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This research aimed to create inventive principles in managing quality and innovation systems that can be used as a guide for the development of effective innovation projects in hospitals.

Total quality and innovation management in healthcare (TQIM-H) framework and theory of inventive problem-solving (TRIZ) were integrated with results from in-depth interviews with 30 healthcare experts, resulting in TQIM-H inventive principle. The developed inventive principle was validated using 50 effective innovation projects from one of the largest healthcare conglomerates in Southeast Asia.

The TQIM-H inventive principle consisted of 7 dimensions and 72 procedures for creating innovation in hospitals under the medical quality framework. The principle effectively helps innovators develop innovative solutions that still strictly comply with medical guidelines.

Innovation is recognized as a critical factor that helps organizations adapt to global changes and increases the potential for competition, especially in hospitals. However, creating innovation in hospitals has a lower success rate than in other industries because, in general, ineffective innovation development strategies are used and the created innovation is not aligned with regulations and restrictions regarding healthcare quality in the healthcare system.

A growing number of publications have questioned and raised awareness of improvement fashions, especially in the area of quality management (QM), but rational decision‐making process has been promoted. Thus, this paper aims to address the selection issue and presents a holistic framework for selecting a QM and improvement initiative.

The research was carried out in three phases. Phase One established a conceptual background for the adoption based on extensive literature review. Phase Two provided empirical studies of the QM approaches adopted in three leading case companies in Thailand and interviews with quality experts. Finally, Phase Three builds a theory of selection based on cross‐case analysis and a paradigm model.

Triggers for the adoption are the internal factors (i.e. need to survive, sustain competitiveness, and increase operational effectiveness) and external factors (i.e. institutional push, trade barrier, and company image). The selection framework and the theory of selecting QM and improvement initiatives explain the four selection views of fashion setting, pay‐off, strategic fit, and organisation fit.

Selection of quality and improvement initiatives is based on the managers' perceptions and past experiences of QM selecting decision, and upon on the information available.

The advancement in the theory of the adoption of improvement initiatives is the main contribution of this research. The selection framework, which was theoretically and empirically grounded, has attempted to surface the irrational influences on the adoption to provide a more rational and less ambiguous justification. It provides a holistic model incorporating comprehensive selection criteria aiming to assist managers undertaking selection decisions.

The variety of possible quality management (QM) and continuous improvement (CI) initiatives and their various possible permutations can make it difficult for a company to choose the best approach for their requirements. This paper aims to address the selection issue by presenting a method to compare popular QM and CI initiatives from the perspective of the pay‐offs, or expected benefits, to an organisation which successfully adopts the approach.

The relevant QM and CI literature was analysed, examining key initiatives and their reported pay‐offs to the organisation. A matrix diagram approach is introduced which presents the extent and credibility of arguments advanced for these initiatives, in seven categories of pay‐off. A system of assessment is proposed, which quantifies the extent and weight of empirical evidence and estimates the strength of the claim for each pay‐off.

The pay‐off matrix summarises the claims in each of the pay‐off categories, assesses their credibility, and displays the similarities and differences for six key initiatives: total quality management, six sigma, ISO 9000, business process reengineering, lean and business excellence. Graphical pay‐off profiles are presented. Significant differences between the claimed pay‐offs for these initiatives are identified, analysed and discussed.

The proposed matrix and assessment system attempts to support a comprehensive and rational approach to assess the pay‐offs of QM and CI initiatives. As with any analysis of literature, there is inevitably an element of selection, but this approach consciously attempts to avoid omission and promote objectivity. The analysis is based on articles published between 1990 and 2005. Hence, new research and additional evidence may change the weight and credibility of claims.

This paper suggests a way in which evidence from the literature might be most effectively used by managers for decision support in the choice of quality and improvement initiatives. A similar approach might also be used for other areas, where businesses face choices and a considerable body of evidence exists to assist the decision‐making process.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the adoption of a mobile insurance claim system (M-insurance) and develops a framework for the adoption of M-insurance by consumers.

This study assesses mobile technology for claim management through the lens of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and diffusion of innovation (DOI) models as a major guideline, using exploratory research through in-depth interviews with four executive experts who are first movers in mobile claim motor insurance in Thailand. Semi-structured interviews and open-ended questions were used to conduct group interviews of insurance consumers who mostly use smartphones. The data were collected in a qualitative research approach from Thai insurance consumers (n=177), and contents were classified and analysed to gain strong insights into respondent opinions, comments, attitudes, behaviour, and experiences.

The results indicate that the external (social) factors influence attitude and behaviour of consumers which link to their intention to adopt M-insurance. These external factors include: preference for face-to-face service; confidence of insurers in accepting claim; and risk of claim knowledge that might cause legal issues among others. In application, the findings shall meaningfully enhance insurer firms’ improvement of adoption rate and development of future features and functions of M-insurance.

This study is based on insurance consumers in each region of Thailand but focuses only on mobile claim management for motor insurance. Although the findings bring new insight and understanding of consumer preferences and behaviours, they were not tested statistically.

The study has practical implications for motor insurance claimants who are concerned over the complicated policy conditions, the perspective risk of claim knowledge and fault admission, and the on-site investigation by surveyor for another party. These are the guidance impediments to overcome M-insurance adoption improvement.

Previously, TAM and DOI approaches have been employed to study general adoption of M-banking by quantitative research which confirmed descriptive data and tested the hypothesis, but neglected crucial data. However, M-insurance is different from M-banking in term of features and functions, purpose and process of usage, and legal liability. Therefore, this study is one of a few empirical studies that attempt to identify insightful factors to consumer uptake of M-insurance which is in its early stage and lacks an underpinning TAM model. This study contributes by identifying insights of “pull” factors to successfully develop M-insurance in Thailand.

The purpose of this paper is to study the criteria of R & D commercialization capability by using the successful cases from government research institutes.

The data were collected from 272 entrepreneurs and researchers with a structured questionnaire. The data analysis was carried out by the structural equation modeling (SEM).

The research results revealed that there are six criteria for R & D project commercialization capability, these are arranged according to the significance; marketing, technology, finance, non-financial impact, intellectual property, and human resource. Moreover, the evaluator’s roles, both researchers and entrepreneurs, effect the level of criteria for consideration.

This research is derived from samples form voluntary participants from the disclosed lists in the governmental research institutes. Although SEM results provide weight for each R & D commercialization capability that would be the first step for developing the R & D evaluation instrument and the longitudinal will need to investigate.

This study provides the holistic R & D commercialization capability criteria to assist entrepreneurs and researchers when faced with R & D commercialization decision. The criteria was developed from successful innovation cases; hence they enhance decision-making potential, provide a guideline of R & D commercialization evaluation process, speed up the decision-making process, and prevent risk of a resource meltdown and increase innovation exploitation.

The roles of the evaluators are important when considering R & D, hence, to use the same criteria for evaluating the researchers and entrepreneurs seems inappropriate since naturally, the researchers usually lack marketing and financial skills while the entrepreneurs usually lack technological skills and human resources. The answer may be in the form of providing specifics about project requirement, establishment of marketing and financial consultants in research institutes, enhancement of research and development division, or doing the business matching before doing the agreement in order to encourage co-research and increase the technology transfer level.

This paper proposes the holistic criteria in order to decrease the ambiguous subjectivity of fuzzy-expert system and to help with effectively funding R & D and to prevent a resource meltdown.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role that weather shocks can play in the livestock mortality microinsurance take-up when the insured risk has a prevalent covariant component.

The sample consists of 360 rural Ethiopian households. Data were collected in a panel-structure at the end of three agricultural seasons (2011-2013). In the questionnaire, a specific section on insurance was meant to collect information on the farmer’s willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a set of insurance products, including livestock mortality insurance. Two OLS regression models and a quantile regression model were employed to estimate the impact of weather anomalies on the WTP for the insurance product.

The authors find that weather anomalies contribute to changes in the WTP to a large extent. Negative (positive) changes in precipitation (temperature) anomalies can lead to more than a 30 percent reduction in the WTP. This general finding is complemented with the analysis of the conditional distribution of the WTP, which shows that other elements can prevail for low values of the conditional distribution. In this case, the WTP seems to be represented more by the interviewee’s age and basic knowledge of insurance, and village fixed-effects. Basic knowledge of insurance, in particular, can increase WTP by about 60 percent.

This paper has straightforward implications from a policy perspective. It suggests that farmers would prefer an insurance premium that follows the changes in the systemic component. On the contrary, insurance as well as reinsurance companies are usually reluctant to frequently revise their premiums. Financial education programs, farmer-driven design, trust building, and bundling insurance with other financial and non-financial products can increase the value proposition perceived by the farmers. From a marketing perspective, the overall findings suggest that continuous fine-tuning of the contract, transparency, and targeted information campaigns can contribute to increase and stabilize potential customers’ WTP.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that considers the impact of weather shocks on the WTP for a livestock mortality insurance product. Livestock is one of the most strategic assets of poor rural households in Africa. This study contributes to the theoretical and empirical literature on the determinants of weather insurance take-up in developing countries and, in particular, the role of spatiotemporal adverse selection and basis risk (e.g. Jensen et al., 2016).