Supply Chain Management in the Hospital Industry of Switzerland

Masters Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics, grade: 1.6, King s College London, course: Supply Chain Management, language: English, abstract: This dissertation seeks to investigate how the Swiss hospital industry can face the upcoming budgeting restrictions set by the Swiss government. Following an analysis of the political and economic environment of the industry the paper focuses on hospitals‟ material management, demonstrating that this is an area with substantial savings potentials. At first the study examines the industrial approach of supply chain management (SCM) as a way to realize those savings potentials, reviewing the comprehensive secondary literature about SCM. Findings from different authors who investigated the specifics of procurement in the hospital industry are compared and complemented with results from in-depth interviews with four experts from the Swiss healthcare industry. The comparison allows formulating how a SCM approach for hospitals should be customized to meet industry specific requirements. Subsequently, the dissertation designs a SCM model for hospitals that encompasses the business functions, the corresponding organisational structure and the flow of key processes. The drafted business framework is then compared with the findings of a case study research that investigates a Swiss hospital project. This project has been awarded by an international organisation for logistics management and standardization as ground-breaking for the Swiss hospital industry. The comparison substantiates that the principles of the designed SCM model are widely consistent with the hospital‟s solution and helps to further customize the model. Finally, the strategic relevance of the drafted SCM approach for Swiss hospitals in general is evaluated. It is demonstrated why the principles of the model are appropriate to help Swiss hospitals to eliminate their weaknesses in material management procedures and