SOFTWOOD SAWMILLING IS IMPORTANT TO THE ECONOMY OF MANY NATIONS AND HUGE VOLUMES OF SOFTWOOD LUMBER ARE PRODUCED ANNUALLY. ACCORDINGLY, THE ECONOMIC SUCCESS OF SOFTWOOD SAWMILLS, AS THEY COMPETE WITH SUBSTITUTES SUCH AS STEEL AND CONCRETE, IS OF INTEREST TO VARIOUS INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDERS, ESPECIALLY MANAGERS, AND RESEARCHERS. GIVEN THE STRONG CONNECTION BETWEEN INNOVATIVENESS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE IN THE LITERATURE, THIS STUDY INVESTIGATES INNOVATIVENESS IN SAWMILLS IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, CHILE, NORWAY, AND THE USA. MAIL SURVEYS WERE USED IN EACH OF THE COUNTRIES TO COLLECT DATA REGARDING PRODUCT, PROCESS, AND BUSINESS SYSTEMS INNOVATIVENESS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE. FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT SAWMILLS FOCUS EQUALLY ON PRODUCT AND PROCESS INNOVATIVENESS, FIRM SIZE POSITIVELY IMPACTS INNOVATIVENESS, AND THAT OVERALL, PROCESS INNOVATIVENESS IS WHAT DRIVES FIRM PERFORMANCE IN THIS SECTOR. FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT MANAGERS SHOULD FOCUS ON BEING INNOVATIVE SINCE THIS POSITIVELY IMPACTS FIRM PERFORMANCE.

THE CLT MARKET IS QUICKLY GROWING AND DEVELOPING IN DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE WORLD. HOWEVER, THE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION ARE HIGHLY CONCENTRATED IN CENTRAL EUROPE (AUSTRIA, GERMANY, ITALY, AND SWITZERLAND). DUE TO THE ELEVATED LEVELS OF PERSONALIZATION REQUIRED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, THE CLT MANUFACTURING PROCESS INVOLVES COSTLY AND SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT THAT REPRESENTS AN ENTRY BARRIER FOR DOMESTIC PRODUCERS IN MARKETS WHERE THE DEMAND IS SMALL AND INCIPIENT. THIS WORK DISCUSSES A PRODUCTION MODEL AND SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLT INDUSTRY IN EMERGING ENVIRONMENTS WHERE THE PRODUCT AND ITS PROPERTIES ARE NOT WELL-KNOWN. FURTHERMORE, A COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS IS PERFORMED FOR THREE SMALL CAPACITY MILLS DESIGNED ACCORDING TO SMES CAPABILITIES. FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT CLT MANUFACTURING WITH LOW-CAPACITY PLANTS (LESS THAN 10,000 M3/YR) IS PROFITABLE BUT HIGH LEVELS OF INTEGRATION ARE REQUIRED. THE MOST INFLUENTIAL VARIABLES IN THE ECONOMIC RESULTS ARE THE LUMBER COST AND PRODUCTION VOLUME; THEREFORE, SPECIAL ATTENTION MUST BE PAID TO THE EFFICIENCY OF THE PROCESS. DESPITE THE SMALL SIZE OF THE STUDIED PLANTS PROMOTED BY THE PROPOSED PRODUCTION AND PLANT DESIGN MODEL, THE SALE PRICE IS ATTRACTIVE AND COMPETITIVE.

THIS STUDY EXPLORATORY AND DESCRIPTIVE HAD AS ITS MAIN OBJECTIVE TO EVALUATE THE QUALITY OF A HOSPITAL EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT AND IDENTIFY RELEVANT DIMENSIONS OF QUALITY THROUGH USE OF THE MODEL SERVPERF. THE SCOPE INVOLVES A PUBLIC SERVICE EMERGENCY, OF MEDIUM COMPLEXITY, LOCATED IN PENCO-LIRQUÉN ZONE, CHILE. THE METHODOLOGY CONSIDERED USING MODEL SERVPERF THROUGH THE DESIGN OF A SURVEY OF EIGHT DIMENSIONS RELATED TO THE FIELD OF HEALTH AND APPLYING THE FACTOR ANALYSIS TO THE SAMPLE DATA. THE RESULTS PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THE QUALITY OF A HEALTH SERVICE AND DISPOSE AN INSTRUMENT THAT IS WITH A CONSTRUCTION HOMOGENEOUS, RELIABLE, VALID AND OBJECTIVE. THE MAIN CONCLUSIONS INDICATE THAT THE DIMENSION WITH THE HIGHEST DEGREE OF SATISFACTION WAS RELATED TO THE PROFESSIONALISM OF DOCTORS AND NURSES AND THE DIMENSIONS MORE UNFAVORABLE ARE TIMES ATTENTION AND RESPONSIVENESS ALLOWING TO IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE IN SHORT AND LONG TERM.

THIS WORKS SHOWS AN APPLICATION OF A CHURN MODEL FOR A COMPANY OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY IN CHILE WITH TWO MAJOR MARKETS. CLUSTER ANALYSIS AND MULTIVARIATE LOGISTIC REGRESSION WERE USED AS DATA MINING METHODOLOGIES TO GENERATE THE CHURN MODEL. DATA BASE CONSIDERED THE PERIOD JANUARY 2009 AND JUNE 2011, AND VARIABLES SUCH AS PRODUCTS, DEMOGRAPHIC DATA, PAYMENT SYSTEMS, NUMBER AND TYPES OF COMPLAINTS FILLED WERE USED. TWO MODELS USING REGRESSION ANALYSIS WERE DEVELOPED WERE GENERATED FOR BOTH MARKETS. FOR THE CONCEPCIÓN MARKET THE MODEL ESTIMATES SUCCESSFULLY 71% OF THE TOTAL CASES, AND FOR TEMUCO MARKET WAS 72%. THE ABOVE INFORMATIONS ALLOWS THE COMPANY FOR THE PROPOSAL OF PROMOTIONAL EFFORTS AND TRAINING OF THE SALES FORCE PRIMARILY