Resilience capabilities of healthcare supply chain and supportive digital technologies

Abstract

Digital technologies (DT) help decision-makers cope with disruptive events and, consequently, boost the resilience of healthcare supply chains (HSC). However, previous studies on HSC have not focused on the types of resilience capabilities supported by respective DT or taken a holistic perspective of resilience from both proactive and reactive dimensions. In order to address this gap, we conducted a study of eight healthcare organizations based on semi-structured interviews with 15 HSC managers and document analysis. As a result, we identified 14 DT, such as big data analytics, predictive health data analysis, and remote monitoring of inventories. These DT supported organizational capabilities of resilient HSC, such as long-term collaborative planning and strategic alliances based on trust and shared goals. These findings were articulated in a framework that describes what and how technology adoption improves HSC resilience. We also present four research propositions for theory-testing in future studies, which stress that the relationship between DT and the four major potentials of resilient systems (i.e., anticipating, responding, monitoring and learning) is mediated by organizational resilience capabilities. The framework is expected to offer guidance and ideas for managers and policy-makers interested in designing and operating resilient HSC.