Strategic Orientation of Romanian Healthcare Organizations from a Contingency Theory Perspective Based on Porter’s Generic Strategy Model

Abstract

Under limited financial and human resources, factors such as technological progress, increased life expectancy, and increased medical needs argued that health organizations should define their strategic direction in line with these challenges. The purpose of this paper is to determine the types of competitive advantage that Romanian healthcare organizations seek, as well as the types of organizational strategy, according to Porter’s Generic Strategy Model, from a Contingency Theory Perspective For this purpose, the collection and analysis of primary data, resulting from the answers provided by a sample relevant to the topic addressed, respectively, employees from the health system were enrolled. Scales measuring the orientation of health organizations toward obtaining competitive advantages through differentiation and through costs, as well as the range of strategic activities, were validated by exploratory factor analysis, and for the analysis of the results used the independent samples t test; additionally, one-way multivariate analysis of variance (One-Way MANOVA) and Hotelling’s T2 test were also used. The results of the research highlighted that, in general, healthcare units aim to achieve superior performance compared to competitors by differentiating the products/services offered, rather than reducing costs, and the tendency to aim to achieve one (or both) type(s) of competitive advantage, as well as the scope of strategic activities in which it is achieved, differ according to several contingency factors, including location in a certain geographical area, the type of health organization, and their age and size.