title: Organizational flexibility as a strategic option: fostering dynamic capabilities of hospitals.
abstract: The main purpose of this article is to examine how the internal and external dimensions of organizational flexibility impact hospital performance. Results reveal that matching internal and external flexibilities contributes to the development of capabilities to adopt new strategic options. Such interactions have a significant impact in terms of hospital performance. A cluster of dynamic hospitals, which is characterised by high levels of both internal and external flexibilities, (instead of that have high levels of both internal and external flexibilities) was found to have the double level of performance compared with other clusters. The implications for research and managerial practice are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Technical officer of health systems and public health at the World Health Organization, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Casimiro
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.affiliation: Professor of health policy and administration at University Nova Lisboa, in Lisbon, Portugal. She is also the president of the Association for Hospital Development, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Escoval
mesh_terms: D006739:Hospital Administration; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration