Business Model Innovation for Ambulance Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Coordination and Competition

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Gernert, Andreas K.; Calmon, Andre P.; Romero, Gonzalo; Van Wassenhove, Luk N.
• 署名单位: Kuhne Logistics University; University System of Georgia; Georgia Institute of Technology; University of Toronto; INSEAD Business School
• 刊物名称: PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1059-1478
• DOI: 10.1177/10591478231224973
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: platforms; Development Operations; Healthcare; Innovative Business Models; Emergency Transportation Systems; game theory

摘要

Several low- and middle-income countries' emergency transportation systems (ETSs) do not have a centralized emergency number. Instead, they have many independent ambulance providers, each with a small number of ambulances. As a result, ETSs in these contexts lack coordination and ambulances. Using a free-entry equilibrium model, we show that in such decentralized systems, the probability that any given call can be served by at least one ambulance, that is, its coverage, is at most 71.54%, regardless of the ETS's profitability. We examine three business models that can address the ETS's lack of coordination and ambulances: (i) a competitor-only business model, where an entrepreneur enters the ETS and acquires ambulances to compete with existing providers; (ii) a platform business model, where an entrepreneur coordinates existing providers; and (iii) an innovative platform-plus business model, where an entrepreneur combines (i) and (ii): setting-up a platform and acquiring platform-owned ambulances. We also examine a government-run platform that takes no commissions from providers. Using a game-theoretic approach, we find that it is optimal for all platform models to incentivize all providers to join. However, only the government-run platform may incentivize providers to acquire additional ambulances. Furthermore, a government-run platform offers higher coverage than a platform-plus only when the platform's power to coordinate ambulance providers is moderate. Our results can help entrepreneurs and policymakers in LMICs navigate various tradeoffs in improving their countries' ETS.