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Competitive pressure in the NHS—a longitudinal analysis
Author(s) -
Kelliher Clare
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
strategic change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.527
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1099-1697
pISSN - 1086-1718
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1697(1998110)7:7<387::aid-jsc398>3.0.co;2-h
Subject(s) - procurement , competition (biology) , competitive advantage , business , industrial organization , economics , human resource management , operations management , marketing , labour economics , management , ecology , biology
This article examines the longer term effect of competitive tendering in the NHS on managerial approaches to human resource management and industrial relations. The introduction of competitive tendering for ancillary services was designed to improve efficiency by stimulating competition. The labour intensive nature of many services meant that the management of labour was predicted as a major area for effecting savings. Evidence from the initial rounds of competitive tendering showed, however, that many of the anticipated results did not occur. This paper presents results of a longer term study of NHS catering services. These findings show that the continued presence of competitive pressure led to a number of small, but significant changes to the management of labour. It is argued that the predicted results did not occur, because the ideas on which the policy was based failed to take account of the complexity of how competitive pressure impacts on organizations. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.