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Implementing Quality Management Systems to meet the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 is a vital initiative in accrediting that a laboratory has the competency requirements to perform testing and calibration activities. This work presents the perception of various stakeholders regarding the key elements that facilitate or impede the implementation and use of such standard in Angolan public laboratories. The results obtained show that senior management participation, resource availability, and staff training contribute to successfully achieve and maintain the standard in order to improve their competence and to promote confidence on their services.

To develop resilient business models, entrepreneurs who operate in an emerging economy tourist destination under continuous threat of natural disasters would benefit from knowledge attained by practical experience as well as by academic research. The aim of this study is to examine how the application of this knowledge can bolster business resilience. We draw on current empirical literature in the areas of business and tourism resilience to identify the scope of actionable design interventions. Eighteen years (2000-2018) of tourism and business resilience research were reviewed by a panel of experts to identify reoccurring topics, issues and problems. Following a thematic analysis, these topics were organised into business model canvas (BMC) blocks. We answer the question of how knowledge may be generated to aid the decision-making by tourism entrepreneurs of emerging economies whose businesses are disrupted by natural disaster events. Our contribution is simultaneously to academia and management through the conceptualisation of the BMC as an entrepreneurial knowledge management tool and as a framework for resilient business design.

The export of fresh blueberries is an important productive activity in Chile, in terms of the labour employed, the number of hectares cultivated and the resulting trade flow with the northern hemisphere. The export of fresh blueberries requires planning based on early estimates of the yield of the orchard. The growers keep plots with plants of more or less the same age and variety; thus, it is possible to estimate the yield of the whole orchard, based on the yield per plant. Two factors must be considered in estimating the yield per plant: the number of fruits and their fresh weight. An early estimate of the number of fruits can be based on the number of flower buds and their viability during flowering and fruit development. The aim of the research was to find a way of estimating plant yields in commercial orchards by proposing models which relate the number of fruits available for harvest to the number of flower buds and to climatic variables. The estimated value incorporates the fruit weight appropriate to the variety cultivated. When the potential yield estimated is compared to the yield reported by the growers, the estimated errors are less than 12% (overestimation) and the performance achieved by yield models is as high as 0.57 and 0.96 for the correlation coefficients. The obtained models can be used by producers to plan their harvests several months in advance, and can be adjusted to the current season.

Este trabajo desarrolla y valida un indicador que mide la calidad del servicio en la Atención Primaria de Salud e incorpora los atributos del Modelo de Atención Integral de Salud proveyendo una nueva variable para realizar estudios de Eficiencia Técnica. El indicador se desarrolló con base en una extensa revisión bibliográfica, recopilación de información primaria y secundaria, aplicación de encuestas, grupos focales y juicio de expertos. Está formado por dos elementos: estructura y proceso, definidos por cuatro dimensiones con sus respectivas ponderaciones, consolidándose como un indicador de calidad. Se presentan los resultados del diseño del indicador con base en 259 centros de salud familiar de distintas comunas de Chile; el cual fue posteriormente validado con base en 4 centros, y se obtuvieron valores del indicador iguales 0.461, 0.876, 0.640 y 0.880, respectivamente. El CESFAM, con el valor del indicador más alto, tiene una mejor calidad relativa, debido a la falta de un CESFAM estándar o ideal para comparar. Se concluye que es un indicador válido, pertinente y consistente, de acuerdo con el análisis del Coeficiente de Correlación de Pearson y el Alfa de Cronbach. Estudios posteriores requieren estimar el valor de este indicador a nivel nacional. Using indicators to evaluate the quality of primary healthcare provided by family healthcare centers plays an important role in improving the service and evaluating its performance. The objective of this work is to develop and validate an indicator for primary healthcare quality service in Chile which is also consistent with the Integrated Healthcare Model with Emphasis on the Family and the Community; it also provides a new variable to evaluate Technical Efficiency. It is developed based upon a detailed literature review, gathering of primary and secondary data, survey applications, focus groups and expert opinions. It is made of two elements: structure and process, divided into four weighted dimensions which outcome is one quality indicator. We present the results of the calculation for the designed indicator based on 259 Chilean Familiy Healthcare Centers, which is validated through four centers, obtaining values of 0.461, 0.876, 0.640, and 0.880, respectively. The CESFAM with the highest value has a better relative quality since there is no standard CESFAM to compare. It is concluded the indicator is valid, useful and consistent; the Pearson Correlation Coefficient analysis and Cronbach's Alpha values confirm these results. Further studies require estimating the value of the indicator at national level.

This paper examines whether different approaches for estimating the technical efficiency of a primary healthcare centre —PHC— can have significantly different results. Although effective regulation demands the development of measures for establishing good operation levels, few studies have compared results from a data envelopment analysis —DEA— and stochastic frontier analysis —SFA—in a PHC. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have used Chilean nationwide data. Efficiency refers to the relation between the number of output units per input unit. Effectiveness evaluates the outcome of medical care and can be influenced by efficiency.The data that were used in this study came from 259 Chilean municipalities. We included two outputs – medical and check-up visits – and three inputs – staff, general service and drugs expenses. For the DEA, we used a variable return to scale output-oriented model. Before applying the SFA, a principal component analysis —PCA— combined the two outputs. The results were similar for both methods: the SFA efficiency averages were 70.89% and 65.83% and the DEA averages were 68.37% and 54.46% for the urban and rural municipalities, respectively. In addition to defining a frontier of “best practice”, this study merged the PCA with the SFA to form an innovative approach to combining outputs.