Supply chain performance measurement at a selected hospital in the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Performance measurement of supply chain in the healthcare environment has presented with a number of challenges, and studies exist to confirm this. These problems include rising costs, excessive demands, shortage of supply, and escalating level of customer dissatisfaction are the true reflection of supply chain issues faced by the hospitals. This study aims to find out an effective solution to measure supply chain performance within a hospital in Cape Town. The relation among trust, SCM/IT integration, firm’s performance, and knowledge exchange were investigated. A mixed research method (both qualitative and quantitative) was conducted involving five managers and 80 employees from the hospital. A number of interviews and a close-ended questionnaire were used for data collection. Content analysis was used for qualitative data and the descriptive results were generated through SPSS V25. Hospital and healthcare environment have been used interchangeable in this study. The research findings showed that trust levels between the hospital and its suppliers has no direct impact on supplier integration, but that its influence is interceded by knowledge exchange. Knowledge exchange plays an important role in influencing supply chain performance in the hospital. IT integration and knowledge exchange have a positive impact on hospital–supplier logistical integration between the hospital and its suppliers. In addition, knowledge sharing in supply chain may subsequently build strong relationships among SCM partners and may automatically influence hospital performance. This study recommended that the hospital should develop an approach that facilitates the dynamics of the hospital in order to manage the buyer-supplier relationship. Further research can be done on factors that contribute to buyer/supplier trust development in the healthcare environment.