Networking in Healthcare: How New Zealand Healthcare Providers Build Relationships for Internationalisation

Abstract

The principles of international business management are increasingly being utilised to analyse healthcare systems. The conceptualisation of healthcare internationalisation as business networks offers the possibility to apply the ARA model; Actors, Resources, and Activities to understand how health technology firms in New Zealand internationalise. The ARA model was used in light of the network concepts of the Uppsala Model of Internationalisation (2009) to study the phenomenon of networking in cross-border care, using health care providers in New Zealand as the research case. The aim of the study was to understand the health technology providers’ perceptions of networking activities and how these related to the international sales of healthcare services. Primary data was collected through nine interviews with managers of health technology innovators involved in driving the international strategic direction of the firms. Secondary data on policies, stats and press releases providing insights into the current processes of the New Zealand healthcare investment and innovation system was collected to provide a better understanding of the current internationalisation process of New Zealand healthcare firms. The main actors identified in the networks of internationalising firms are healthcare providers in the new market. By forming partnerships with local partners in the market, firms were able to gain market-specific knowledge, know-how required to navigate international regulatory requirements and increase credibility in the market. Doctors’, patients’ and customers’ roles as active participators in the system driving the direction of the service development is important, and key opinion leaders in the foreign market are also utilised to gain greater insidership positions. Networking activities consist of knowledge transfer through presenting at medical health technology conferences and tradeshows, lecturing at universities in the foreign market and direct establishment of networks by travelling to the partner’s location to hold meetings. Resources in the form of domain expertise, skilled staff, support of the local health system, and government agencies and industry bodies that provide both tangible and intangible resources were identified as important determinants that facilitate internationalisation. This study identifies networking activities, both domestically and internationally as important for internationalisation and cross-border sales of health care services. New Zealand healthcare service providers possess high-quality medical technology capabilities and are highly active in approaching identifying and pursuing new markets, but often do not make strategic plans for these approaches and are typified by geographic isolation from international markets. This study concludes that the ARA model is a valuable instrument for New Zealand healthcare firms to adopt to strategically drive internationalisation of their health care service.