The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #56510

Kuo-Cherh Huang, DrPH, MBA¹, Ning Lu, PhD, MPH², Chao-Hsiun Tang, PhD¹, Yi-Hsin Hsu, PhD¹, and Che-Ming Yang, JD³. (1) Graduate Institute of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hisng St., Taipei, Taiwan, 886-2-23785339, kchuang@tmu.edu.tw, (2) Department of Public Health, Western Kentucky University, 1 Big Red Way, Bowling Green, KY 42101-3576, (3) Wanfang Hospital, 111 Hsing-Long Rd. Sec. 3, Taipei, Taiwan

In general, hospitals seek to enhance their performance by engaging in strategies aimed to either enhance revenues by increasing market shares and improving competitiveness, or by containing costs and promoting efficiency in service delivery. While the hospital performance literature is plentiful, very few studies have investigated the influences of strategic behaviors of hospitals on their performances. This study is to supplement the understanding of the issue. To have a more homogenous study population, only teaching hospitals at regional level or above in Taiwan were included in the study. Questionnaires were mailed to 128 hospitals, followed by telephone or face-to-face interviews with those hospitals that did not return the questionnaires after two mailings, or provided insufficient information in the returned questionnaires. The final sample size was 62, with a response rate of 48.4%. The statistical analyses used were descriptive analysis, one-way ANOVA, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. Our data revealed that strategic alliance (80.6%) was the most often adopted strategy by hospitals, followed by the differentiation strategy (72.6%). The least employed strategy was the merge-and-acquisition approach (11.3%). Our study also indicated that the strategies of differentiation and focus had the most significant influences on the performance of hospitals.

Learning Objectives:

• To survive in the competitive health care market, hospitals often cope with external environmental changes and enhance their performance by engaging in some strategic behavior aimed to either enhance revenues by increasing market shares and improving competitiveness, or by containing costs and promoting efficiency in service delivery. The study aimed to investigate the influences of strategic behaviors of hospitals on their performances.

Keywords: Management, Hospitals

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.