Key Issues of a Software Focused Supply Chain

Author(s):  
Chengxuan Cao ◽  
Sutanto Cecilia ◽  
Huilin Chia ◽  
Mabel Chou ◽  
Cindy Tan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Chad Lin ◽  
Geoffrey Jalleh

The use of Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce within the Australian pharmaceutical supply chain can potentially assist in setting up an infrastructure which supports complex, multiparty Internet-based trading and transactions among pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesalers, hospitals, pharmacies, medical supply importers and exporters, and other players in the healthcare system. Effective use of B2B e-commerce can help these organizations reduce costs in supplying and distributing medicines and other medical-related products to the general public. However, despite high expectations for realizing the benefits of B2B e-commerce in the pharmaceutical supply chain, issues surrounding its evaluation and management remain poorly understood and relatively under-researched. This chapter presents case study findings on key management and evaluation issues and challenges in adopting and utilizing B2B e-commerce systems on eight pharmaceutical organizations in Australia. The key objectives of this study are: (1) to establish current practices and norms in evaluating B2B e-commerce investments and projects in the pharmaceutical industry; and (2) to identify key B2B e-commerce management issues and challenges within the Australian pharmaceutical supply chain. A key contribution of this chapter is the identification and examination of key issues and challenges faced by the pharmaceutical organizations undertaking B2B e-commerce activities within their supply chain. The findings will guide senior executives in these organizations to develop their own approaches or strategies to manage the opportunities and threats that exist in the Australian pharmaceutical supply chain.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dheeraj Chandra ◽  
Dinesh Kumar

Purpose Delivering vaccines to the children who need them requires a supply chain that is efficient and effective. In most of the developing countries, however, the unknown and unresolved supply chain issues are causing inefficiencies in distributing vaccines. There is, therefore, a great need in such countries to recognize the issues that cause delays in vaccine delivery. With this purpose, the present study aims to identify and analyze the key issues in the supply chain of basic vaccines required to immunize children in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach Based on a field survey of three states of India, in-depth review of relevant literature and experts’ opinions, 25 key issues were recognized as factors of the vaccine supply chain (VSC) and categorized into five main domains. Using integrated interpretive structural modeling and fuzzy analytic network process approaches, the issues have been prioritized to determine their relative importance in the VSC. In addition, a sensitivity analysis has been performed to investigate the priority stability of the issues. Findings The results of the analysis show that among the five domains of VSC issues, the economic domain with a weight of 0.4262 is the most important domain, followed by the management (0.2672), operational (0.2222), environmental (0.0532) and social (0.0312). Research limitations/implications This study focuses on the prioritization of VSC issues; therefore, the results of the present study can provide direction to the decision-makers of immunization programs of developing countries in driving their efforts and resources on eliminating the most important obstacles to design successful vaccination programs. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this paper is first to provide a direction to the decision-makers in identifying and managing important issues through the use of an analytical approach.


Author(s):  
Simon Goddek ◽  
Alyssa Joyce ◽  
Benz Kotzen ◽  
Maria Dos-Santos

AbstractAs the world’s population grows, the demands for increased food production expand, and as the stresses on resources such as land, water and nutrients become ever greater, there is an urgent need to find alternative, sustainable and reliable methods to provide this food. The current strategies for supplying more produce are neither ecologically sound nor address the issues of the circular economy of reducing waste whilst meeting the WHO’s Millennium Development Goals of eradicating hunger and poverty by 2015. Aquaponics, a technology that integrates aquaculture and hydroponics, provides part of the solution. Although aquaponics has developed considerably over recent decades, there are a number of key issues that still need to be fully addressed, including the development of energy-efficient systems with optimized nutrient recycling and suitable pathogen controls. There is also a key issue of achieving profitability, which includes effective value chains and efficient supply chain management. Legislation, licensing and policy are also keys to the success of future aquaponics, as are the issues of education and research, which are discussed across this book.


2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. (Onno) Omta ◽  
Jacques Trienekens ◽  
George Beers

In the present editorial we address key issues and research questions in the field of chain and network science. Theoretical approaches discussed in this editorial include Network Theory, Supply Chain Management and Industrial Organisation Theory. Major research themes derived from these approaches are formulated in the conclusions. The editorial ends with the management implications of the different articles in this issue.


Author(s):  
Md. Nuruzzaman ◽  
Alicia Neva Weber

Cross-border e-commerce has emerged with significant attention in the field of international trade. Exports and imports are more integrated with the revolutionary e-commerce platforms where people can buy things from other countries at their fingertips. However, the supply chain behind the business transactions beyond the country's boundaries is more complicated than traditional businesses. The successful supply chain performance of e-commerce depends on many local and international aspects. Issues and challenges of the supply chain rapidly change due to the fast development of internet infrastructure. The chapter identifies some key issues like supply chain facility, inventory management, legal obstacles with today's supply chain performance of international e-commerce. Comprehensive solutions and recommendations are given here with focusing the integration of blockchain technology, which tells how the businesses can initiate the combination of both e-commerce and cryptography for effective intercountry supply chain performance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet Willetts ◽  
Anna Gero ◽  
Akhmad Akbar Susamto ◽  
Ryan Sanjaya ◽  
Thanh Doan Trieu ◽  
...  

This study examined the sanitation hardware supply chain in rural, low density settings in Indonesia and Vietnam. Actual costs along the chains were investigated to understand the challenges and opportunities to support affordable sanitation in remote, rural locations. Data were collected from four remote districts in Indonesia and Vietnam through a systematic value-chain analysis comprising 378 interviews across households and supply chain actors and both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Three main findings are presented. Firstly, poor households, often located in remote areas and with lower sanitation access, often experienced higher costs to build durable latrines than households in accessible areas or district capitals. Second, locally sourced materials (sand, bricks or gravel) had a greater influence on price than externally sourced materials (cement, steel and toilet pans), even accounting for cost increases of these materials along the supply chain. Thirdly, transport and labour costs represented considerable proportions of the overall cost to build a toilet. These findings highlighted logistical and financial barriers to poor, remote households in accessing sanitation. Findings can inform strategies to improve the availability and affordability of sanitation products and services, in particular key issues that need to be addressed through government and non-government pro-poor market-based interventions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 303-308
Author(s):  
Jin Zha ◽  
Hui Yuan Jiang ◽  
Qing Song Wu

The supply chain financing mode became an important factor that drives the development of the small and medium enterprises, through which they can collect more money from banks and improve the competitiveness of the whole supply chain. In conclusion, the way to solve the financing problems of the small and middle enterprises is the key issues that need to be considered by the enterprises which are core parts of the supply chains.


2014 ◽  
Vol 564 ◽  
pp. 684-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Tahoori ◽  
Mohd Yusuff Rosnah ◽  
Zulkifli Norzima

Being tied with sustainability and due to the emergence of various environmental threats, closed loop supply chain (CLSC) has received huge attention recently. Dealing with both forward and reverse chain simultaneously, closed loop supply chain plays the key role as an enabler for sustainability. In this paper the gradual evolution of supply chain, the concept of sustainability, sustainable supply chain, incentives and different dimensions of sustainability and closed loop supply chain, issue and challenges such as recovery options, product acquisition, uncertainty, supplier selection, etchave been discussed.


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