Supply chain management in the healthcare sector : a research agenda

Competitive pressures and severe cuts in public healthcare spending force healthcare organizations to reconsider their business strategies and management practices. In this important industry, managers need not only lower costs but maintain at the same time a level of quality services. Supply chain management is currently regarded as having an important impact on reducing costs and improving performance in healthcare organizations. Supply chain management is greatly enabled by information technology and enterprise resource planning systems and specially developed supply chain management systems. In addition, a series of related factors, such as regulation, globalization, and health insurance legislation is of the utmost importance for the healthcare sector. This paper provides a literature review of the impact of supply chain management on the healthcare organizations and proposes a research agenda for supply chain management in the private and public regulated healthcare sectors.