The effects of electronic navigation devices on marine accident occurrences

In recent years, maritime-related organizations and companies have moved to a risk-based approach. To determine the risks, it is necessary to understand comprehensively why accidents occur and how it develops. The most effective measures need to be identified to implement the accident prevention measures successfully. According to the results of scientific studies conducted in the past, 80% of human factors risks were effective in marine accidents. Nowadays, maritime technologies are the most effective method for reducing the risks of human factors. However, the use of electronic navigation devices has not eliminated accidents. In this study, the accident reports for collision and grounding due to the electronic navigation devices' risk was evaluated using Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) method. As a result of the study, more than half of the visible (active) causes of accidents have been identified as operating failure factors in electronic navigation equipment. Recommendations to prevent the occurrence of accident factors have been made.

Addressing critical failure factors and barriers in implementing Lean Six Sigma in Italian public hospitals

Purpose During the past few decades, Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in the health-care sector has received increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners because it plays an imperative role in quality improvement and cost reduction initiatives. Although researchers have often focussed on evidence of model effectiveness through the study of performance indicators, too little attention has been given to the factors that lead to implementation failure and the causal relationships among them. This study aims to investigate the factors that may inhibit the successful implementation of the method by focussing on Italian public hospitals. Design/methodology/approach Through the use of the Delphi technique and fuzzy cognitive maps, this paper derives new and relevant results for researchers, hospital managers and policymakers. Findings The results show the factors with the greatest impact on LSS implementation and provide insight into the causal links and degrees of influence between critical failure factors and performance variables. Practical implications The findings could be considered useful, in particular, to hospital managers and policymakers, who could leverage the suggestions derived from the study to address LSS implementation. Originality/value This work overcomes a gap in the literature related to the absence of studies on the causal relationships between factors that determine the success or failure of LSS implementation.

The challenge of implementing public-private partnerships: a transaction costs perspective on waste to energy projects in Indonesia

Purpose This study aims to explore the reasons behind the lengthy delays in completing a single public-private partnership (PPP) project in Indonesia and investigates how the transaction costs play a significant role in hindering the project’s success. Design/methodology/approach To broaden insight into the transaction cost theory, the authors used a single case study approach to provide a more in-depth analysis of a context whose complexity can be fully explored. As the primary data sources, 16 face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with the stakeholders directly involved in the project’s initiation, design and execution. Findings This case study demonstrates that transaction cost issues, both political and economic, play a significant role. This study has identified four main problems associated with transaction costs hindering project success, namely, executing agencies’ lack of knowledge and experience, lack of coordination for such a complex governance structure that links too many stakeholders and the financial and political risk that increase the uncertainty and public distrust. Research limitations/implications This study contributes mainly to the PPP and transaction costs economics literature, providing empirical evidence on why major PPP projects may fail to be procured. The Greater Bandung waste to energy (WTE) Project case demonstrates that transaction costs, both political and economic, have played a significant role in the lengthy delay of the PPP project. Practical implications As the project involves many transaction cost issues, mapping the failure factors at the project sites can significantly contribute to the practitioners/stakeholders involved in the PPP WTE projects. Therefore, this study provides a lesson to the policymakers at all levels interested in PPPs to consider the issues of transaction costs related to the PPP projects. It can be used as guidance as well as a reference for future PPP WTE projects in Indonesia. Social implications Mapping the failure factors also signifying the response of the public in the PPP WTE projects undertaken. As the citizens become more rule-conscious and rights-conscious, they demand the opportunity to participate in creating rules and project plans. If the project failed to consult with affected communities and undermined democratic accountability, the angry citizens will confront the government to cancel the project. Therefore, political and economic influences for public attitude play significant roles in making the PPP WTE projects successful. Originality/value This study provides insight into the transaction cost issues that have hindered the completion of Indonesia’s PPP WTE project over the past 15 years. Additionally, the project feasibility analysis should include an understanding of transaction costs for partnering in PPP.

Key failure factors of start-up women owned SMEs in service sector in Kigali: a principal component analysis approach

Purpose This study aims to develop and test a framework for studying the failure of new women entrepreneurs in the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 114 unsuccessful entrepreneurs in Kigali, Rwanda, this study aimed to identify key failure factors of women-owned SMEs. This study used mixed methods where quantitative data were analysed using the principal component approach with Varimax rotation to reduce the variables to only three clusters. Findings The study findings revealed that the failure of women-owned SMEs results from the entrepreneur’s inability followed by the enterprise incompetence, which are both internally controllable factors and the inauspicious business environment. These findings contribute to the validity of the dynamic capability theory by explaining how well internal and external factors must stay glued together to avoid failure among women-owned SMEs, something that was not yet previously well documented so far. Originality/value New SMEs are considered a noteworthy constituent of Rwandan development. Unfortunately, most new SMEs, in general, do not grow; their failure rate is high (70%), which raised many worries for both researchers and policymakers as to why this occurs at this stage of business growth. Therefore, to the best of the authors’ knowledge this paper is the first to analyse the reasons for the failure of Rwandan women-owned SMEs in the service sector. These findings are important because they suggest that policies designed to reduce the incidence of SMEs’ failure should take account of the two main factors influencing failure among women entrepreneurs.

Success and Failure Factors for Trabeculectomy in Glaucomatous Patients in Southwest China: A 325 Eyes Analysis

Purpose To evaluate the outcomes and elucidate the success and failure factors for trabeculectomy with mitomycin C (MMC) in Southwest Chinese patients. Methods A retrospective correlational study was conducted on the glaucomatous patients who underwent initial trabeculectomy with MMC in Southwest Hospital and had been followed up for 1-3 years. A complete success for surgery is defined as a postoperative intraocular pressure (IOP) > 5 and ≤ 21 mmHg and 20% reduction of IOP compared to preoperative, without IOP-lowering medications. A qualified success for surgery is defined as the abovementioned postoperative IOP with or without IOP-lowering medications. The primary outcomes were IOP, the number of IOP-lowering medications, and cumulative success rate. The secondary outcomes included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), mean deviation (MD) of visual field, major complications, and risk factors for surgical failure. Results A total of 325 eyes of 261 glaucomatous patients had been included in our study. Both the mean IOP and the number of IOP-lowering medications were significantly decreased from 32.9 ± 12.0 mmHg to 16.4 ± 5.7 mmHg (P<0.0001) and 3.0 ± 0.9 to 0.9 ± 1.0 (P<0.0001), respectively, at the last visit. The cumulative complete success rate and qualified success rate were 77.8% and 92.0% at 1-year follow-up, and 47.2% and 77.7% at 3-year follow up. There were no significant differences in surgical outcomes between primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) and primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). In PACG patients, the success rates of trabeculectomy were comparable with those of phacotrabeculectomy. Hypertension (HR=1.904, P=0.011), encapsulated bleb (HR=2.756, P<0.001), and more preoperative topical medications (HR=2.475, P=0.008) were risk factors for surgical failure. Conclusions The qualified success rate of trabeculectomy with MMC in glaucomatous patients in Southwest China is 92.0% at 1-year follow-up, and 77.7% at 3-year follow up. Hypertension, encapsulated bleb, and more preoperative topical medications are associated with surgical failure.

Preventing Enterprise Resource Planning Failure Through an Enhanced Approach to Solve Ineffective Communication

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a widely known type of software that eases the managerial aspect in enterprises. It increases their efficiency and productivity which helps them to exponentially grow in a short span of time compared to organizations that are not using it. However, as much as productive it is, implementing it does not often succeed. Majority of ERP implementations ends up failing due to different types of factors. Spotting the light on technical aspects showed that several factors contribute to this failure. Starting from pre-implementation phase with Business Process Reengineering (BPR) execution failure, or during the implementation phase due to miscommunication or incapable project members. The research amount in this field, particularly in critical failure factors is not sufficient to learn from and avoid future implementations, hence this topic provides insights about this specific issue. Quantitative method is used to analyse the data collected from a survey questionnaire for those who got involved in ERP or BPR implementations. The research process goes through objectives from problem identification to an in-detail explanation about its causes and effects, to how it is going to be addressed, how the data is going to be collected and analysed, and finally the proposed approach with a technical evaluation for it. The final objective of the research results in developing an approach that minimises the negative contribution of two failure factors, poor BPR and ineffective communication on the mentioned implementations, or prevent them entirely. The reason these two were chosen were due to their high occurrence frequency and lack of research regarding why they are considered failure factors. Concluding the research, the mentioned enhanced approach is being evaluated showing its potential to solve these factors, as they are relying on each other, with additional suggestions to further improve the approach in future work.

Assessment of Critical Failure Factors for Implementing Lean Six Sigma in Manufacturing Industry: A case study

In the present scenario manufacturing industries have been facing problem-related to cost, quality, and customer satisfaction. To overcome such problems, the organizations are ready to adopt continuous improvement (CI) approaches such as Lean Six Sigma (LSS) which keeps them stable when the demand for products or services fluctuates. LSS is a breakthrough improvement approach that helps to improve the bottom-line result of the company by utilizing its tools and techniques. The successful adaptation of the LSS approach provides a significant improvement in key metrics but deficiency of proper implementation shows a negative effect. To prevent such a situation, need to know about their failure factors. The objective of the present study is to assess the critical failure factors (CFFs) for LSS framework implementation in manufacturing organizations. The leading CFFs for LSS have been identified and selected through a structured literature review and expert opinion. The CFFs based model for LSS implementation has been developed using the Interpretative Structural Modelling and Matrice d’ Impacts Croises Multiplication Appliquee a un Classement (ISM-MICMAC) approach. Previous studies related to such concerns have not developed a structural hierarchical model that is necessary to tackle CFFs towards the LSS implementation process. Such an interrelation helps decision-makers, planners to systematically guide about the barriers that affect the implementation process and help for further implementation success. The developed structured model will also help LSS practitioners, consultants, researchers to anticipate the potential CFFs to implement the LSS framework in their industry for continuous improvement and achieve a leading position in a competitive market.