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From 2003, each inpatient's stay at a German hospital will be reimbursed according to diagnosis related groups. The former German hospital financing system, which consisted partly of per diem rates and partly of per‐case rates, was abolished in an attempt to increase efficiency in hospitals. This can be seen as the government's attempt to act on the principles of evidence‐based policy. Since there is no strict global budget for inpatient treatment, it is not certain that those diagnosis related groups will actually decrease overall expenditures on hospitals. Also, it is argued that the introduction of diagnosis related groups in Germany may not be the last step in rebuilding the German health care system. The manner, scope and timing of this reform suggests that it will not succeed. Reforms lead to yet more reforms.

Dieses Szenario befasst sich mit den wahrscheinli‐chen Entwicklungen von Freizeit und Tourismus in einem Zeithorizont von rund 20 Jahren. Es wird dabei vor allem auf die Situation in den europäischen Industrieländern Bezug genommen.

Crete, an exquisite island, is located between Europe, Asia and Africa, and in the north, is it surrounded by the Cretan Sea and in the south, by the Libyan Sea. It has become known as one of the most alluring tourist destinations in Europe. This is attributed to its geographical location, extraordinary flora and fauna, a unique natural phenomenon, such as the Gorge of Samaria, and its rich historical monuments. The archaeological sites in Crete (Knossos palace) are worldwide known and can be visited along with the famous Byzantine monuments. As it is understood, such churches and their artifacts mainly appeal to visitors with particular religious interests. At the same time, for the modern tourist who is interested beyond the usual attractions, there are also developed traditional settlements, the Sustainable tourism and Ecotourism, traditional cultural events and feasts, as well as exhibitions of popular art. Regarding the economy, over the last decade, an important growth in agriculture (the climate encourages a lot of bio‐cultures), industry and finally tourism has taken place. However, a more general growth is also to be seen in other economic sectors (manufacture, trade etc.) that benefit from the increase in the number of consumers annually, due to the surge in tourism. This radiograph of the island of Crete demonstrates all the natural and cultural elements that are impressive and rare within one area, and which, if exploited correctly, may create other tourist models based on natural and cultural resources.

This study aims to investigate the influence of inventors’ abilities to acquire external knowledge, provide broad and professional knowledge and patenting output (i.e. different types of inventors) on the formation of structural holes.

The authors collected 59,798 patents applied for and granted in the USA by 33 of the largest firms worldwide in the pharmaceutical industry between 1975 and 2014. A random-effects tobit model was used to test the hypotheses.

The inventors’ ability to acquire external knowledge contributes to the formation of structural holes. While inventors’ ability to provide broad knowledge positively affects the formation of structural holes, their ability to provide professional knowledge works otherwise. In addition, key inventors and industrious inventors are more likely to form structural holes than talents.

The results identify individual factors that affect the formation of structural holes and improve the understanding of structural hole theory. This study is unique in that most scholars have studied the consequences of structural hole formation rather than their antecedents. Studies on the origin of structural holes neglect the effect of inventors’ knowledge abilities and patenting output. By addressing this gap, this study contributes to a more comprehensive theoretical understanding of structural holes. The results can guide managers in managing structural holes in accordance with inventors’ knowledge abilities and patenting outputs, which optimize the allocation of network resources.