This chapter reviews the role and high impact of management knowledge on a specialist health care provider in the independent sector. The chapter highlights the role of the government-wide austerity programme, QIPP, in the importing of operations management. Specifically, the chapter considers the impact of the balanced scorecard in transforming the organization’s practice and financial position in a period of austerity. It begins by offering a review of the increasing private-sector involvement in the NHS, as well as the emergence of hybrid organizations and social enterprises. It then describes the history of the specialist health care provider under scrutiny in this case. Finally, the chapter reflects on the impact of formal management knowledge being complemented by a range of other sources of more experiential knowledges, for example, education and development activities, and the importance of embedded agency in achieving organizational change.
Call for Papers—M&SOMSpecial Issue: Applications of Health-Care Operations Management