One of the main objectives of the European MUSING project is to design and test software tools in order to support the activities of small and medium sized businesses. In this paper we examine financial risk management and, more specifically, the self-assessment of business plans. The role of intangible assets is discussed, and we report on how intangible assets can be collected, how they can b...

This paper presents results of research aimed at presenting the opinion of hospital managers about the influence of information and communication technologies development level (referred to as technological context) on the increase of health care entity intangible assets. Hospital intangible assets include knowledge, personnel skills, organizational structures and procedures, hospital reputatio...

A Business Intelligence (BI) system is a technology that provides significant business value by improving the effectiveness of managerial decision-making. In an uncertain and highly competitive business environment, the value of strategic information systems such as these is easily recognised. High adoption rates and investment in BI software and services suggest that these systems are a princi...

One of the most important intangible assets for firm’s competitiveness is brand image, reflecting all that which leads to the firm. In the current competitive scenario, the brand must be able to meet stakeholder’s expectations not only regarding visible components of the marketing mix, but also the firm’s value system, including both economical and social values. Thus, corporate social responsi...

This research aims to explore the effect of e-service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Especially, the current paper focuses on customer perceptions and reactions to the tangible factors of e-service quality in the Business-to-Customer (B2C) area. This tangible eservice quality includes web design esthetics, ease of use, virtual tour, and visualization. In addition, intangible e-se...

BACKGROUND This study aimed at identifying components of the household health costs. METHODS This study was a qualitative research conducted in two main phases. The first phase consisted of interviews with sample households selected in eight provinces of Iran. They were to identify components of the household health costs. In the second phase, components were determined as direct, indirect an...

Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs) are knowledge-intensive firms. They tend to rely mainly on their employees and their individual competencies (codified or non-codified), the networks and communities they are involved in as well as the structural resources of the organization itself. These resources, mainly of intangible nature, are expected to play an important role on the innovatio...

This article provides a literature review about the impact of the intangible assets on the design of corporate financial and governance policies. Intangible assets show a set of characteristicsnamely, high levels of risk and uncertainty, firm-specificity, human capital intensity, low observability and long-term naturethat make them markedly distinct from other categories of assets. These charac...

We examine the intersection between corporate divestitures of tangible assets and investment in intangible capital (R&D) to provide new tests for the impact financing constraints have on real activity. A positive R&D sensitivity to asset sale proceeds indicates binding financing constraints since cash inflows from tangible asset sales are negatively correlated with productivity shocks and not o...

BACKGROUND Low and middle income countries face many challenges in meeting their populations' mental health care needs. Though family caregiving is crucial to the management of severe mental health disabilities, such as schizophrenia, the economic costs borne by family caregivers often go unnoticed. In this study, we estimated the household economic costs of schizophrenia and quality of life of...