The scanning of task environments in hospitals: An empirical study

Objectives of a recent study were to identify the natural taxonomy of hospitals based on their task environmental scanning activities, and to test if scanning practices had any relationship with the overall performance of these hospitals. A cluster analysis yielded 4 groups of hospitals each of whic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied business research 1994-10, Vol.10 (4), p.104
Main Authors: Subramanian, Ram, Kumar, Kamalesh, Yauger, Charles
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Competitive advantage
Environmental scanning
Health care industry
Hospitals
Industry analysis
Scanners
Statistical analysis
Strategic planning
Studies
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Summary:Objectives of a recent study were to identify the natural taxonomy of hospitals based on their task environmental scanning activities, and to test if scanning practices had any relationship with the overall performance of these hospitals. A cluster analysis yielded 4 groups of hospitals each of which had distinct scanning characteristics. Results showed significantly different performances across these groups. Hospitals with the most advanced scanning function performed better than hospitals that used less advanced methods to scan the task environment. The advanced scanning systems not only require regular scanning activity involving information about competitors and customers, it also requires use of the information in the strategic planning process. This presumably gives the hospital an edge over its competitors in terms of forming actions to take advantage of current trends.
ISSN:0892-7626
2157-8834