Antecedents of supply chain resilience in the public health sector in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The major thrust of this study was to analyse how the Zimbabwe‘s health sector can build supply chain resilience within in the wake of pandemics.. To achieve this, the study tested three hypotheses linked to supply chain resilience strategies using 122 respondents from the Zimbabwe’s public health sector institutions in Harare, Zimbabwe. Four supply chain resilience strategies namely supply chain resilience, supply chain visibility, supply chain flexibility and supply chain collaboration of supply chain resilience tested were supply chain visibility, supply chain flexibility and supply chain redundancy were tested against supply chain resilience. Data was collected quantitatively using questionnaires to a sample of 122 respondents selected through the probability method of simple random sampling. The data were analysed through inferential statistics of exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Using the results of data analysis, the study concluded that demonstrated that supply chain redundancy, visibility, flexibility and collaboration have positive significant effect on supply chain within Zimbabwe‘s health sector in the wake of pandemics. The study also recommends that public health institutions should work to achieve supply chain visibility through sharing adequate quality information in the right quantity at the right time with partners in the supply chain and using information technology to enhance connectivity had positive effect on supply chain resilience in order to overcome supply chain disruptions in the event times of pandemic outbreaks. Furthermore, it is recommended that firms within Zimbabwe‘s health sector should use supply chain collaboration strategies to increase their resilience. These strategies should be in place so that when the supply chain is distorted by risks such as global pandemic like the recent Covid – 19 pandemics, firms within Zimbabwe‘s health sector will be able to withstand these distortions. In order to ensure that they can handle supply disruptions and crises brought on by pandemics, the report also suggests that public health institutions strengthen the flexibility of their supply chains through flexible supply bases, flexible transportation, and flexible processes.