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Many companies are able to implement strategies that are critical for competitiveness through cooperation agreements and alliances with other agents. This study attempts to analyze cooperative relationships through an empirical study of agribusinesses in Murcia (Spain). The results suggest that approximately half of the agribusinesses engage in cooperative activities and that the most cooperative subsectors are those that pack and market the produce (exclusively or in addition to growing the crops). The growers subsector undertakes the fewest cooperative activities, whether with internal agents (suppliers, competitors and customers) or with external ones (research centres and associations). The main reasons for cooperation are access to new markets and overcoming commercial barriers. The most important results of cooperation are greater capacity and savings on resources. The best results are obtained by cooperating with suppliers and competitors, and to a lesser extent with associations. Cooperation with clients and research centres is not reflected in the results. Finally, since some companies do not cooperate with others, the reasons need to be analyzed, so this study determines the main threats to cooperation and proposes solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish healthcare system has undergone important changes, particularly with respect to the development of new hospital services. Today, more than ever, the factors that define the nature and structured of the Spanish healthcare environment (e.g. demand, costs, system deregulation) are undergoing rapid change thus obliging hospital administrators to develop and implement flexible and adaptive strategies in order to survive in an increasingly challenging environment facing hospital management. This work examines how the existence of some learning practices is linked to knowledge transfer and how this component is linked to relational capital. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 54 doctors and 62 nurses belonging to 44 Hospital-in-the-Home Units. In an applied sense, the findings provide homecare practitioners with identifiable factors, which enable two learning models (conceptual and operational) and address the relevant issues by changing strategies at both the individual and organisational levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]