Coopetition between French healthcare providers: an analysis in terms of proximity

ABSTRACT

Despite an ever-increasing literature on coopetition, it does not address the question of the territory and its impact on coopetitive relations between the actors who live there. Our work focuses on French healthcare providers in the cancer treatment field on a local area. To qualify the territory, we use the five dimensions of Boschma’s proximity – cognitive, organisational, social, institutional and geographical – to analyse the coopetition at work in the studied health area. Our work shows that the territory acts as a catalyst for coopetition, and that, in reverse, the coopetitive relationships developed between the actors activate the different dimensions of proximity and thus make the territory exists.

KEYWORDS:

• Coopetition
• healthcare
• proximity
• territory
• France

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. All figures are provided by the National Institute for Cancer (InCA): https://www.e-cancer.fr/Expertises-et-publications/Catalogue-des-publications/Les-cancers-en-France-en-2018-L-essentiel-des-faits-et-chiffres-edition-2019; accessed 11 February 2019.

2. http://solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/2014-02-03_Plan_cancer-2.pdf; accessed 11 February 2019 .

3. MCO: Obstetric Medicine and Surgery, including out-patient services and cancer surgery.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anne Albert-Cromarias

Dr Anne Albert-Cromarias is currently working as a full Professor of strategic management at Groupe ESC Clermont, a Business School in France. She is a senior researcher at CleRMa (Clermont Research Management), the local research laboratory in common with the University. Prior to joining in teaching profession, she worked as a change management consultant for ten years. Her areas of research interest include coopetition, collective strategies on a local area and territorial attractiveness in rural areas. She has published several research articles in academic journals and some popular science articles in French newspapers.

Catherine Dos Santos

Dr Catherine Dos Santos is Professor of Strategic Management at Groupe ESC Clermont and a member of the CleRMa (Clermont Research Management). Her research focuses on the management of health and social institutions, with regard to the impact of the reforms and their consequences on performance management.