Key Drivers Of The Emergency Capabilities Of Integrated Elderly Services Supply Chains

This study investigated integrated elderly care services supply chains using a combination of Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM), and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), The research identifies the key factors related to the emergency response capabilities of elderly service supply chains and the most important ways to improve them. The integrated DEMATEL-ISM-TOPSIS method provides new theoretical support for the management of elderly care service supply chains.

Supply Chain View of Tourism

Tourism being observed as a supply chain, this article describe its practices under a conceptual research framework with a special reference to education tourism. The author projects the education tourism as a continuum where both service supply chains of education and tourism are integrated. The research implication is directed towards the cross-sectoral objectives of communities involving the tourists, students and destination communities. The original thoughts and value propositions in this research are portrayed as a supply chain framework. Unlike goods supply chain management, the service supply chain of education tourism grows complex due to the coexistence of the overlapping service objectives for education and tourism. Education tourism deals with students and tourists frequently interchanging their roles; leveraging the services of the vendors and outsourced partners. The increasing complexity of education tourism demands smart technology applications to manage it as an integrated total supply chain.

How Do Dangerous Goods Regulations Apply to Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles Transporting Medical Cargos?

Commercial operations of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) are expanding, with medical logistics using UAVs as part of health service supply chains being targeted. The ability to transport cargos that include items classified as Dangerous Goods (DGs) is a significant factor in enabling UAV logistics to assist medical supply chains, but DG regulations for air transport have developed from the perspective of crewed aircraft and not UAVs. This paper provides an important audit of the current DG regulations, best practice in their application and the development of much-needed new governance that will be required to fully exploit UAVs for the safe transport of DGs in medical logistics. Findings from the audit provide a summary of the circumstances and potential challenges resulting from the application of DG regulations as they stand to UAV operations, particularly for medical logistics, and convenient guidance on the practical implications of DG regulations for UAV operators. The main conclusion is that this is an under-researched domain, not yet given full consideration in a holistic way by regulators, governments, industry bodies, practitioners or academia.

Sustainability evaluation of service supply chains: a case study of an Indian hospital

PurposeIncreasing pressure from the stakeholders makes the inclusion and evaluation of sustainable practices in the service supply chain (SSC) inevitable. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the sustainability status of a case organization and discover the barrier to sustainability in the SSC.Design/methodology/approachFrom the literature review, five sustainability dimensions, seventeen attributes and sixty-five subattributes of the SSC are identified. A three-level conceptual model drawn on human perception is developed. The overall sustainability status of the SSC is determined by using the multigrade fuzzy logic approach. The fuzzy concept incorporated helps in overcoming the challenges of vagueness and impreciseness in the responses. The case SSC is a WestIndia–based hospital.FindingsThe study evaluates the case hospital to be “very sustainable” but far from the “extremely sustainable” level. Six barriers are identified which are reduction in solid waste, compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations, water usage efficiency, training and education of employees, return on investment and safety equipment for employees. These barriers hinder the hospital from achieving an “extremely sustainable” level.Practical implicationsThis paper evaluates, helps the management in identifying the barriers and thus enabling them to work upon these barriers and achieve a greater level of sustainability.Originality/valueThe sustainability practices adopted in this paper for the evaluation of the sustainability status of the SSC have not been used in previous studies. In this study apart from environmental, social and economic aspects, customer management and health, safety and risk management are also incorporated for evaluating the performance of the SSC which makes this study unique. The proposed model can be taken as a benchmark for evaluating the sustainability performance of any SSC.

Relationship heterogeneity in Taiwanese maritime logistics service supply chains

Purpose With the diverse, heterogeneous nature of relationships being a key characteristic of service supply chains, their management is an important area for consideration. This is particularly true in the maritime logistics industry, yet the factors that lead to this heterogeneity are less well understood. This paper aims to explore the structure of relationships within the maritime logistics network and determine why they vary. Design/methodology/approach Interviews were carried out with 41 practitioners involved in the Taiwanese maritime logistics network. The data from these interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis and quasi-quantification. Findings The interviews identify that structural holes exist within this maritime logistics network, and that these particularly influence the relationships within this sector with ports being significantly affected. However, five factors are particularly identified that can further impact the strength of these relationships. Often, weak links between ports and both cargo owners and freight forwarders emerge as value-added services are provided by the network. Research limitations/implications The findings are framed in a Taiwanese context, where cultural and political norms may give different results to other geographical regions. The research also limits consideration to containerized flows. Practical implications By providing detailed insights into relationship structures within the maritime logistics network, managers can take steps to develop appropriate links with other members of the network, reflecting upon the factors that lead to heterogeneity. Originality/value This paper expands knowledge on logistics service supply chains, identifying the importance of relationships in a derived demand environment. For maritime researchers, specific factors leading to relationship heterogeneity in the network are detailed, to inform future research.

Alignment capabilities of big data’s value creation in the context of service delivery processes

Purpose While big data creates business value, knowledge on how value is created remains limited and research is needed to discover big data’s value mechanism. The purpose of this paper is to explore value creation capabilities of big data through an alignment perspective. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a single case study of a service division of a large Danish wind turbine generator manufacturer based on 18 semi-structured interviews. Findings A strategic alignment framework comprising human, information technology, organization, performance, process and strategic practices are used as a basis to identify 15 types of alignment capabilities and their inter-dependent variables fostering the value creation of big data. The alignment framework is accompanied by seven propositions to obtain alignment of big data in service processes. Research limitations/implications The study demonstrates empirical anchoring of how alignment capabilities affect a company’s ability to create value from big data as identified in a service supply chain. Practical implications Service supply chains and big data are complex matters. Therefore, understanding how alignment affects a company’s ability to create value of big data may help the company to overcome challenges of big data. Originality/value The study demonstrates how value from big data can be created following an alignment logic. By this, both critical and complementary alignment capabilities have been identified.

Selection of Policy Instruments on Integrated Care in China: Based on Documents Content Analysis

Facing the aggravating trend of an aging population and a fragmented medical service delivery system, the Chinese Central Government has introduced a series of policies to promote the development of integrated care against the background of the “Healthy China Strategy”. The achievement of integrated care depends on the choice of policy instruments. However, few studies have focused on how policy instruments promote the practice of integrated care in China. This article aims to obtain a deeper understanding of the use of policy instruments in the development of integrated care in China. Policy documents are the carriers of policy instruments. National-level integrated care policy documents from 2009 to 2019 were selected. Using the qualitative document analysis method, this paper conducts an analysis of integrated care policy instruments. In order to comprehensively view the integrated care policy instruments, a three-dimensional analytical framework consisting of the policy instruments dimension, stakeholders dimension, and health service supply chains dimension is proposed. The results are as follows. (1) From the perspective of policy instruments, the integrated care policy has adopted supply-side policy instruments, demand-side policy instruments, and environmental policy instruments. Among the three types of policy instruments, environmental policy instruments are used most frequently, supply-side policies are preferred, while demand-side policy instruments are relatively inadequate. (2) As for the stakeholders dimension, the central policy instruments focus on the health service providers, while less attention is paid to the health service demanders. (3) In terms of health service supply chains, the number of policy instruments used in the prevention stage is the highest, followed by the treatment stage, whereas less attention paid to the rehabilitation stage. Finally, suggestions were made for the development of integrated care by better perfecting policy instruments.