Don’t stand so close to me: competitive pressures, proximity and inter-organizational collaboration

Abstract

This paper investigates how geographical proximity moderates the nonmonotonic relation between niche overlap and the propensity of organizations to collaborate. The main prediction is that the strength of this relation is different for organizations with low versus high levels of geographical proximity. Proposed hypotheses are tested by using data collected within a community of hospital organizations serving more than five million residents in one of the largest Italian geographical regions. After controlling for internal resource complementarities and differences in organizational forms, behavioural orientations and institutional constraints among hospitals, this paper finds strong empirical support to the research hypotheses.

Managing local supplier networks: conflict or compromise?

“…In short, they did not see their neighbours as competitors. In this we concur partly with Mascia et al, (2016) who found that coopetition (between hospitals) is negatively related to niche overlap up to a threshold where similar resource dependency makes collaboration less likely. However, in contrast to Mascia et al we found that geographically proximate firms were more likely to cooperate.…”

“…The subject of conflict management is largely unexplored in network and district literature, where we often find naive assumptions such as networks being based on trust and mutually accepted norms, implying harmonious relationships (Barabel, Huault, Meier, 2007, Harrison, 1992, despite the inherent tensions rising from simultaneous cooperation and competition (Mascia, Pallotti andAngeli, 2016, Bengtsson, et al, 2016). Institutional theory (Hodgson, 2006), examines at some length the question of agency in relation to norms and we shall endeavour to shed light on the role of locally produced norms in SME managers' behaviour in conflicts in their exchange relationships.…”

Investigating the Temporal Dynamics of Interorganizational Exchange: Patient Transfers among Italian Hospitals

“…Patient transfer is one of the most important forms of inter-hospital collaboration (Lee et al 2011;Veinot et al 2012;Iwashyna and Courey 2011;Iwashyna et al, 2009;Lomi and Pallotti, 2012;Mascia et al, 2015;Stadtfeld et al, 2016;Mascia, Pallotti, and Angeli 2016), and typically occurs via direct inter-hospital patient transfers whereby patients discharged from one ("sender") hospital are admitted to another ("recipient") hospital. To be sure, patient transfers are ostensibly intended to promote the patient's health: A transfer occurs when a hospital has patients with complex pathologies for which it does not have adequate diagnostic and therapeutic facilities or clinical competences, or patients with pathologies that may be treated more efficiently and effectively elsewhere.…”

“…As we have detailed location information on these hospitals, we can use geographic distance between hospitals to verify that the breakdown of reciprocation for within-specialty transfers is in fact due to competition. This seems particularly appropriate in the case we examine because competition in service industries (such as hotels, restaurants, and hospitals) is known to attenuate with distance (Baum and Mezias 1992;Mascia, Pallotti, and Angeli 2016). If competitive dynamics are indeed the driving force for the lack of reciprocation for within-specialty transfers, then geographic distance should moderate the findings we attributed to competition.…”

Healthcare’s competition conundrum

“…The former has received little academic attention when it comes to the influence of inter-organizational behaviour of healthcare organizations. Studies by Mascia, Di Vincenzo (80), Lomi and Pallotti (79), and Mascia, Pallotti (97), all of which utilize patient transfers, form notable exceptions. These studies find that overlap in geographic and product markets (i.e.…”