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The development of a purchasing portfolio model for purchasing departments in hospitals during a crisis

Tip, B.C.M. (2020) The development of a purchasing portfolio model for purchasing departments in hospitals during a crisis.

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Abstract:Purpose–The aim of this research is to develop a purchasing portfolio model for hospitals during a pandemic. The Kraljic matrix will be updated and different strategies, tactics and activities which were used by hospital purchasers during the Covid-19 pandemic were identified. Design/Methodology/Approach-This study is a qualitative case study of different hospitals located in the Netherlands. Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with among others hospital purchasers in the Netherlands. They were asked if they are familiar with the Kraljic matrix and which purchasing criteria they use. Hospital purchasers who worked during the Covid-19 pandemic were interviewed to find out how they experienced the Covid-19 pandemic and how they anticipated on products which became suddenly scarce. Findings-In this study it became clear that one of the dimensions of Kraljic, namely strategic importance, must be redefined. It came forward that patient value is an important purchasing criteria for hospital purchasers. However, the respondents mentioned different definitions of patient value, which indicate that patient value is maybe a too vague concept. Furthermore, a consequence of the pandemic on the Kraljic matrix is that some items with low supply risk will change to (temporary) bottleneck items. These items will not change to strategic items, since a pandemic is temporary and the respondents mentioned that they did not developed long-term contracts with suppliers. Besides, different strategies and tactics are used by the hospital purchasers during the Covid-19 pandemic; inventory management, increase supply, reduce demand and innovation. Different new tactics and activities were identified, for example; converting appliances, awareness for cowboys, use alternative products, secure inventory and so on. Researchlimitation–This study was carried out with a small research sample of thirteen hospital purchasers operating in the Netherlands. This limits the external validity of the findings since they might not be the same in other geographic areas in the world. This study could be expanded to other countries to validate the findings. Originality/Value–There has been little research about purchasing portfolio models for hospitals yet and different scholars asked for further research. The concept of redefining strategic importance with adding patient value to the model is new. Next, different strategies and tactics for hospital purchasers, which are usable during a pandemic, are new aspects that got introduced to the research field which has not been assessed by other scholars.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Business Administration MSc (60644)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/84840
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