Abstract
Competition in health care services has been considered as a core component in the consumer value mechanism. In Romania, the emergence of private ophthalmology services has as outcome a positive-sum competition which focuses on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of eye related diseases and disorders and improved value. The purpose of this paper was to provide an insight into the knowledge used by consumers when they make a decision regarding a private ophthalmology service with a specific interest on competition. A research model was elaborated and included quality, price, and satisfaction as components influenced by competition from the consumers' perspectives. The model was validated using Structural Equation Modeling in SmartPLS. The sample was made up of 120 respondents and the sampling technique was quota. The structural model revealed that competition has a positive impact on satisfaction and explained 74% of its variance and also that competition has a positive impact on price and explained 7% of the variance. Moreover, using IPMA matrix analysis, the most powerful item of competition construct with an influence on satisfaction was the one related to the reputation of the private ophthalmology organization. Nonetheless, the key to gain competitive advantage stands in providing meaningful value to consumers using differentiation features such as high prices, reputation, and awareness on the services offered, greater availability, and the most important feature, innovation.
Highlights
Competition in health care has an important role in the delivery and financing of every health care system
While the IO-Economics perspective provided by Porter [7] focuses on the identification of external factors such as characteristics and macro-economic conditions that would determine positive performance outcomes, current research shifted towards the competitive dynamics environment [10]
The key stands in the adequate identification of different features that will provide a meaningful value to consumers to gain competitive advantage [47]
Summary
Competition in health care has an important role in the delivery and financing of every health care system. Determining a suitable place in an intensive and dynamic competitive environment is the key to ensure long-term profitability and survival in any business. Assessing this objective is attainable only through creating and keeping a competitive advantage [7]. The second phase consists of efficiency gains if the organization reached its maturity stage This phase enables a competitor to define its position on the market by lowering its costs, using at the same time, the positioning competitive advantage. Alternative sources of competitive advantage may focus on building up consumer loyalties or switching costs, both strategies being related to positioning and power.
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