Supply Chain Principles Research Articles

BRalu Profile: the procurement strategy

Learning outcomes After completion of the case study, students will be able to understand BRalu Profile’s product range, customer base and historical developments; analyze how BRalu Profile’s procurement strategy evolved and its impact on business profitability; calculate and compare procurement costs and evaluate their role in decision-making for different suppliers; examine how market conditions (includes domestic and international dynamics) and pricing strategies influence procurement choices; assess the pros and cons of different procurement options and make informed recommendations based on supply chain principles; and identify potential procurement risks (e.g. currency exchange rates and supplier reliability) and propose strategies to mitigate them. Case overview/synopsis This case study explored the challenges faced by BRalu Profile, a prominent aluminum profile products company based in Ahmedabad, India. It focused on the critical task of supplier evaluation, selection and the complexities of maintaining relationships with existing suppliers. This case study delved into the intricate dynamics of procurement decisions within the supply chain and their direct impact on the firm’s overall performance. It also emphasized the supply chain’s susceptibility to disruptions and their consequences on company operations and supplier selection criteria. The protagonist, Dhaval Choladiya, had to navigate the complexities of cost-benefit analysis to identify the most suitable supplier, maximizing the firm’s net benefit while considering nonpricing parameters. This case study revealed the critical importance of maintaining strong supplier relationships in a competitive market and offered insights into the complexities of sourcing. Complexity academic level This case study is suitable for an undergraduate or graduate-level course on strategic sourcing or supply chain management or a risk management module in operations, strategy or finance course (e.g. how to deal with input cost fluctuations). Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Challenges of implementing industry 4.0 in achieving sustainable development goals: a case of Indian manufacturing organization

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to identify the implementation challenges of Industry 4.0 and circular supply chain during a pandemic in order to achieve sustainable development goals. Based on the literature review and discussion with experts, combined challenges of implementing Industry 4.0 for developing a circular supply chain were identified. A combination of ANP and Fuzzy TOPSIS approaches has been adopted for the proposed research as the network model with dependence and feedback improves rankings derived from the alternatives and can make better decisions for optimal challenges. The ANP approach has been utilized to evaluate the weights of the criteria using Super Decisions software 2.10 version for reliability and accuracy of the results, while Fuzzy TOPSIS approach has been used to prioritize the alternatives. A case example of an XYZ barrel manufacturing organization has been selected for the illustration of the proposed research. Four experts from the manufacturing organization were selected to review the preliminary draft of the questionnaire. The main findings are identifying and prioritizing 5 major challenges and 15 criteria for implementing Industry 4.0 technologies in circular supply chain during the pandemic. The results of the study demonstrate that organizational is the major challenge, while sustainable development challenge is the least prioritized. Data security and privacy, technological development and big data and analytics are the essential criteria for implementing Industry 4.0 and circular supply chain principles. The findings of the research may help academicians, researchers, and industrialists in their decision-making to ensure the smooth implementation of Industry 4.0 and to develop a circular supply chain.

Supply Chain Principles – A Primer for Anesthesiologists

Features| June 2023 Supply Chain Principles – A Primer for Anesthesiologists Korina Katsaliaki, PhD; Korina Katsaliaki, PhD Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Sameer Kumar, PhD; Sameer Kumar, PhD Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Kumar G. Belani, MBBS, MS, FACA, FAAP, SAMBA-F Kumar G. Belani, MBBS, MS, FACA, FAAP, SAMBA-F Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar ASA Monitor June 2023, Vol. 87, 21–23. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASM.0000938820.14081.36 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Cite Icon Cite Get Permissions Search Site Citation Korina Katsaliaki, Sameer Kumar, Kumar G. Belani; Supply Chain Principles – A Primer for Anesthesiologists. ASA Monitor 2023; 87:21–23 doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASM.0000938820.14081.36 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll PublicationsASA Monitor Search Advanced Search Topics: coordination, delivery of health care, information sharing, professors, surgical procedures, operative, treatment outcome, health personnel, operations management, safety, therapeutics During the last few years, there have been reports of shortages of anesthesiology supplies and drugs. These shortages have been caused by a combination of factors, including increased demand, manufacturing issues, and disruptions in the supply chain. For example, the use of propofol, commonly utilized during anesthesia and intensive care, has increased because of the number of COVID-19 patients on ventilators. Some manufacturers of anesthesia drugs have experienced production delays due to quality control problems or difficulties obtaining raw materials. Transportation issues, climate change and natural disasters, pandemics, and geopolitical tensions (e.g., U.S.-China) have also contributed to shortages of anesthesiology supplies and drugs (asamonitor.pub/3GQZPlS; ASA Monitor 2022;86:1-5; Am J Health Syst Pharm 2020;77:1778-85). Such shortages cause significant implications for patients and health care providers. Hence, there is a need for a renewed focus on applying supply chain principles for improving resilience and mitigating future problems. According... You do not currently have access to this content.

The effects of antiretroviral stockout on primary health care nurses in the Ethekwini and Ilembe districts, KwaZulu-Natal

Background: Nurses face challenges of antiretroviral therapy (ART) stock out when rolling out, leading to drug resistance, poor compliance and decreased viral suppression. Poor viral suppression leads to higher morbidity and mortality rates, hence a need to strengthen supply chain principles in order to achieve equal distribution of resources amongst clinics. Nurses also need to have relevant guidelines available to prevent treatment failure. The study aimed to describe the effects of ART stockouts on primary health nurses rolling out ART in clinics in KwaZulu Natal. Methods: The study followed a qualitative approach, using a descriptive design. Two primary healthcare clinics in Ilembe and Ethekwini districts were selected for the study. The population comprised of 8 purposively selected participants. In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted to describe the experiences of primary health care nurses rolling out antiretroviral therapy regarding stockout and how it was managed. Data collection and analysis followed Yates, Partridge and Bruce steps. Ethics and trustworthiness were maintained. Results: The singular theme of inconsistent availability of treatment emerged, as well as sub-themes of means used to manage treatment stockout and supply change management issues. Conclusions: An adequate supply of ART through an efficient supply chain management strategy, ongoing training in primary health care and nurse-initiated management of antiretroviral therapy and the availability of treatment guidelines should be enforced.

Risk analysis approach to identifying actions that reduce waste for a Lean agricultural supply chain

Purpose: In this study, we examine the food loss food waste (FLFW) risks in agricultural supply chain through combination the risk analysis approach and lean principles.Methodology: The methodology of this study includes the actor analysis, risk analysis approach, and lean principles. The actor analysis is conducted to identify the actor’s needs, problems, and characters. The risk analysis approach was combined with lean supply chain principles to identify risk points for FLFW in the agricultural supply chain for cayenne pepper in Indonesia. A risk–lean relationship matrix was developed to identify waste reduction efforts.Findings: In this study, the lean-risk matrix was created to discover the similarities and differences in waste reduction efforts in agricultural products compared with traditional manufacturing products, which can also apply to agricultural products in this case study.Research limitations/implications: This study focuses on combining the risk analysis and lean principles to determine the FLFW risk on the agricultural supply chain and find possible solutions to mitigate those risks. The case study for this research is the cayenne pepper supply chain.Originality/value: Lean principles in the FLFW problem are rarely found in studies. Lean principles are an approach that can be used to obtain solutions to reduce waste.

Lessons from CSCMP Supply Chain Hall of Famer Henry Ford and the research that they call for in modern supply chains

PurposeThis paper considers CSCMP Supply Chain Hall of Famer Henry Ford's innovation and its transformative impact on supply chain management. Credited with the assembly line, Ford's innovation also included a supply chain design around the concept of flow, integrated supply and the enablement of economies of scale and productivity to drive down consumer prices and create affordable product for a growing market.Design/methodology/approachThis paper considers literature and builds upon the history of the innovation to consider supply chain implications and future opportunities to further the innovation into modern supply chains.FindingsFord did not “invent” the assembly line but he did build the supply chain around it. He stewarded core supply chain principles of great relevance well before they become popular, including a focus on lifelong learning, making failure safe, waste elimination and helping make the world a better place. There are many opportunities to continue to build upon the innovation for future supply chain success.Originality/valueThe supply chain field is sometimes said to be “historically challenged.” This paper reviews the essence and lessons learned from the assembly line and supply chain design and the leadership principles of Henry Ford and the Ford production system. We also connect leadership principles of the Ford supply chain to those of Ohno and Deming to map out the evolution of the Ford supply chain management approach over multiple decades and into the supply chain body of knowledge. Finally, we reflect upon how supply chain design aspects of the Ford supply chain may need to further evolve into the future. Based upon this reflection we recommend opportunities for further research and innovation that build upon the supply chain management roots provided by Henry Ford.

Application of Supply Chain Principles to Pandemic Planning

Problem definition: When designing and operating a system for allocating and distributing vaccines during a pandemic, we need to provide the most protection, for the most people, in the least amount of time. To reduce the risk of illness and the chance of virus variants, time is essential. Therefore, the system's objective should be to maximize Vaccinated Person-Days (VPDs), a term we define as the number of days of protection obtained by persons in society. To maximize VPDs, we need to minimize the time from a manufacturer's production of vaccines to the time persons receive shots in their arms. Methodology/results: We demonstrate that maximizing VPDs can be stated as a linear program and provide methods for finding the optimal vaccination strategy. Next, we discuss how principles of supply chain management guide the design of a well-functioning vaccine supply chain. We present a modeling approach for a three-echelon system plus algorithms for daily vaccine allocation in a rolling horizon manner. We demonstrate the consequences of both box size and the number and capacity of dispensing locations on achieving system objectives. The results are dramatic for the small state in our case study, with profound implications for a national distribution system.Managerial implications: Our proposed strategy was not followed in the United States for COVID-19 in 2021. To minimize missed vaccination opportunities, fewer and higher throughput dispensing locations were needed when vaccine demand exceeded supply. Furthermore, policy makers should require manufacturers to deliver vaccines in box sizes consistent with dispensing location capabilities specified by public health officials. If vaccines were allocated and distributed according to our proposed strategy, more people would have been vaccinated sooner, fewer people would have symptoms, fewer people would have been hospitalized and fewer people would have succumbed to the disease.

Contractual procurement alternatives of air force contingency pharmaceuticals: a cost-benefit analysis

Purpose This paper aims to explore effective supply chain principles, through the theory of transaction cost economics, as measures to improve current contingency pharmaceutical item shortfalls in the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) Contingency Pharmaceutical Programme. Design/methodology/approach In this research, AFMS contingency pharmaceutical data was collected from various databases, including the Joint Medical Asset Repository, Medical Contingency Requirements Workflow and the Medical Requirements List. Through the methodology of cost-benefit analysis, alternative sourcing and fulfilment practices are evaluated. Findings The findings of this research indicate that the application of centralized purchasing principles, in an effort to leverage prime vendor contract fill rates for shortage items, can lead to 12%–17% increases in pharmaceutical material availability across the programme. Originality/value This research clearly shows that consolidating demand for shortage items across Active Duty War Reserve Material assemblages, though applications of centralized purchasing principles that leverage prime vendor contract fill rates, can lead to substantial increases in material availability at costs that justify the calculated benefits.

Carbon Roots International (CRI)

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes are as follows: successful students will demonstrate an understanding of challenges in producing and delivering a product in emerging economies; they will be able to analyze the tradeoffs in operational decisions of a social enterprise; and students will apply supply chain principles to solve social and environmental challenges. Case overview/synopsis Carbon Roots International is a social enterprise in Haiti producing and selling charcoal from sugar cane waste. Their operational challenge is designing a supply chain, which enables them to accomplish their social goals while building a profitable enterprise. Complexity academic level This case can be used in graduate operations management and supply chain management courses. The company in the case is a social enterprise. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 9: Operations and Logistics

Healthcare supply chain management: Application in the Maltese Healthcare System.

IntroductionHospital supply chains are complex systems ensuring flow of products/services to satisfy patients. The aim of this exploratory study is to improve the Maltese health care system’s efficiency using supply chain management principles in three hospital settings. The theoretical basis underlying the study is the supply chain decision-making framework.MethodsUsing observation and focus groups, the following steps were undertaken: (i) mapping healthcare supply chain processes and identifying challenges; (ii) understanding competitive strategy through implied demand uncertainty; (iii) deriving supply chain strategies through supply chain drivers; (iv) optimizing healthcare supply chain (right balance between cost and responsiveness); (v) identifying critical success factors for healthcare supply chains.ResultsIn line with their competitive and supply chain strategies, the three settings have well-defined primary goals, stakeholders’ needs/demands/expectations, as well as clear-cut, albeit some similar, criteria and sub-criteria for improving the quality and quantity of their services. The trade-offs between efficiency and responsiveness for the supply chain drivers are distinctive and in line with their competitive strategies, hence achieving the desired fit with the healthcare supply chain strategies.ConclusionsBy adopting healthcare supply chain principles, there should be improved services in each setting, which in turn should lead to system-wide results.

Assessing of supply chain performance by adopting Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) model

This paper aims at an assessing of a supply chain performance by adopting the Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) Model. The supply chain activities are divided into five core processes, i.e. plan, source, make, delivery and return. Each level of the SCOR model is weighted using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP). The mapping of SCOR Model consists of 5 core processes at 1st level, 21 performance matrices at 2nd level, and 28 Key Performance Indicator (KPI) at 3th level. The result shows that the supply chain performance is 68,231. Referring to the performance indicators, the performance achieved by the supply chain at this time is in the average category. Proposed improvement strategies are designed based on lean supply chain principles, through the implementation of Gemba Kaizen which consists of 17 proposed strategies.

Internal and vendor employees’ unethical behaviors in the supply chain: the case of India

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a corporate ethical policy, such as a code of ethics, on the unethical behavior of internal and vendor employees in the supply chain in India. It also aims to find whether International Standards Organization (ISO) certification of vendors affects the result and any significant relationship between management commitment and unethical behavior can be supported by the findings as well.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical analyses were conducted on a survey consisting of 43 questions comprising 181 valid responses. Multiple regression analysis that includes four independent variables – code of ethics, management commitment, supply chain principles and personal values taking unethical behavior as dependent variable – was used to find the significance of the relationship.FindingsThe implementation of a code of ethics, management commitment, supply chain principles and personal values all have a negative association with unethical behavior. Personal values, measuring a firm’s financial aspects for non-compliance to ethical behavior, have a positive association with unethical behavior. The relationships of top management commitment, personal values with internal employees’ unethical behavior are significant. The significant relationship between management commitment and unethical behavior can be supported by the findings as well. It was also found that ISO certificates and firm size as the control variables did not have any effect on the relationship between the independent variables and unethical behavior. The analysis also shows that ISO 26000 certificate, the international standard for socially responsible operations, does not impact this relationship.Research limitations/implicationsMeasuring substantial managerial effort for corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices by asking questions like, “how committed employees think top management is to social responsibility,” may not fully measure substantial managerial effort for CSR practices. To improve the results of the current study, future research can use the CSR index or disclosure as a measure to better reflect management commitment and practice for social responsibility. Second, the current study is limited to measuring how many occurrences of unethical behavior are witnessed by employees instead of what specific unethical behavior is more often witnessed. Considering India has the second largest population in the world, 181 responses may not represent the true practices in the business environment in India for generalization.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that management should put more of an emphasis on improving the commitment of upper-level managers to decrease the overall unethical practices of their employees. The study finds that employees’ personal values influence their ethical behavior. Therefore, communications and training of employees at all levels should emphasis on improving personal values.Social implicationsBusinesses should influence academics to incorporate personal value building in course curricula. The Indian CSR law should incorporate the holistic view of CSR taking care of needs of all stakeholders under the provision of the regulation. In 2015, India became the first country in the world to legislate CSR practices in corporations but it misses the opportunity to sensitize the management and employees on ethical practices as it mainly identified philanthropic expenses as mandatory CSR spending and silent on ethical business practices.Originality/valueThe present study contributes to the literature by bringing supply chain context to the effect of different factors on unethical behaviors and interaction of internal and vendor firms in terms of ethical practices. There are several studies on business ethics in different countries including China, but in the case of India similar studies are not much. The present study fills the gap.

Application of principles of supply chain management to the pharmaceutical good transportation practices

PurposePharmaceuticals supply chain management (SCM) requires special expertise to transport the medicinal products because of weird features of their demand, supply and sensitivity towards quality. The purpose of this study is to establish the linkage of pharmaceutical quality system requirements with the SCM principles. The study enables the collaborative approach of technical, transport, logistics and supply chain teams within the pharmaceutical industry.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology followed for this study is literature review and survey. The study is supplemented with data obtained through the structured questionnaire.FindingsThrough this study, an exclusive perspective for pharmaceutical good transportation practice (GTP) has been propagated in alignment with seven principles of SCM by Anderson. This study offers guidance to pharmaceutical industry for transportation of products by conceptualizing basic supply chain features such as segmentation, customization of requirement, market signals, differentiation, technology orientation and channel spanning performance.Research limitations/implicationsHere is limited information available about the transportation failures in the pharmaceutical industry. Application of supply chain principles to pharmaceutical transportation is sometimes affected by technical knowledge bias of the researcher.Practical implicationsThe study has successfully expounded the practical aspects of pharmaceutical GTP for supply chain professionals.Social implicationsThe study facilitates the patients and pharmaceutical consumers to get quality products in a timely manner across the globe.Originality/valueThe application of SCM principles to the pharmaceutical GTP is the result of novel research and has not been studied earlier.

A new theoretical framework for integration in freight transport chains

ABSTRACTAt the European Union level, door-to-door freight transport chains – i.e. involving intermodal, combined, co modal or synchromodal transport – are seen as one solution for curbing the unsustainable growth of the transport sector. Integration is regarded as a key feature in the creation of enhanced transport chains. It would bring about purposeful coordination and alignment between transport agents with the aim of enhancing the performance of the transport service. However, integration also entails additional costs, so there are limits to its exploitation. Diverse theories and principles were used to study the dynamics of integration. System engineering principles were used to study the elements and structure of the transport chains; whereas logistics and supply chain principles were applied to explain agents’ behaviouristic elements and performance elements. New institutional economics theory shed light on the types and problems of coordination, or on incentives to overcome the barriers. Network and graph theories are useful to characterise the structure of transport chains and networks. The literature review highlighted that less attention has been paid to both the identification of the fundamental components of integration and the understanding the role of integration on the performance of a transport chain. This paper proposes a novel conceptual framework by which to understand the nature and mechanisms of integration in freight transport chains. It makes use of the concept of fitness and takes into consideration insights derived from system engineering and transaction costs economics. The framework is made up of four interrelated Building Blocks (BB): the customer's demand requirements (BB1); the transport agents’ profiles (BB2); the fitness (BB3); and the performance of the transport chain (BB4). Integration is the degree of matching (BB3) of selected components of the transport agents (BB2), chosen according to demand (BB1). The degree of matching will yield inefficiencies which will impact the performance (BB4) of the transport service. The framework identifies five dimensions of integration, corresponding to the various flows among agents, which are physical; logical; contractual; financial; and institutional. Finally, it considers three moments of integration: during production; while on recovery from a situation of non-compliance; and after the delivery of the goods. An initial validation assessment exercise was conducted with two case studies – one successful and one unsuccessful. This work complements others dedicated to understanding the organisation and production of transport chains. The framework can assist transport agents in identifying unexploited opportunities for enhancing integration or mitigating negative aspects. It can also support policy makers, for example, in efforts to prioritise investments in accordance with their potential impact on integration. Finally, as the framework provides details on how agents interact, it can support the development of freight transport models, particularly disaggregated approaches.

Supply Chain Principles versus Practice: Differentiating Between the Two

Supply Chain Principles versus Practice: Differentiating Between the Two Dr Prosper Kweku Hoeyi Abstract As a discipline still taking shape, there are still a number of issues surrounding the teaching and learning of supply chain. Difficulty in differentiating between what constitute the fundamental principles on the one hand and applied supply chain on the other hand is one such issue. This lack of clarity tends to create confusion in the minds of newcomers to the subject. Therefore, the aim of this theoretical paper is to set the tone towards breaking the subject into two parts: the principles of supply chain, and applied supply chain. This demarcation, hopefully, will boost the shaping of the discipline. The paper relies mainly on literature review to argue out its position. Therefore, the methodology employed is desk study which implies a constructivist orientation. Based on the literature review, the paper identifies four criteria on which the principles of supply chain can be based, namely: context, interconnectedness, system, and generic supply chain. It is recommended that any future consolidation of the principles of supply chain should emanate from these four areas; residual concepts that deal with the practicalities of supply chain and do not directly address the four criteria can be brought under applied supply chain. It is expected that such a demarcation will improve the coherence of the subject. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jsspi.v7n2a4

Spare Parts Inventory Management with Substitution-Dependent Reliability

Motivated to apply sustainable supply chain principles to air-pollution control systems, this paper presents a dynamic inventory-management approach where substitution is possible to maintain these systems’ equipment. An air-pollution control system’s subsequent reliability depends on the replacement equipment selected. The corresponding problem is formulated as a stochastic dynamic program. Because the state and action space are prohibitively large, the approximate policy iteration algorithm is adapted to generate high-quality solutions. Therefore, this work replaces the value function with an affine combination of nonlinear basis functions and shows that a relaxation of the policy improvement step requires the solving of a mixed integer linear program. This approach helps in the designing of an algorithm that improves the quality of the approximation by solving a convex optimization problem. To assess the quality of resulting solutions, a lower bound is developed by considering a relaxation of the problem. In addition, two classes of heuristics are proposed based on a rolling-horizon two-stage stochastic programming formulation of the problem and a standard base-stock ordering policy. The performance of proposed policies is tested on a variety of settings, and results show that the approximate dynamic programming policies are near-optimal in the settings of interest and significantly outperform available benchmarks. The following analysis reveals that the proposed inventory replenishment policies resemble a base-stock policy with occasional deviations, and assignment and substitution decisions are determined by balancing the reliability with ordering, holding, and shortage costs. The online supplement is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.2017.0794 .

Humanitarian Supply Chain/logistics: Roadmap To Effective Relief Effort

Between the years of 2000 and 2012, natural disasters caused 1.7 trillion dollars in damage and affected 2.9 billion people (dosomething.org). In Americas (ranked second globally in terms of natural disasters) between 2007 and 2016, disasters caused 255,033 deaths, 898,816 injuries and damages worth $470 billion (Disasters, 2017). In 2016 alone, natural disasters caused $175 billion in damage with 8,700 lives (Munich RE, 2017). The above numbers reflect the amount of physical destruction only but do not include indirect losses such as unemployment, environmental consequences, and business disruptions. Therefore, the full impact of these catastrophic events is much greater than these numbers suggest. Response to and management of disaster relief supply chain is different from that of commercial supply chain/logistics in many aspects. Since humanitarian relief efforts depend to a large extent on international donors and the donors usually respond well to emergency, a well thought out long term strategic plan to relive human suffering is not well established. But studies indicate that investment in the planning stage of humanitarian supply chain is much more effective and saves many lives than spending on the operation side of relief efforts.\r This paper explores alternative ways to respond and manage humanitarian relief efforts utilizing the principles of commercial supply chain. More specifically, this paper addresses/outlines the process to improve relief outcomes by investing in the prepared stage of humanitarian supply chain.

CloudChain: A novel distribution model for digital products based on supply chain principles

Cloud computing is a popular outsourcing solution for organizations to support the information management during the life cycle of digital information goods. However, outsourcing management with a public provider results in a lack of control over digital products, which could produce incidents such as data unavailability during service outages, violations of confidentiality and/or legal issues. This paper presents a novel distribution model of digital products inspired by lean supply chain principles called CloudChain, which has been designed to support the information management during digital product lifecycle. This model enables connected networks of customers, partners and organizations to conduct the stages of digital product lifecycle as value chains. Virtual distribution channels are created over cloud resources for applications of organizations to deliver digital products to applications of partners through a seamless information flow. A configurable packing and logistic service was developed to ensure confidentiality and privacy in the product delivery by using encrypted packs. A chain management architecture enables organizations to keep tighter control over their value chains, distribution channels and digital products. CloudChain software instances were integrated to an information management system of a space agency. In an experimental evaluation CloudChain prototype was evaluated in a private cloud where the feasibility of applying supply chain principles to the delivery of digital products in terms of efficiency, flexibility and security was revealed.

Key Activities, Decision Variables and Performance Indicators of Reverse Logistics

Reverse logistics is a great enabler for sustainable production and resource circulation. Its definition and scope are still evolving since early 1980s. But, collection, sorting/testing, recovery and redistribution are assumed as the basic four activities in reverse logistics. Unfortunately, many researchers assume reverse logistics by its literary meaning and plan the reverse logistic activities and take decisions based on the forward logistics or supply chain principles. There is hardly any academic research on the performance evaluation and decision variables for reverse logistics. This paper aims at developing the various activities, decision variables and performance indicators based on the four basic activities under reverse logistics. The three basic questions – who will collect from the customer, what is to be done on the collected products and where to send after recovery – interlinked with the activities at collection, sorting/testing and recovery centres will provide the basic activities, decision variables and key performance indicators of the reverse logistics. The location and capacity of various centres, types of networks, various recovery options, various methods of collection, and seamless integration with the forward logistics are the key decision variables. The performance indicators will be developed based on the activities and actions between the activities so that the performance indicators can be associated with the reverse logistics. It is expected that this conceptual framework of activities, decision variables and performance indicators will help the managers working in reverse logistics to take better and informed decisions.

Healthcare supply chain management; strategic areas for quality and financial improvement

Healthcare supply chain has recently attracted attention by scholars, researchers, government officials and providers as one of the main tools in their effort to manage healthcare cost and improve quality at the same time (Elmuti, et al., 2013). It is reported that healthcare costs in the United States represent a sizeable portion of the gross domestic product and it is expected to increase at a much higher rate than other sectors in the economy. Nevertheless maturity of healthcare supply chain is said behind the commercial supply chain leaving room for improvement (de Vries and Huijsman, 2011). This paper explores strategic areas where healthcare supply chain may enhance efficiency in terms of cost per patient discharge of healthcare operations while improving the quality of care in terms of reducing re-admission rate. This paper argues that fundamentals of supply chain principles should be deployed to create “supply chain community surplus” where resources can be tapped to improve quality of care. Three strategic areas were explored to maximize the provider's revenue; understanding of supply chain principles (perception change), process improvement and deployment of logistics tools.