BUSINESS STRATEGY AND INTERORGANIZATIONAL LINKAGES WITHIN THE ACUTE-CARE HOSPITAL INDUSTRY - AN EXPANSION OF THE MILES AND SNOW TYPOLOGY

This survey study of acute care hospitals expands Miles and Snow's (1978) strategy gestalts by drawing from the literature on strategic choice, resource dependence, and loose coupling. Building upon the resource dependence perspective, we hypothesize that interorganizational coupling patterns will differ by strategy type. We also contend that different configurations of interorganizational coupling are involved within each Miles and Snow strategy type when an organization deals with increasing environmental turbulence. The responses of 58 chief executive officers of acute care hospitals indicate that the strategy gestalts associated with Miles and Snow's typology have distinctive patterns or interoganizational coupling.