Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T04:17:40.487Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Actors and Motives in the Internationalization of Health Businesses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Chris Holden
Chris Holden*
Affiliation:
Brunel University
*
Department of Health and Social Care, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The increasing trend towards the internationalization of the world economy coupled with the liberalizing agenda of international institutions and Western governments has profound implications for the delivery of health and other welfare services. As governments pursue policies which extend the scope for the involvement of private companies in the delivery of welfare services, processes of internationalization are likely to become increasingly important to such services as multinational providers emerge. This article begins the process of developing a systematic understanding of the relationships between the structure of welfare states, the social and economic policies of governments and international institutions, and the strategies and interests of private companies. It is argued that it is the particular mix of direct state provision, tax/subsidy, and regulation in the welfare state formation that provides the opportunities for, or barriers to, the expansion of internationalizing private providers of healthcare. This argument is illustrated through a case study of the current process of reform in the British healthcare system, where a relative shift away from direct state provision towards subsidizing and regulating private providers is facilitating a process of internationalization.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , November 2003 , pp. 287 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2003 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ainger, K. 2002. ‘A Privatiser's Hit List.’ The Guardian 18 April.Google Scholar
Ball, Rob, Heafey, Maryanne and King, David. 2001. ‘Private Finance Initiative – A Good Deal for the Public Purse or a Drain on Future Generations?’ Policy & Politics 29 (1): 95–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braithwaite, John, Makkai, T., Braithwaite, V. and Gibson, D. 1993. Raising the Standard: Resident Centred Nursing Home Regulation in Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.Google Scholar
Brown, Gordon. 2002. Budget Speech to the House of Commons, 17 April.Google Scholar
Commission on Public Private Partnerships. 2001. Building Better Partnerships. London: Institute for Public Policy Research.Google Scholar
Cross, M. 2002. ‘Blair's $40bn Gamble on IT,’ The Guardian Online 25 April: 1–3.Google Scholar
Deacon, Bob. 1997. Global Social Policy: International Organizations and the Future of Welfare. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Deacon, Bob. 2001. ‘International Organizations, the EU and Global Social policy.’ In Globalization and European Welfare States: Challenges and Change, edited by Sykes, Robert, Palier, Bruno and Prior, Pauline M. Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Department of Health. 2000. The NHS Plan. London: Department of Health.Google Scholar
Department of Health. 2001. Shifting the Balance of Power Within the NHS: Securing Delivery. London: Department of Health.Google Scholar
Department of Health. 2002a. Delivering the NHS Plan. London: Department of Health.Google Scholar
Department of Health. 2002b. Growing Capacity: A New Role for External Healthcare Providers in England. London: Department of Health.Google Scholar
Donabedian, A. 1966. ‘Evaluating the Quality of Medical Care.’ Millbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 44 (3): 166–206.Google Scholar
Dunning, John. 1993. The Globalization of Business. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Eden, Lorraine. 1993. ‘Bringing the Firm Back in: Multinationals in International Political Economy.’ In Multinationals in the Global Political Economy, edited by Eden, Lorraine and Potter, E.H. Basingstoke: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Enderwick, P. 1989. ‘Some Economics of Service-Sector Multinational Enterprises.’ In Multinational Service Firms, edited by Enderwick, P. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, Gosta. (ed.) 1996. Welfare States in Transition: National Adaptations in Global Economies. London: Sage.Google Scholar
European Union. 1992. Council Directive 92/50/EEC, 18 June.Google Scholar
Hall, David. 2001. Globalisation, Privatisation and Healthcare: A Preliminary Report. Greenwich: Public Services International Research Unit/University of Greenwich.Google Scholar
Held, David, McGrew, Anthony, Goldblatt, David and Perraton, Jonathon. 1999. Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Hirst, Paul and Thompson, Grahame. 1996. Globalization in Question. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Hoekman, B. and Primo Braga, C.A. 1997. ‘Protection and Trade in Services: A Survey.’ Open Economies Review 8 (3): 285–308.Google Scholar
Holden, Chris. 2002a. ‘The Internationalization of Long Term Care Provision: Economics and Strategy.’ Global Social Policy 2 (1): 47–67.Google Scholar
Holden, Chris. 2002b. ‘Globalization and Welfare: A Meso Level Analysis.’ Social Policy Review 14, edited by Sykes, Robert, Bochel, Catherine and Ellison, Nick. Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Holden, Chris. 2002c. ‘British Government Policy and the Concentration of Ownership in Long Term Care Provision.’ Ageing and Society 22 (1): 79–94.Google Scholar
Jones, Robert A. 2001. The Politics and Economics of the European Union. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Keaney, Michael. 2002. ‘Unhealthy Accumulation: The Globalization of Healthcare Privatization.’ Review of Social Economy 60 (3): 331–357.Google Scholar
Le Grand, Julian, Propper, Carol and Robinson, Ray. 1992. The Economics of Social Problems. Basingstoke: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Mishra, Ramesh. 1999. Globalization and the Welfare State. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Mohan, John. 1991. ‘The Internationalization and Commercialization of Health Care in Britain.’ Environment and Planning A 23: 853–867.Google Scholar
Moran, Michael and Wood, Bruce. 1996. ‘The Globalization of Health Care Policy?’ In Globalization and Public Policy, edited by Gummett, Philip. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Oliver, Adam. 2002. ‘NICE and its Implications for Health Inequalities.’ Euro Observer 4 (2): 3–4.Google Scholar
Pollock, Alyson M., Player, Stewart and Godden, S. 2001. ‘How Private Finance is Moving Primary Care into Corporate Ownership.’ Br Med J 322: 960–963.Google Scholar
Pollock, Alyson M., Shaoul, Jean, Rowland, D. and Player, Stewart. 2001. A Response to the IPPR's Commission on Public Private Partnerships. London: Health Policy and Health Services Research Unit, UCL.Google Scholar
Powell, Martin. (ed.) 1999. New Labour, New Welfare State?: The Third Way in British Social Policy. Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Price, David, Pollock, Alyson M. and Shaoul, Jean. 1999. ‘How the World Trade Organization is Shaping Domestic Policies in Health Care.’ The Lancet 354: 1889–1891.Google Scholar
Ruane, Sally. 2001. ‘The General Agreement on Trade in Services, New Labour and the Implications for Health Policy.’ Paper to the Social Policy Association Annual Conference, Belfast, July 2001.Google Scholar
Ruane, Sally. 2002. ‘Public-Private Partnerships – The Case of PFI.’ In Partnerships, New Labour and the Governance of Welfare, edited by Glendinning, Caroline, Powell, Martin and Rummery, Kirsten. Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Ruigrok, Winfried and van Tulder, Rob. 1995. The Logic of International Restructuring. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Saltman, Richard B., Busse, Reinhard and Mossialos, Elias (eds) 2002. Regulating Entrepreneurial Behaviour in European Health Care Systems. Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Sykes, Robert, Palier, Bruno and Prior, Pauline M. (eds) 2001. Globalization and European Welfare States: Challenges and Change. Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Wanless, Derek. 2002. Securing Our Future Health: Taking a Long-Term View. London: HM Treasury.Google Scholar
Wilkin, David and Glendinning, Caroline. 2002. ‘Modernising Primary Healthcare in England: The Role of Primary Care Groups and Trusts.’ Social Policy Review 14, edited by Sykes, Robert, Bochel, Catherine and Ellison, Nick. Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
World Trade Organization 1998. Health and Social Services. Background Paper by the WTO Council for Trade in Services Secretariat, S/C/W/50, 18.9.98.Google Scholar