991 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Clarke
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Corn Belt ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Investment Climate ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
Farm Productivity ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
The Cost

Based on the cost savings of tractors relative to horses, nearly twice as many farmers in the Corn Belt should have invested in tractors as actually did so in the 1920s. During the Great Depression, however, the proportion of farmers owning tractors jumped from 25 to 40 percent. I argue that financial barriers explain farmers' reluctance to buy this expensive invention during the 1920s, while two New Deal regulatory agencies altered farmers' investment climate and spurred the adoption of capital equipment.

scholarly journals A Case Study for Business Integration as a Service

2014 ◽  
pp. 229-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Chang
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Risk Analysis ◽  
Return On Investment ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Computational Results ◽  
Cloud Adoption ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The University

This chapter presents Business Integration as a Service (BIaaS) to allow two services to work together in the Cloud to achieve a streamline process. The authors illustrate this integration using two services, Return on Investment (ROI) Measurement as a Service (RMaaS) and Risk Analysis as a Service (RAaaS), in the case study at the University of Southampton. The case study demonstrates the cost-savings and the risk analysis achieved, so two services can work as a single service. Advanced techniques are used to demonstrate statistical services and 3D Visualisation services under the remit of RMaaS and Monte Carlo Simulation as a Service behind the design of RAaaS. Computational results are presented with their implications discussed. Different types of risks associated with Cloud adoption can be calculated easily, rapidly, and accurately with the use of BIaaS. This case study confirms the benefits of BIaaS adoption, including cost reduction and improvements in efficiency and risk analysis. Implementation of BIaaS in other organisations is also discussed. Important data arising from the integration of RMaaS and RAaaS are useful for management and stakeholders of University of Southampton.

Reducing Enterprise Product Line Architecture Deployment and Testing Costs via Model Driven Deployment, Configuration, and Testing

2011 ◽  
pp. 334-350
Author(s):  
Jules White ◽  
Brian Dougherty
Keyword(s):  
Configuration Space ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Product Line ◽  
Distributed Constraint Optimization ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Product Line Architecture ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Distributed Test

Product-line architectures (PLAs) are a paradigm for developing software families by customizing and composing reusable artifacts, rather than handcrafting software from scratch. Extensive testing is required to develop reliable PLAs, which may have scores of valid variants that can be constructed from the architecture’s components. It is crucial that each variant be tested thoroughly to assure the quality of these applications on multiple platforms and hardware configurations. It is tedious and error-prone, however, to setup numerous distributed test environments manually and ensure they are deployed and configured correctly. To simplify and automate this process, the authors present a model-driven architecture (MDA) technique that can be used to (1) model a PLA’s configuration space, (2) automatically derive configurations to test, and (3) automate the packaging, deployment, and testing of con-figurations. To validate this MDA process, the authors use a distributed constraint optimization system case study to quantify the cost savings of using an MDA approach for the deployment and testing of PLAs.

Analysis and Cost Estimation of a Total Site Using R-Curve

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sh. Karimkashi ◽  
M. Amidpour
Keyword(s):  
Cost Estimation ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Significant Cost ◽  
R Ratio ◽  
Utility System ◽  
Graphical Tool ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Cost

In large processing sites the cost of fuel and power can be very significant and better management of the utility system can lead to significant cost savings. The R-curve is an analysis tool that provides guidelines for the cogeneration efficiency for a given site power-to-heat ratio demand of an ideal utility system. In this paper, the actual R-curve is combined with another graphical tool, representing the cost of cogeneration potential of a site. In fact in each case, actual R-curve is constructed and then another curve of ‘R-ratio vs. TAC’ is constructed to demonstrate the cost of each point of the R-Curve. Finally showing the results obtained for a case study, it is suggested to change sizes of the turbines in the utility system to improve the R-curve and also decrease the TAC for the same R-ratios. These changes are almost dependent to the case being studied.

scholarly journals Treatment journey in rheumatoid arthritis with biosimilars: from better access to good disease control through cost savings and prevention of nocebo effects

RMD Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. e001637
Author(s):  
Josef S Smolen ◽  
Roberto Caporali ◽  
Thomas Doerner ◽  
Bruno Fautrel ◽  
Fabrizio Benedetti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Early Diagnosis ◽  
Price Competition ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Nocebo Effect ◽  
Good Disease Control ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
The Cost

Early diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are of critical importance to halt the progression of the disease. Optimal use of advanced imaging techniques or biomarkers may facilitate early diagnosis of RA. Even though many disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are available for RA treatment, biological DMARDs (bDMARDs) offer expanding therapeutic options and good outcomes in patients with RA who do not have a sufficient response to conventional synthetic DMARDs. However, high costs of bDMARDs have limited patient access to optimised disease management and increased the cost burden for healthcare systems. The advent of biosimilars led to significant cost savings driven by price competition among the reference products, which could be beneficial for healthcare systems. Healthcare provider (HCP)–patient communication and informed shared decision-making are crucial to prevent the occurrence of a nocebo effect, which results from negative perceptions that patients may have and could lead to less effective outcomes. Research has demonstrated that effective communication between HCPs and patients utilising positive framing can improve acceptance by patients to be initiated on or switched to a biosimilar and can help to integrate biosimilars into routine clinical practice to maximise benefits for patients with RA.

scholarly journals ADDRESSING THE LOCAL IN LOCALIZATION: A CASE STUDY OF OPEN TEXTBOOK ADOPTION BY THREE SOUTH AFRICAN TEACHERS

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Jimes ◽  
Shenandoah Weiss ◽  
Renae Keep
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Collaborative Authorship ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Study Support ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Open Textbooks

This article presents a case study of the adoption and use of open textbooks by three high school teachers in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The textbooks, collaboratively authored and distributed through the South African-initiative, Siyavula, are available online and are openly licensed, allowing teachers to freely use, modify, print, and share them with peers. Building on prior research conducted on the Siyavula project, the study consisted of interviews with teachers in South Africa to assess their reasons for adopting open textbooks, and their experiences using Siyavula’s open textbooks in the classroom. The study revealed that beyond the cost-savings and flexible printing possibilities afforded by using open textbooks, the teachers’ adoption and use of the open textbooks were tied to the local nature of the textbooks, as well as the localization opportunities made possible through open licensing. Specifically, the study revealed the importance of content rooted in the cultural and geographic contexts in which teachers teach—for example, through authentic scenarios and accessible texts for students and teachers to work with. Moreover, because the Siyavula textbooks were collaboratively written by local field experts and scholars, the content was viewed by the teachers as higher quality than proprietary textbooks, which often have few authors and are disseminated by large publishing companies. Furthermore, the study found that localization of the textbooks involved not only to the ability to modify and annotate the content to meet classroom needs, but also the ability to meet local socioeconomic constraints, including technological and budgetary limitations. The findings also indicated that the textbooks’ collaborative authorship and possibilities for user modifications facilitated communication about enhancements to the textbook between the textbook authors and the teacher users. On the whole, the findings support nascent, prior research revealing that when open educational resources (OER) are created, developed and evaluated through processes drawing upon individuals who live and work within the context in which the OER are being created for, the end result is more useable. The results of the study support the need for further research in other settings globally, centering on, for example, the role of collaborative authorship in relation to perceived quality of content.

scholarly journals Honey bee queen production: Canadian costing case study and profitability analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Bixby ◽  
Shelley E. Hoover ◽  
Robyn McCallum ◽  
Abdullah Ibrahim ◽  
Lynae Ovinge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Production Operation ◽  
Profitability Analysis ◽  
Honey Bee Queen ◽  
Queen Production ◽  
The Cost

AbstractThe recent decline in honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colony health worldwide has had a significant impact on the beekeeping industry as well as on pollination-dependent crop sectors in North America and Europe. The pollinator crisis has been attributed to many environmental and anthropological factors including less nutrient rich agricultural monocultures, pesticide exposure, new parasite and pathogen infestations as well as beekeeper management and weather. Canadian beekeepers have indicated that issues with honey bee queens are the most significant factor affecting their colony health. In Canada, beekeepers manage colony losses by relying on the importation of foreign bees, particularly queens from warmer climates, to lead new replacement colonies. Unfortunately, the risks associated with imported queens include the introduction of new and potentially resistant pests and diseases, undesirable genetics including bees with limited adaptations to Canada’s unique climate and bees negatively affected by transportation. Importing a large proportion of our queens each year also creates an unsustainable dependency on foreign bee sources, putting our beekeeping and pollination sectors at an even greater risk in the case of border closures and restrictions. Increasing the domestic supply of queens is one mitigation strategy that could provide Canadian beekeepers, farmers and consumers with a greater level of agricultural stability through locally bred, healthier queens. Our study is the first rigorous analysis of the economic feasibility of Canadian queen production. We present the costs of queen production for three case study operations across Canada over two years as well as the profitability implications. Our results show that for a small to medium sized queen production operation in Canada, producing queen cells and mated queens can be profitable. Using a mated queen market price ranging from $30 to $50, a producer selling mated queens could earn a profit of between $2 and $40 per queen depending on price and the cost structure of his operation. If the producer chose to rear queens for his own operation, the cost savings would also be significant as imported queen prices continue to rise. Our case studies reveal that there is potential for both skilled labour acquisition over time in queen production as well as cost savings from economies of scale. Our queen producers also reduced their production costs by re-using materials year to year. Domestic queen production could be one viable strategy to help address the current pollinator crisis in Canada.

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