A Structural Analysis of the Turkish Hospital Industry Using Porter’s Diamond Framework: A Case from an Emerging Market

This study applies Porter’s diamond framework to the Turkish Hospital industry, in an attempt to explicate the sources of international competitive advantage. The main objective is to provide insights into the competitive structure of the Turkish Hospital Industry and assess whether the framework can be applied to a developing country setting. A detailed case study of the Turkish hospital industry has been conducted with an examination of secondary data from publications of prestigious consultancy firms and national and international reports, and field interviews with four company executives from the hospitals most preferred by foreign patients and two industry association representatives from private insurance and medical device industries (related/ supporting industries). The results are generally supportive of Porter (1990); meaning that the Turkish hospital industry exhibits the characteristics proposed by the diamond framework for a country at an investment-driven stage. In brief, Turkey enjoys high technology, modern facilities, well-trained relatively low-paid medical staff, favorable air transportation and strong government support but lacks the satisfactorily sophisticated home demand, advanced support and related industries