Strategic management approaches of health institutions managers: A research on private hospital managers

Today, the health sector has an ever-changing sectoral environment and the uncertainty associated with this change makes strategy and strategic management important for health institutions. It is becoming more and more important for companies to gain competitive advantage and make it sustainable due to the changes at the sectoral level and the uncertainties that arise. In addition, since health institutions are institutions that directly affect human life, the management styles applied in these institutions should be carefully and carefully selected. For this reason, strategy and strategic management understanding has gained great importance for the managers who are interested in how health services are provided, which can make their institutions distinguishable within these sectoral changes and uncertainties, and have a key role in achieving competitive advantage and making this sustainable. In this context, the focus of the study is on the strategic practices and orientations of the private hospital managers who are active in the health sector, which takes on a dynamic structure, and the mechanism behind these practices and orientations. The research data were obtained by using the structured interview technique which is the primary data acquisition method. The codes and the relations between the codes created in accordance with the data obtained were evaluated with an interpretive approach. According to the data obtained from the study; private hospital administrators have referenced the Resource Based School, based on the core competencies of their institution's competitive advantage and its sustainability, the reason for performance and profit differences, and the foundation of the analysis unit. However, the mentioned managers stated that the strategic decision process was mostly realized with a hierarchical order and a planner approach. With this aspect, the strategy formation and implementation process is within the framework of the Position School approach.