Medical tourism is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world as many patients are looking to access healthcare services that are not available to them in their home countries. Many hospitals and healthcare centers are now offering numerous products and services in order to fully reap the benefits from it. However, little research which examines the effects of relationship marketing on the medical tourism exists. Hence, the aims of this study are to: (1) examine the relationship between the relationship marketing strategies and the medical tourism industry; and (2) help medical tourism operators to identify some of the key issues that exist within the industry. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten senior Taiwanese tour guides who had extensive experience in dealing with the medical tourism industry. The results indicate that relationship marketing was one of the crucial factors which had an impact on the willingness of tour guides to make necessary travel arrangements for medical tourists. The environment of health examination center, the ability of its doctors to diagnose a patient's condition, and the professional image of its doctors could also affect the effectiveness of the relationship marketing on medical tourism as well as the efforts in arranging a follow-up visit to the health examination center. The findings can provide senior executives of health examination centers and travel agencies with a more realistic insight in dealing with issues and challenges arising from the medical tourism.

Abstract. Based on the resource-based theory, this study analyzed cross-organization cooperation and resource value of hospital medical departments in the viewpoint of rare, irreplaceable, and inimitability of a resource base model developed by scholars Grant and Barney. We interviewed 10 respondents in three regional hospitals and analyzed the interview contents according to the model. The important results are twofold: (a) The rare and irreplaceable resources owned by hospitals relate to the competitive advantage of the hospital; (b) Hospital medical collaboration across organizational divisions or self-development and medical divisions in professional competence are positively correlated.

Hospitals and healthcare organizations are facing an increasingly competitive business environment which demands the efficient use and appropriate evaluation of their tangible and intangible resources and competencies in order to continuously improve their organizational performance. The management of e-commerce/IT outsourcing is a crucial management issue for hospitals and healthcare organizations in recent years since only a small proportion of these organizations have reaped the expected benefits from their outsourcing projects. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to better understand the investment evaluation and benefits realization practices and processes of Australian and Taiwanese hospitals that have outsourced their e-commerce/IT systems. This article provides the opportunity to examine outsourcing practices of a highly developed economy (Australia) and a newly industrialized economy (Taiwan). Some e-commerce/IT outsourcing issues and challenges confronted by hospitals in Australia and Taiwan will be identified, discussed and presented. The findings of this study will assist hospitals and other healthcare organizations to formulate appropriate strategies to better handle the potential issues and challenges in undertaking e-commerce/IT outsourcing projects.

Hospitals and healthcare organizations are facing an increasingly competitive business environment which demands the efficient use and appropriate evaluation of their tangible and intangible resources and competencies in order to continuously improve their organizational performance. The management of e-commerce/IT outsourcing is a crucial management issue for hospitals and healthcare organizations in recent years since only a small proportion of these organizations have reaped the expected benefits from their outsourcing projects. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to better understand the investment evaluation and benefits realization practices and processes of Australian and Taiwanese hospitals that have outsourced their e-commerce/IT systems. This article provides the opportunity to examine outsourcing practices of a highly developed economy (Australia) and a newly industrialized economy (Taiwan). Some e-commerce/IT outsourcing issues and challenges confronted by hospitals in Australia and Taiwan will be identified, discussed and presented. The findings of this study will assist hospitals and other healthcare organizations to formulate appropriate strategies to better handle the potential issues and challenges in undertaking e-commerce/IT outsourcing projects.