As the importance of supplier networks becomes increasingly recognized as a vital factor to company performance, researchers and practitioners alike are focusing their attention on this subject. The study's main objective is to test the specific hypotheses that effective use of Information Technology (IT) and the depth of company relationships with suppliers are directly related to Supplier Network (SN) performance, and that industry clockspeed moderates these relationships. A convenience sample of 135 manufacturing organizations was used to empirically test these hypotheses. Our results indicate that clockspeed does moderate the relationship between IT use effectiveness and supplier network performance. The same is true in the case of supplier relations depth, and hence, managers are encouraged to pay attention to the items comprising network performance as a determinant of supplier network performance.

The healthcare sector is a very important one in many countries and faces numerous quality and performance problems of great significance to all citizens who live there. Although there are many performance parallels between healthcare and other sectors, there are also numerous special issues and terminology, as well. Recent publications on medical errors have put the spotlight on the issue of safety in healthcare. There are opportunities for the healthcare sector to learn from other industries where many techniques and practices for preventing errors have already proved their worth. It is important and beneficial to encourage healthcare specialists to learn from other sectors the concepts, best practices, and tools for preventing errors and improving safety. This chapter addresses the key issues and challenges relating to the management and transfer of such knowledge and places them in the context of quality and knowledge management.

The healthcare sector is a very important one in many countries and faces numerous quality and performance problems of great significance to all citizens who live there. Although there are many performance parallels between healthcare and other sectors, there are also numerous special issues and terminology, as well. Recent publications on medical errors have put the spotlight on the issue of safety in healthcare. There are opportunities for the healthcare sector to learn from other industries where many techniques and practices for preventing errors have already proved their worth. It is important and beneficial to encourage healthcare specialists to learn from other sectors the concepts, best practices, and tools for preventing errors and improving safety. This chapter addresses the key issues and challenges relating to the management and transfer of such knowledge and places them in the context of quality and knowledge management.