CONSERVATIVE OR AGGRESSIVE: WHICH STRATEGY IS BETTER FOR MEDICAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN EAST AZERBAIJAN, IRAN

Medical tourism is a new phenomenon in the health care industry. Most countries, especially developing countries are trying to increase their share in the world market with long-term planning. The aim of this study was to determine the strategic position and identified the main strategies for medical tourism industry in the view of main stakeholders of East Azerbaijan Province of Iran. This study was conducted with Multi Design Method in 2016. Sampling method was purposeful. The data have been collected from 15 key interviews with medical tourism stakeholders. We used MAXQDA 12 and excel software for data analysis. Four main themes (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and 71 sub-themes (38 internal factors and 33 external factors) were identified. Sub- themes were reduced to 40 factors by expert prioritization (20 internal factors and 20 external factors). After Weighting these 40 factors by experts, WO was the strategic position for medical tourism (internal factors with a score of 1.99 the external factors with 2.65), of and conservative strategy become the main strategy of medical tourism of East Azerbaijan province. feasibility to perform surgery in Tabriz hospitals , lack of sufficient infrastructure for medical tourism, neighborly relations with neighboring countries and fierce competition in attracting medical tourists among countries in this region have the highest score in strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threatens factor, respectively. According to identification of the strategic position of medical tourism in East Azerbaijan province, joint venture and divestiture strategies are the most appropriate strategy for this industry and it's better to provincial officials developed and implemented operational plans in line with these strategies. Keywords: Medical tourism, East Azerbaijan Province, Strategy, Strategic Situations