Nicola Yates

Purpose: Autonomous vehicle (AV) adoption has both positive and negative impacts on supply chain social sustainability (SCSS). This paper explores and evaluates the actions that organisations take to address the social impacts of adopting AVs and develops a model for SCSS in this context.Design/methodology/approach: This study implemented a Delphi study conducted over three iterative rounds to gather and evaluate the actions that organisations take to address social impacts when adopting AVs in supply chains. The panel consisted of 39 experts from industry and academia. The Delphi findings are validated and extended through 14 follow-up expert interviews.Findings: Our findings identify eight categories of actions used to address the social impacts of adopting AVs in the supply chain. These are discussed in relation to established SCSS indicator categories and an additional category, “reputation” is introduced. The categories are also aligned to the technology adoption process to understand how social sustainability implications can be mitigated as AV adoption matures.Practical implications: Practitioners benefit from prescriptive frameworks which provide actions addressing the social sustainability implications of AV adoption. These can be applied either from a social sustainability indicator or innovation adoption process perspective.Originality/value: This study builds on the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory to propose a refined innovation process model for socially sustainable adoption of AVs. This customised model aligns the new action categories with the established stages of the innovation adoption process, uniquely illustrating how to manage the social sustainability impacts of AV adoption as part of the technology adoption process. Identified social supply chain indicator categories are also aligned with the actions for an alternative perspective.

Purpose: Maintaining a safe and available supply of blood requires a mindfully coordinated supply chain (SC) and is fundamental to the effective operation of health systems across the world. This study investigates how blood supply chain (BSC) actors demonstrate collective mindfulness (CM) principles in their operations and how these demonstrations lead to improvements in blood safety and availability (BSA) in different operational contexts.Design/methodology/approach: Six case studies drawn from two contrasting BSCs, the UK and Indonesia, which differ in structure and regulation are investigated in this research. Qualitative data are collected and analysed using template analysis.Findings: The cases reveal how the CM principles are demonstrated in the supply chain context in a range of operational conditions and their impact on BSA. The BSC actors in the more centralised and tightly regulated cases display more behaviours consistent with more of the CM principles over a greater range of operational conditions compared to those in the more decentralised and loosely regulated cases. As such, more improvements in BSA are found in the former compared to the latter cases.Originality/value: This paper is considered the first to investigate the demonstration of CM principles at the SC as opposed to the single organisational level. It proposes an alternative approach to understanding and evaluating reliability performance using behavioural rather than statistical principles.

Purpose: – Are lateral transshipments an effective instrument to ensure the safe and efficient supply of blood? This paper will use the lens of institutional theory to determine how the blood supply chain can benefit from lateral transshipments and what requirements are necessary for their implementation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach: – The research design comprises two stages. First, 16 case studies clustered into two case groups were conducted with transfusion laboratories in UK hospitals resulting in the derivation of eight key themes which were tested using a follow-up survey.Findings: – The blood supply chain acts under the influence of significant institutional pressures. Coercive pressures result from regulations enforced to ensure the safe supply of blood, normative pressures are imposed by society, demanding wastage is minimized and mimetic pressure from other hospitals fosters efficient supply chain operation. Lateral transshipments offer a powerful organizational tool to allow the blood supply chain to conform to these pressures.Research limitations/implications: – This paper offers a novel institutional perspective on a complex supply chain issue where additional external pressures are seen to complicate the context. Due to the special characteristics of the blood supply chain, generalization of the findings to other industries must be done with care.Practical implications: – The paper confirms the benefits of lateral transshipments in a perishable product context. Special requirements for the blood supply chain/health care services are identified.Originality/value: – The key contributions of this paper are five propositions which offer an institutional theory perspective on the application of lateral transshipment relationships in the blood supply chain.

Purpose – Managing perishable inventories is a trade-off of shortages and lost sales against wastage. This paper aims to identify what drives good management of perishables within the supply chain using the example of blood inventory management in hospitals. Design/methodology/approach – Seven case studies with hospital transfusion laboratories in the UK blood supply chain were carried out in order to explore how perishable inventories are managed. The case studies identify drivers for good performance in perishable inventories. Findings – Six recommendations are developed for how managers can improve perishable inventory performance. These are based around simple management procedures implemented by experienced staff. The case studies develop three propositions that recommend how inventory theory should be embedded in practice. Research limitations/implications – This research demonstrates that managerial changes and training issues have a significant impact on waste reduction and inventory management performance in perishable supply chains. However, as the case studies focus on the blood supply chain, some caution needs to be applied in generalising these findings beyond the specific context studied. Practical implications – A multi-disciplinary approach, combining awareness of the importance of the dynamics of the whole supply chain with good skill and experience, leads to new thinking, which enables staff to make better inventory decisions resulting in better performance and reduced wastage. Managerial changes and training are critical for good inventory performance. Originality/value – Literature suggests that sophisticated and complex inventory models will drive performance; however, in practice a combination of basic well-grounded inventory theory with simple management procedures carried out by experienced staff leads to better performance.

During 2009/2010 loss of platelets within NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) due to time expiry was 9·3%. Hospitals remain reluctant to hold stocks of platelets due to the poor shelf life at issue. The purpose of this study was to identify areas for time compression in the apheresis platelet supply chain to extend the shelf life available for hospitals and reduce wastage in NHSBT. This was done within the context of NHSBT reconfiguring their supply chain and moving towards a consolidated and centralised approach. Time based process mapping was applied to identify value and non-value adding time in two manufacturing models. A large amount of the non-value adding time in the apheresis platelet supply chain is due to transportation and waiting for the next process in the manufacturing process to take place. Time based process mapping provides an effective ‘lens’ for supply chain professionals to identify opportunities for improvement in the platelet supply chain.