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Institutional Influences of Professional Associations and Franchise Organizations on Competitiveness of the Healthcare Clinics

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Design and Management of Interfirm Networks

Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

Abstract

This paper uses insights from the institutional theory to study the competitiveness of the healthcare clinics in Spain. The environment of the healthcare services is highly institutionalized: professional associations are state agents responsible for the extensive regulation. Recently emerged franchise chains become subject for imitation by creating institutionalized routines from within and increasing competitive pressures for other industry players. While the sector is dominated by the independent doctors, franchise organizations are becoming more popular and show steady growth rates. The franchise business model in healthcare is evolving: while the core activity—provision of a healthcare service—cannot be standardized, as the independent judgment of a healthcare professional is legally protected, franchise chains standardize management of the healthcare clinics to achieve efficiency and economies of scale. The survey of the healthcare professionals in Spain shows how professional associations and franchise chains impact the field and provide empirical support to the hypotheses.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business and Law, Frederick University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Nina Gorovaia

  2. Dpto. Dirección de Empresas “Juan J. Renau”, Facultad de Economía, Universidad de Valencia (Spain), Valencia, Spain

    Guillermo Navarro Sanfelix & Francisco Puig

Authors
  1. Nina Gorovaia
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  2. Guillermo Navarro Sanfelix
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  3. Francisco Puig
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nina Gorovaia .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Josef Windsperger

  2. Institute of Management of Rennes (IAE), Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France

    Gérard Cliquet

  3. RSM, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Leiderdorp, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands

    George Hendrikse

  4. Vienna University of Technology, Wien, Austria

    Marijana Srećković

Appendix

Appendix

Operationalization of the variables:

Competitiveness of the healthcare clinics, Cronbach’s-a = 0.751

  1. 1.

    The reputation of our company is greater than that of our competitors.

  2. 2.

    The quality of the service we provide is very much better than that of our competitors.

  3. 3.

    The financial situation of the clinic where I develop my professional activity is much more solid and stable than that of the main competitors.

  4. 4.

    When we detect an unmet need of customers, we react faster than our competitors.

Institutional influences of professional associations

  1. 1.

    The professional association works actively to protect and improve our profession.

  2. 2.

    We obtain advantages when collaborating with professional associations.

Institutional influences of franchise organizations

  1. 1.

    The franchised organizations positively influence the sector where I develop my professional activity.

Human capital of healthcare professionals, Cronbach’s-a = 0.651

  1. 1.

    Professional employees of the clinic have lots of experience.

  2. 2.

    The clinic permits me to organize my work autonomously.

  3. 3.

    The salaries paid by our clinic are higher than the industry average.

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Gorovaia, N., Navarro Sanfelix, G., Puig, F. (2019). Institutional Influences of Professional Associations and Franchise Organizations on Competitiveness of the Healthcare Clinics. In: Windsperger, J., Cliquet, G., Hendrikse, G., Srećković, M. (eds) Design and Management of Interfirm Networks. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29245-4_7

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