Purchasing health care services: Information sources and decisional criteria

The introduction of a market mechanism into the National Health service in the UK was underpinned by the belief that decentralised purchasing would both improve the quality of health care provision and restrain spiralling costs, through purchasers exercising their ability to choose between alternative providers. Focusing on budget holding General Practitioners, that is those practices responsible for purchasing hospital services for their practice populations, this paper explores the evolving purchasing behaviour of these professional intermediaries. Drawing on empirical evidence gathered as part of a broader study of the purchasing behaviour of GP Fundholders in Scotland, specifically it examines the key information sources and decisional criteria utilised by these professional intermediaries in selecting health care providers for their practice population. Utilising relational models of market behaviour, it addresses both the contextually specific issue of whether the market mechanism within the NHS is achieving the twin objectives of improving health care provision and restraining cost pressures, and the broader conceptual issue of the purchasing behaviour of professional intermediaries within a service sector environment.     

Strategy analysis in the health service

The operation of provider units, both NHS Trusts and Directly Managed Units, as competitive organizations in the market place, is as yet rudimentary. Although some have achieved notoriety through radical “business” behaviour, there is little evidence that they have adopted scientific business practices in order to strengthen or re‐orientate their position in the market place. Neither is there as yet any hard evidence that such behaviour would be beneficial in the long term.

This paper describes an exercise of strategic market analysis used as a device to lead and inform the business planning process for an NHS Trust. The primary objective of the analysis is to identify hitherto unrecognized strategies which would enhance the position of the organization in the market place and also to identify areas where business development is possible and desirable.     

Patterns of inter-organizational purchasing: Evolution of consortia-based purchasing amongst GP fundholders

In the last few years there have been considerable changes in the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. Arguably the most significant of these has been the introduction of competition into health care with the split of the health service into purchasers and providers of care. Central to this development has been the introduction of General Practice fundholding, whereby practices purchase health care for their patients directly from competing suppliers. Those practices that have become fundholders have faced considerable challenges in developing their purchasing function given the complexities of contracting within the context of the NHS internal market. Although one of the original aims of GP fundholding was to facilitate locally responsive purchasing, such have been the complexities of contracting that many fundholding practices have attempted to reduce the managerial demands of purchasing through membership of purchasing consortia. Based on an in-depth study of GP fundholders across Scotland, this paper explores the development of consortia-based purchasing in terms of the managerial implications for the participant practices of purchasing through such inter-organizational networks.     

An Empirical Investigation of Components of Industrial Buyer Motivation

Motivation of industrial buyers has been virtually ignored in the marketing and purchasing literatures. This empirical void is surprising given the critical role organizational purchasers play in their firms. This paper reports the results of a study that explored the impact of individual and organizational characteristics on three expectancy model components of industrial buyers' motivation. Findings reveal that personal factors have a greater impact on buyer motivation than do organizational variables. Implications of the study are also offered.     

The quality of British marketing: A comparison with US and Japanese multinationals in the UK market

This paper presents the findings of an empirical study comparing the marketing strategies and organisations of a matched sample of British companies and their US and Japanese competitors in the UK. Hypotheses about Japanese marketing are tested and provide a framework for the comparative analysis of the marketing effectiveness of the three sets of competitors. The findings highlight significant weaknesses in the marketing effort of British companies, these being exacerbated by excessive focus on short‐run financial gains. The US competitors, equally concerned with short‐term profits, were less committed to the UK market than their Japanese rivals, their market position being in danger of deteriorating further as the Japanese close the technological gap between them. The Japanese were unmistakably aggressive, single‐minded in their pursuit of market share and undeniably more market‐oriented than their US and British counterparts. This research was funded by the ESRC.     

我国个人收入分配差距问题研究

在急剧变动的社会转型时期,由于市场机制的不健全和收入调节机制的缺失,我国居民的个人收入分配的差距不断扩大,已经影响到劳动群众的工作积极性。现阶段,我国个人分配差距存在的问题主要有群体性差距、行业性差距、区域性差距、所有制性差距、国际性差距。笔者根据我国个人收入的横截面数据和时间序列数据,对我国个人收入分配差距问题进行具体阐述。     

The Role of Market Orientation In Business Dyadic Relationships: Testing an Integrator Model

Over the last decade market orientation and relationship marketing have been huo of the most outstanding fields of research within Marketing discipline. However, little at tention has been devoted towards the investigation of the interface existing between both concepts. The aim of this study is to overcome this deficiency. Thus, the paper begins with a review of the existing literature into relationship marketing and market orientation as well as their main constructs. The result of this analysis is the proposal of a theoretical causal model in which the cultural market orientation that buyer firms show appears as a conditioning factor of their loyalty towards a supplier. Next, the methodology followed as well as the empirical contrast of the model proposed are thoroughly presented. R e empirical data was obtained from huo personal surveys conducted on the same sample of 141 industrial companies. Finally, results, conclusions and practical implications are discussed. In this way, the research proves that a buyer firm’s cultural market orientation acts as an indirect antecedent to the degree of loyalty shown to its main supplier.     

‘A knavish people…’: London Jewry and the stock market during the South Sea Bubble

In an era when financial markets were only beginning the move from personal to impersonal relations, this paper examines the role of Jewish brokers in the market for Bank of England stock at a time when their status as recent immigrants, subject to constraints due to religion and ethnicity, made them unlikely intermediaries beyond their own communities. Using formal network analysis, an examination of their activity during the first half of 1720 suggests a marginal role. However, as the Bubble began to burst a few Jewish financiers became disproportionately involved as purchasers of a stock clearly on the decline.     

Towards an understanding of health care purchasing: The purchasing behaviour of general practice fundholders 1

In the last few years there have been considerable changes in the National Health Service. Perhaps the most significant of these has been the introduction of competition into health care, that is the split of the health service into purchasers and providers of care. Central to this development has been the introduction of general practice fundholding, whereby practices are able to purchase health care for their patients directly from competing suppliers. Those pradices which have become fundholders have faced considerable challenges in developing their purchasing function. At the same time, provider units in areas where fundholding has become established face an increasingly fragmented purchasing base.

Building on existing theoretical work into the nature of organizational purchasing behaviour and current knowledge of the health care market in Britain, this paper attempts to develop an understanding of the dynamics of GP fundholder purchasing behaviour.     

赶大集 拓内需

<正>"626家企业,10余类、近6000多种商品参加展销,其中一半以上为第一次在北京市场亮相。现场累计销售额达到6578万元,日均销售72万余元……"这是自2010年3月以来,在商务部、各地政府大力支持下,北京市商务委员会联手各地商务部门,成功地举办了9期"各地商品大集"的战果。     

Developing trends in the marketing of life insurance

The personal financial services industry is being changed drastically by a number of legislative and other measures. As a result, life assurance companies are having to reappraise their use of marketing methods in a highly competitive environment. This paper investigates the major industry marketing trends which are occurring particularly in the areas of advertising, distribution, new product development and price. The role of IT is highlighted.

The trends are set against a backcloth of an analysis of market penetration by a range of personal financial services products. The paper ends by outlining likely future trends in the use of marketing methods by assurance companies as part of their competitive strategies.

Data are presented from published sources and from a series of personal interviews with marketing executives in the industry.     

Personal legitimising: A perspective of marketing management

This paper explains the basic social process of “personal legitimising” and illustrates its influence on marketing activity. Personal legitimising is the process by which individuals manipulate situations to suit their own agenda. The link between personal legitimising and an organisation's marketing activity was discovered using a grounded theory research strategy within a UK management consulting firm.

Personal legitimising has two groupings of behaviour, namely “obstructing existing marketing activity” and “driving new marketing activity”. Within the former are the categories of “stigmatising”, “pseudo endorsing” and “smokescreening”. The latter incorporates the categories of “latching on”, “self indulging” and “bragging”.

The paper has three parts. The first explains the basic social process of personal legitimising. The second shows how grounded theory methodology was used in this context. The third develops the possible contribution of personal legitimising to the understanding of marketing.     

黑龙江省稻米流通通道实证研究

本文利用黑龙江省统计数据和大量实际调查数据对黑龙江省水稻流通通道进行了定性和定量分析,认为黑龙江省水稻具有较高的商品率,流通渠道的市场化从水稻流通量上体现得很明显。农民生产的水稻既可以直接卖给粮库、米业公司和私人粮贩,也可以加工后卖给私人粮贩和消费者。私人粮贩既收购水稻也收购大米,收购的水稻或直接卖给米业公司和粮库,或加工后卖给批发商、零售商和消费者;收购的大米卖给批发商、零售商和消费者。稻农种植水稻单位收益较高,但与其所面对的中间商相比经营规模较小,综合流通量和利润率两个因素,其总收益与整个流通环节中其他中间商相比并不高。     

The adoption of direct banking services

The adoption of new products and services is of increasing importance to many industries. This is especially so for those organisations that are marketing technological innovations. In this paper a model of the perceived innovation attributes and the personal characteristics of adopters and non‐adopters was developed, based on literature and consumer research. These are then tested using a questionnaire concerned with the UK market for direct banking services. The results are presented in detail which indicate that the model presented is an excellent predictor of adoption behaviour. From these results a number of interesting implications have been highlighted for marketing practice.     

Marketing and the competitive performance of British industry: Areas for research

The author suggests that inadequate marketing has been an important factor in the decline of Britain's competitive market position. He argues that instead of investigating macro economic factors as a cause of the UK's poor performance, the emphasis should be on the examination of factors within individual firms, for example the lack of commitment to marketing. The author comments on the relative dearth of qualitative studies into marketing effectiveness in the UK, and makes some specific suggestions for further research.     

Market Orientation Among Small to Medium Sized UK Charitable Organisations: Implications for Fund-Raising Performance

ABSTRACT

A mail questionnaire was distributed to a sampling frame of 613 small to medium sized UK charities in an attempt to ascertain the extents of their fund-raising market orientation. Three major dimensions of market orientation were identified: donor orientation, competitor orientation, and 'influence of marketing personnel.' These factors substantially explained respondents' perceptions of their charities' recent fund-raising performances. Organisations scoring high in market orientation appeared on average to have increased their incomes by significantly higher percentages over the previous five-years than charities low on market orientation. Overall, the results suggest that the importance of effective marketing is widely recognised by smaller UK charities.     

Exploring the locus of internal marketing

Service and business-to-business companies have remained at the forefront of studies into internal marketing due to close contact between employees and customers. Marketing academics and practitioners have shown particular interest in the supermarket sector over recent years due to fluctuations in performance that have been reported. Consumers have negligible switching costs, so the risk of them purchasing substitute products is a problem to marketers where there is insignificant product differentiation. There is little evidence to support the benefits of internal market orientation in the food retail industry, and the main reason is difficulty of measuring its value. Although the UK food retail industry has been extensively researched, researchers have yet to address it properly in regard to internal market orientation. There is now an opportunity to create sustainable competitive advantage by providing a variety of offerings.     

The Marketing Activities of UK Charities

ABSTRACT

With well over 176,000 charities operating in the United Kingdom and with changing political, social and economic pressures, the demand for increased funding has become paramount. In order to compete more effectively for funds many have adopted a marketing perspective, focusing on understanding those donors who provide them with the most income.

The use of certain marketing techniques in UK charities is now widespread and most have favourable attitudes towards marketing, feeling that it is an essential part of their organisations' activities. These attitudes, however, are often based on a rudimentary understanding of the term ‘marketing’. Most charities now advertise and use direct mail but, despite the work of many authors over the last twenty-five years regarding the relevance of marketing to nonprofit organisations, most charities still equate marketing solely with advertising and selling. The dependence upon these techniques poses the question as to whether charities in the UK have truly adopted the marketing concept, or whether marketing is still equated with a narrow range of the more visible communication techniques.     

Engaging the commodified face: the use of marketing in the child adoption process

This paper evaluates the ethical consequences of the use of marketing techniques in the child adoption process within England and Wales. Since 1995 the political climate in the UK has seen a reassessment of the manner in which the state organises care for children who are within its legal guardianship. Successive UK governments have acknowledged the under‐utilisation of child adoption as a moral and efficient means of child‐care. However, the presentation of child adoption in a more active fashion involves concerns about the manner in which child adoption has been organised. Increasingly child adoption organisations and social work professionals are being made accountable through the language of customer service and performance measurements. The use of commercial techniques such as marketing is justified on utilitarian grounds. However, any utilisation of marketing within the child adoption process is forced to ensure that the child is not de‐centred. Legislation requires that the needs and welfare of the child are the first consideration for the adoption agency. Here we begin to see tensions between the humanitarian project that is child adoption, and the unease produced by viewing the child as human ‘product’. This invites analysis via critical theory. The use of marketing in child adoption raises issues related to the objectification and commodification of the child and prospective adopters. Within child adoption it is assumed that we must engage with the child as ‘face’ (Bauman, 1995). But will these assumptions stand the encroachment of marketing techniques into this very sensitive area?