A framework for assessing the resilience of after-sales service supply chains in the medical equipment industry

Abstract

As the complexity of global supply chains increases, so does the turbulence and disruption they are suffering from. The medical equipment after-sales service supply chain is closely related to the healthcare industry. Therefore, the ability to provide high levels of customer satisfaction with after-sales services affects not only the performance of the medical equipment companies but also the lives and health of patients. This motivated us to study supply chain resilience in order to help managers in the medical equipment industry improve the resilience of after-sales service supply chains. Through literature research, we found that there is no research specifically on the resilience of the after-sales service supply chain of medical equipment. To fill this gap, we formulated the main research question for this thesis as: “How to assess the resilience of the after-sales service supply chain in the medical equipment industry?”. To answer this research question, we design a supply chain resilience framework by using a mixed-method approach to help managers assess the resilience of medical equipment after-sales service supply chains. And we opted for a mixed-method approach in two phases: (1) Framework development: We identified and synthesize the elements of existing supply chain resilience frameworks found through literature research into a single resilience framework applicable to the after-sales services supply chain for medical equipment. This framework identifies the enablers that need to be maximized and the vulnerabilities that need to be minimized to enhance supply chain resilience and operationalizes these elements as observable indicators. (2) Framework validation: Considering the strong growth of the medical equipment market in China, and the Chinese government ambition to provide safe, effective, convenient, and affordable healthcare services to both rural and urban residents by 2020, we have validated the proposed framework by interviewing professionals working in medical equipment companies located in China. We used questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to determine how participants perceived the importance of the identified elements and indicators. We expect that the resilience framework will help managers to better deal with turbulence and disruptions. The resulting framework identifies 11 enablers and 5 vulnerabilities, operationalized by 43 indicators. As the proposed supply chain resilience framework has not been tested empirically by applying it within a medical equipment company, a first recommendation is to perform such tests. By analysing and summarizing the results of the actual application, the framework can be improved further. Moreover, the expert validation was limited due to research time constraints. The reasons why participants considered some enablers and vulnerabilities to be unimportant could be investigated further, and the indicators can still be operationalized further. Finally, the relative importance of enablers and vulnerabilities could be investigated by using a multi-criteria decision-making method, so as to help managers select only the more important elements to improve the resilience of their supply chain.