Quality-based Competition Research Articles

ESG strategy in the supply chain considering ownership structures

Firms with higher ESG ratings typically exhibit greater efficiency in resource utilization, thereby promoting sustainable development. The ownership structure of a supply chain influences corporate behavior, affecting both overall performance and ESG information management practices. This paper employs a Stackelberg model to explore ESG information management strategies within supply chains characterized by different ownership structures, specifically comparing vertical and horizontal configurations. Our findings indicate that when retailers possess a dominant market position alongside a shareholding manufacturer, the incentive to enhance ESG information levels significantly increases as the shareholding ratio rises. Moreover, the held manufacturer shifts from a focus on price-based competition to quality-based competition. We establish a benchmark model, and our analysis demonstrates that, relative to the benchmark scenario, manufacturers in both ownership structures exhibit a stronger motivation to improve ESG information levels. Accordingly, manufacturers are advised to develop ESG information management strategies that are tailored to their specific ownership structure, shareholding ratio, and the investment cost coefficient associated with ESG information enhancements.

Evaluation of foreign trade specialisation and competitiveness of the Slovak economy

This paper aims to assess the structure of foreign trade specialisation and the character of trade competitiveness of the Slovak Republic as a member state of the European Union in the period 1999- 2021. We apply an industry specific classification using the concepts of the revealed comparative advantage and the revealed price elasticity. This allows us to evaluate the competitiveness and divide the product groups into price and quality sensitive. The findings confirmed that Slovak production is competitive on the European market in several industries, mainly in automotive production, electronics, and iron and steel, with external competitiveness being based on tradition and low costs resulting in lower prices. The structure of competitive exports changed over the analysed period, and we can note a slight shift from price-to quality-based competitiveness.

Quality vs Exposure Strategy of Platform Complementors: Simulations Using Agent-Based Model

Complementors participating in the platform-based markets pursue either an exposure-oriented strategy to attract more users or a quality-oriented strategy to differentiate from others. In this research, we examine the effect of complementors' strategies on their performance and other stakeholders in the platform. Using agent-based model simulations, we model the behaviors of complementors and users in multiple market competition scenarios in the context of the mobile app market. Based on the simulation results, we derive a set of propositions on which strategy that complementors choose relates to the benefit of other stakehoilders. For platform owners, maintaining a more quality-based competition landscape yields the best outcomes. However, in the early stage of the competition, exposure-seeking complementors outperform quality-seeking complementors, leading new entrants to allocate their resources into exposure strategies. In the long run, high-quality complementors are likely to win the game, but they have to survive the early stage when they are surrounded by exposure-seeking competitors. The results also suggest that complementors may be motivated to contract brokers, what we call an agency in the paper, when there is a mismatch between their strategy and capabilities. We identify the types of agencies that complementors are likely to hire, depending on their strategies and the market competition.

Cooperation amongst insurers on enhancing quality of care: precondition or substitute for competition?

In health care systems based upon managed competition, insurers are expected to negotiate with providers about price and quality of care. The Dutch experience, however, shows that quality plays a limited role in insurer-provider negotiations. It has been suggested that this is partly due to a lack of cooperation among insurers. This raises the question whether cooperation amongst insurers is a precondition or a substitute for quality-based competition. To answer this question, we mapped insurers' cooperating activities to enhance quality of care using a six-stage continuum. The first three stages (defining, designing and measuring quality indicators) may enhance competition, whereas the next three stages (setting benchmarks, steering patients and selective contracting) may reduce it. We investigated which types of insurer cooperation currently take place in the Netherlands. Additionally, we organized focus groups among insurers, providers and other stakeholders to examine their perceptions on insurer cooperation. We find that all stakeholders see advantages of cooperation amongst insurers in the first stages of the continuum and sometimes cooperate in this domain. Cooperation in the next stages is almost absent and more controversial because without adequate quality information, it is difficult to assess whether the benefits outweigh the cost associated with reduced competition.

Measuring quality-based competitiveness: What’s wrong with high-tech exports?

We propose an approach to measure countries’ quality-based competitiveness relying on the share of high-tech products in exports and R&D intensity. We try to cope with the issue of discrepancy between the level of technological development of countries and the share of high-tech products in their exports that arises as a result of assembly production, re-exports, unequal endowments of “high-tech raw materials” and the attractiveness of tax havens. The task of the paper is to ensure the correct use of data on trade in high-tech products as a proxy for countries’ level of technological development. Relying on statistical and graphical analysis methods, we show that the problem is more complex that is generally considered, and that the ways to solve it proposed in the literature (primarily, subtracting intermediate imports) are far from being sufficient. We propose the index of R&D intensity at the product level based on the data on export structure (by products and producing countries) and R&D intensity, and calculate the weighted average R&D intensity that corresponds to each country’s export structure. As a result, we provide an updated view on the leading countries by the share of high-tech products in exports that is consistent with the traditional list of leaders by R&D intensity (Japan, South Korea, Israel, Germany, USA, and France). We also demonstrate that China, even after the adjustment procedure, is still a member of the technology leaders’ club.

Entrepreneurship, Excise Taxes, and the “Flight to Quality”

Research on entrepreneurial marketing is now fairly common, and macromarketing is an established field. However, studies that incorporate variables of interest to both entrepreneurial marketing and macromarketing scholars are scarce. In the spirit of the special issue, this study crosses disciplinary boundaries in order to investigate how a macro-level policy variable (i.e., excise taxes) affects a key marketing variable (i.e., product quality) in a sample of small firms (i.e., microbreweries). The results of the study support Barzel’s “flight to quality” hypothesis. We conclude that high excise taxes invite quality-based competition. Furthermore, entrepreneurial microbreweries appear to recognize the flight to quality, and they capitalize on the opportunity to bring relatively high quality products to market. Implications for entrepreneurial marketing researchers, macromarketing researchers, and public policy are discussed.

Price and quality-based competition and channel structure with consumer loyalty

Inspired by practices of the Chinese household appliance industry, we explore interaction of channel structure with price-and quality-based competition between two manufacturers who are asymmetric on customer loyalty. Each manufacturer sells its product through either a decentralized channel or an integrated channel to customers and faces demand depending on quality, retail price, and customer loyalty. We divide the market into two types: The price-sensitive market and quality-sensitive market, and find that the equilibrium depends on the market type. Different from the literature, in a quality-sensitive market with higher market innovation desire, the pure integration structure is likely to be in equilibrium, and furthermore, the manufacturer with higher loyalty can earn higher profit; Otherwise, the pure decentralization structure is in equilibrium. So, a manufacturer benefits the most from consumers’ higher quality valuation, strong loyalty, and channel centralization.

Critical Review of the Quality and Competition Measures and Indentification Strategies Used in Health Care Stuides

The OHE Commission on Competition in the NHS commissioned a critical review of the quality and competition measures and identification strategies used in peer reviewed health care literature. The objective W to assess how robust is the evidence emerging from the empirical literature to guide policy on competition in the NHS. The literature analysed can be characterized by the following features: 1. The literature mainly focuses on hospital competition rather than competition for other types of health care. 2. Most studies are US based, though a small core of studies employ English NHS data. 3. Most studies use hospital market concentration measures to proxy for market competition. The most widely used is the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). Recent English analyses have employed HHI indices based on hospitals’ shares of non-emergency patient activity. They follow a Structure-Conduct-Performance(S-C-P) approach and measure how changes in concentration indices might be causally associated with changes in hospital services’ quality. In this framework, hospitals are modelled as a “black box”, and studies do not generally investigate the process by which hospitals’ actions may affect quality. 4. Outcome measures are extensively used to measure hospital quality and mortality rates are the most popular and widely used. Studies conducted under conditions of competition on price and quality simultaneously have generally evolved to include a variety of outcome measures. The reason seems to be the perception that the effects of competition can show heterogeneous impacts on quality across different hospital markets. In contrast, studies conducted under fixed-price quality-based competition regimes, although with some exceptions, often include one quality measure. The reason for this approach is not obvious from the literature but seems driven by theory, which predicts that competition with regulator-fixed prices increases quality. Therefore, researchers have focused their efforts on measuring overall hospital quality, because competition is expected to increase quality across all hospital services. 5. The most commonly used outcome measure in competition studies is the 30 day in-hospital AMI (Acute Myocardial Infarction) mortality rate. This is especially true for English NHS related literature. The reasons are that: AMI deaths are relatively common; death as an outcome is easy to measure and hard to obscure; the scope for patient selection by hospital service providers in AMI emergency cases is less than for non-emergency cases; AMI mortality is argued to be a general marker of hospital quality overall; and AMI mortality data is routinely collected by regulators. In addition, using AMI death rates permits de facto comparability across studies. 6. Researchers have used a wide variety of econometric techniques to identify the effects of competition and link these causally to changes in hospital service quality. These techniques have generally been developed to deal with the confounding of competition and quality effects. English time series and panel studies have the additional advantage that they can exploit a policy change, observing differences in trends before and after the policy takes effect, while US based studies have been more restricted in using this strategy. The critical analysis reveals the following: 1. Measuring quality is difficult because quality is multi-dimensional and complex. There is debate about the suitability of AMI mortality, which is commonly used in empirical studies, as an appropriate proxy for overall hospital quality. Evidence presented in the English literature is largely based on statistical correlations between AMI and other outcome measures. This evidence is difficult to evaluate because the literature is silent in explaining underlying factors causing these statistical relationships. In future it should become possible to better study the impact of competition on quality as more and different quality measures are becoming available, including patient reported outcome measures (PROMs). Future research could usefully examine a wider range of hospital markets for the impact of competition on quality in them. 2. There is a lack of understanding of the spillover mechanisms by which competition restricted to non-emergency services may impact on general markers of hospital quality, including indicators of the quality of hospital emergency services such as AMI mortality. There is a need to research further into: (1) the relationship between competition and changes that may be happening at overall hospital level (e.g. managerial quality); (2) outcomes in areas where changes in hospital behaviour have been shown to have happened; and (3) by modelling underlying demand and supply rather than relying on S-C-P “black box” approaches. 3. The role of market entry and exit is relatively neglected in the empirical literature. However, much of the potential benefits of competition are driven by these dynamic aspects. Further research is warranted in this area.

Kurrens portéka vagy múzeumi tárgy? Növekedési pólusok és iparági körzetek a fejlesztéspolitikában

A mai fejlesztéspolitikában növekvő érdeklődés mutatkozik a neoliberális gazdaságpolitikán túlmutató, a gazdasági versenyképesség és a társadalmi igazságosság szempontjait ötvöző eszközök iránt. A területileg kiegyensúlyozott, fenntartható területi fejlődés megteremtésére irányuló fejlesztési modellek közös vonása az erőforráskoncentráció, azaz egyes iparágak, növekedési centrumok kiemelt fejlesztése. A globalizáció folyamatai azonban megkérdőjelezik a korábban bevált modellek érvényességét.
 A tanulmány két, térben értelmezett fejlesztéspolitikai koncepció, a növekedési pólusok és az iparági körzetek alkalmazhatóságát vizsgálja a külső verseny új körülményei között. Megállapítható, hogy a növekedési pólusok eredeti ágazati és ágazatközi értelmezése kitágult, a pólusok a tér bizonyos pontjaira irányuló koncentrált, tervezett és támogatott beavatkozással jönnek létre, céljuk pedig a régió és az ország térszerkezetének megváltoztatása, a fő centrumokon kívüli kritikus tömegek létrehozása. A pólusstratégiák akkor érhetnek el sikert, ha a fejlesztésekre alkalmas korszerű ágazatokat fejlesztik, ésszerű mértékű „koncentrált decentralizációt” valósítanak meg kijelölt központokban. Az iparági körzetek (a klaszterekkel erősen összefüggő) koncepciója az iparágak hálózatos térbeli szerveződésének modellje. A klasszikus, helyi kis- és középvállalatok között létrejövő extern hatásokra és agglomerálódásra építő elképzelés szélesedésével nemcsak új körzetformációkat azonosítottak, hanem az atomisztikus térértelmezést is fokozatosan felváltotta a kölcsönös függőségi viszonyok által uralt „szervezett tér” ideája. A fejlesztéspolitikában a körzetkoncepciókat nem statikus szemléletben, hanem a szerkezetváltási, intézményfejlesztési folyamatok kontextusában, azok kiemelt csomópontjaiként érdemes kezelni.

Can local African rice be competitive? An analysis of quality-based competitiveness through experimental auctions

The rise in food prices in 2008 pushed many African states to adopt strategies of self-sufficiency in food. However, if production increases at the rhythm proposed by the programs, who will buy the surplus? The permanent rice deficit in West Africa is inherent to a concept which lacks consumer focus and fails to recognize the role of quality in the competitiveness of local and imported rice in urban markets. Two types of competitiveness can be distinguished, i.e. price competitiveness and quality-based competitiveness. We analyze the quality-based competitiveness of local rice on four urban African markets through experimental auctions. The experimental results provide evidence for the hypotheses that: i) local African rice can be competitive relative to imported rice under the condition that quality is tailored to consumer preferences; and ii) quality, labeling and information can act as triggers in strengthening competitiveness of rice value chains in Africa.

Evaluation der Externen Qualitätssicherung gemäß § 137 SGB V am Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus Dresden

Obligatory external quality assurance is an established method used to ensure the quality of inpatient care in Germany. The comprehensive approach is unique in international comparison. In addition to the statutory requirement, the health insurance funds require this form of external quality control in order to foster quality-based competition between hospitals. Ever since its introduction, healthcare providers have scrutinised the effects of the mandatory use of this survey.The study was based on all patients in the University Hospital Dresden, for whom a quality assurance sheet (n = 45,639) had to be recorded between 2003 and 2011. The documentation of these sheets was carried out by specially trained personnel. For each performance area, the duration of the documentation quality sheets was assessed, and a descriptive analysis of all quality assurance sheets was conducted. In the presence of statistical significance the so-called "Structured Dialogues" were analysed.Over the whole period, 167 statistically noticeable problems occurred. Nine of these have been rated as noticeable problems in medical quality by the specialised working groups of the project office quality assurance (PGSQS) at the Saxon State Medical Association (SLÄK). The remaining 158 statistical anomalies included 25 documentation errors; 96 were classified as statistically significant, and only 37 were marked to indicate that re-observation by the PGSQS was required. The total effort estimate for the documentation of quality assurance sheets was approximately 1,420 working days in the observation period.As far as the quality of patient care is concerned, the results can be considered positive because only a small number of quality indicators indicate noticeable qualitative problems. This statement is based primarily on the comparison of the groups of Saxony and Germany, which are included in the quality report of external quality assurance in accordance with sect. 137 SGB V. The majority of noticeable statistical problems were due to documentation errors. Other noticeable statistical problems that are medically indicated, but without effect on the extramural care to patients, recurrently occur with the respective quality indicators. Examples include the postoperative mobility indicators of the implementation of endoprostheses which cannot be used to draw conclusions about patient outcomes. Information on the quality of life as well as the post-hospital course of disease would be important in this context, but is still lacking. The use of external quality assurance data in accordance with sect. 137 SGB V for evaluation research has so far been handled quite restrictively. Thus, in-depth analyses on the quality of treatment cannot be derived.

Chances and risks of publication of quality data - the perspectives of Swiss physicians and nurses.

BackgroundThe release of quality data from acute care hospitals to the general public is based on the aim to inform the public, to provide transparency and to foster quality-based competition among providers. Due to the expected mechanisms of action and possibly the adverse consequences of public quality comparison, it is a controversial topic. The perspective of physicians and nurses is of particular importance in this context. They are mainly responsible for the collection of quality-control data, and are directly confronted with the results of public comparison. The research focus of this qualitative study was to discover what the views and opinions of the Swiss physicians and nurses were regarding these issues. It was investigated as to how the two professional groups appraised the opportunities as well as the risks of the release of quality data in Switzerland.MethodsA qualitative approach was chosen to answer the research question. For data collection, four focus groups were conducted with physicians and nurses who were employed in Swiss acute care hospitals. Qualitative content analysis was applied to the data.ResultsThe results revealed that both occupational groups had a very critical and negative attitude regarding the recent developments. The perceived risks were dominating their view. In summary, their main concerns were: the reduction of complexity, the one-sided focus on measurable quality variables, risk selection, the threat of data manipulation and the abuse of published information by the media. An additional concern was that the impression is given that the complex construct of quality can be reduced to a few key figures, and it that it is constructed from a false message which then influences society and politics. This critical attitude is associated with the different value system and the professional self-concept that both physicians and nurses have, in comparison to the underlying principles of a market-based economy and the economic orientation of health care business.ConclusionsThe critical and negative attitude of Swiss physicians and nurses must, under all conditions, be heeded to and investigated regarding its impact on work motivation and identification with the profession. At the same time, the two professional groups are obligated to reflect upon their critical attitude and take a proactive role in the development of appropriate quality indicators for the publication of quality data in Switzerland.

Changes in the relationship between nursing home financial performance and quality of care under public reporting

The relationship between financial performance and quality of care in nursing homes is not well defined and prior work has been mixed. The recent focus on improving the quality of nursing homes through market-based incentives such as public reporting may have changed this relationship, as public reporting provides nursing homes with increased incentives to engage in quality-based competition. If quality improvement activities require substantial production costs, nursing home profitability may become a more important predictor of quality under public reporting. This study explores the relationship between financial performance and quality of care and test whether this relationship changes under public reporting. Using a 10-year (fiscal years 1997-2006) panel data set of 9444 skilled nursing facilities in the US, this study employs a facility fixed-effects with and without instrumental variables approach to test the effect of finances on quality improvement and correct for potential endogeneity. The results show that better financial performance, as reflected by the 1-year lagged total profit margin, is modestly associated with higher quality but only after public reporting is initiated. These findings have important policy implications as federal and state governments use market-based incentives to increase demand for high-quality care and induce providers to compete based on quality.

Význam forem učení pro inovační výkonnost

The paper evaluates innovative performance in terms of theoretical and methodological concept of learning economy applied to the EU countries. Implications of this assessment for quality-based competitiveness are also discussed, and the positions of EU countries are compared as to different sources of competitiveness (cost vs. knowledge-based advantage) and technology knowledge (internal innovative capacity vs. technology transfer). The theoretical and methodological concept of learning economy has so far not been applied to the new EU members. The paper starts with the introductory description of the key theoretical and methodological concepts and clarification of the applied terms and methods. The exploited data set is described and major results of the analysis of organisational models presented. The structural aspect includes classification according to industries, occupations and countries. The impact of national differences on organisational models is evaluated. The typology of organiyational models is subsequently compared against the typology of innovators and sources of competitiveness.

Factors of determining long-term orientation in interfirm relationships

Marketers have witnessed a paradigm shift in which establishing, maintaining, and forging long-term buyer–seller relationships are considered the core of marketing activities. Accordingly, investigating a long-term orientation (LTO) has become a steady research stream in the marketing literature. Building on this on-going research stream, this study confirms that an essential precursor of a manufacturer's LTO is trust that, in turn, is formed by relational norms and satisfaction with supplier performance. Interestingly, however, the seemingly strong trust–LTO path is moderated by both power asymmetry and environmental uncertainty in buyer–seller relationships. The empirical findings suggest that regardless of emerging relationship marketing where buyer and seller are portrayed as parts of a team, power is still in use to control suppliers. In addition, a manufacturer facing uncertainty is less likely to form LTO toward its supplier for fear of losing flexibility in the time- and quality-based competition.

Quality-Based Competition, Profitability, and Variable Costs

We consider the impact of variable production costs on competitive behavior in a duopoly where manufacturers compete on quality and price in a two-stage game. In the pricing stage, we make no assumptions regarding these costs—other than that they are positive and increasing in quality—and no assumptions about whether or not the market is covered. In the quality stage, we investigate a broad family of variable cost functions and show how the shape of these functions impacts equilibrium product positions, profits, and market coverage. We find that seemingly slight changes to the cost function’s curvature can produce dramatically different equilibrium outcomes, including the degree of quality differentiation, which competitor is more profitable (the one offering higher or lower quality), and the nature of the market itself (covered or uncovered). Our model helps to predict and explain the diversity of outcomes we see in practice—something the previous literature has been unable to do.

Why competition law matters to health care quality.

Competition law (encompassing both antitrust and consumer protection) is the forgotten stepchild of health care quality. This paper introduces readers to competition law and policy, describes its institutional features and analytic framework, surveys the ways in which competition law has influenced quality-based competition, and outlines some areas in need of further development. Competition law protects the competitive process--not individual competitors. It guides the structural features of the health care system and the conduct of providers as they navigate it. Competition law does not privilege quality over other competitive goals but honors consumers' preferences with respect to trade-offs among quality, price, and other attributes of goods and services.

A Quantitative Approach to Measure Quality-Based Competitiveness of an Organization

The operations strategy literature has identified four primary dimensions on which a firm competes with another. These are: price, quality, flexibility, and delivery dependability. Of these, quality is perhaps the most critical dimension in terms of the influence a competitive dimension exercises on the competitiveness of a firm. In this paper, we propose a quantitative measure--Quality-Competitiveness Index (QCI)--to determine the degree to which a firm's quality practices and policies are instrumental in improving its competitiveness. The QCI can be effectively employed for benchmarking among competing firms. More importantly, however, the process involved in the determination of a QCI is itself an educative one. It brings weaknesses and strengths of a company with respect to its quality practices and policies to the surfaces with pinpoint accuracy and can, therefore, be usefully employed to improve its quality competitiveness in an effective manner.

A generic IDEFO model of quality assurance information systems for the design-to-order manufacturing environment

In spite of advances in computer technologies, information processing, automation technologies, manufacturing processes, and the push for integration across all functional areas toward a totally automated manufacturing system, the suggestion is that quality assurance is usually missing. On the other hand, quality-based competition is showing that quality management based on inspection is far from reality and that producing defect-free products is not enough. It is necessary to know the customers first and then to satisfy, or surpass, their requirements in order to remain competitive. In the context of company-wide quality and ISO9000, this can be achieved by designing quality into every aspect of an organization as part of an integrated quality assurance system. In this paper, a structural model for integrated quality assurance information systems (QAIS's) using IDEFO methodology, is presented. It is intended that a knowledge-based expert system linked to this structural model will provide a DSS to assist design of quality assurance systems with appropriate information flows to suit the requirements of various business profiles.

Market Competition and the Quality of Nursing Home Care

This article identifies factors influencing the degree of competition in the nursing home market. Using data obtained from the 1987 Medicare and Medicaid Automated Certification Survey, the relationship between competition and structural and process measures of quality (registered nurse staffing and resident care management practices) is estimated by weighted two-stage least squares regression. Results suggest that the quality effects of indicators of competition vary and that market concentration may not diminish quality-based competition. Proposals for nursing home reimbursement reform are evaluated with respect to their incentives for enhancing quality, particularly in the Medicaid market segment.