Lethbridge, Jane ORCID: 0000-0002-0094-9967 (2011) Understanding multinational companies in public health systems, using a competitive advantage framework. Globalization and Health, 7:19. ISSN 1744-8603 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-8603-7-19)

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Abstract

Background:
This paper discusses the findings of a study which developed five case studies of five multinational health care companies involved in public health care systems. Strategies were analysed in terms of attitude to marketing, pricing and regulation. The company strategies have been subjected to an analysis using Porter's Five Forces, a business strategy framework, which is unusual in health policy studies.

Methods:
This paper shows how analysing company strategy using a business tool can contribute to understanding the strategies of global capital in national health systems. It shows how social science methodologies can draw from business methods to explain company strategies.

Results:
The five companies considered in this paper demonstrate that their strategies have many dimensions, which fit into Porter's Five Forces of comparative advantage. More importantly the Five Forces can be used to identify factors that influence company entry into public health care systems.

Conclusions:
The process of examining the strategic objectives of five health care companies shows that a business tool can help to explain the actions and motives of health care companies towards public health care systems, and so contribute to a better understanding of the strategies of global capital in national health systems. Health service commissioners need to understand this dynamic process, which will evolve as the nature of public health care systems change.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	[1] Copyright: © 2011 Lethbridge; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. [2] This paper was first presented with the title "Five years on - global health companies in the public sector" at the Symposium on Health Systems, Health Economies and Globalisation: Social Science Perspectives, held on 2-3 July 2010 at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, UK.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	health care, multinational companies, comparative advantage, public health care systems,
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Business > Centre for Work and Employment Research (CREW) > Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) Faculty of Business > Department of International Business & Economics
Related URLs:	Publisher Publisher Organisation
Last Modified:	17 Oct 2019 11:06
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/5677

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