Crisis Preparedness of Healthcare Manufacturing Firms during the COVID-19 Outbreak: Digitalization and Servitization

Identifying resilience strategies for disruption management in the healthcare supply chain during COVID-19 by digital innovations: A systematic literature review

The worldwide spread of the COVID-19 disease has had a catastrophic effect on healthcare supply chains. The current manuscript systematically analyzes existing studies mitigating strategies for disruption management in the healthcare supply chain during COVID-19. Using a systematic approach, we recognized 35 related papers. Artificial intelligence (AI), block chain, big data analytics, and simulation are the most important technologies employed in supply chain management in healthcare. The findings reveal that the published research has concentrated mainly on generating resilience plans for the management of COVID-19 impacts. Furthermore, the vulnerability of healthcare supply chains and the necessity of establishing better resilience methods are emphasized in most of the research. However, the practical application of these emerging tools for managing disturbance and warranting resilience in the supply chain has been examined only rarely. This article provides directions for additional research, which can guide researchers to develop and conduct impressive studies related to the healthcare supply chain for different disasters.

Digital Transformation in Healthcare: Technology Acceptance and Its Applications

Technological innovation has become an integral aspect of our daily life, such as wearable and information technology, virtual reality and the Internet of Things which have contributed to transforming healthcare business and operations. Patients will now have a broader range and more mindful healthcare choices and experience a new era of healthcare with a patient-centric culture. Digital transformation determines personal and institutional health care. This paper aims to analyse the changes taking place in the field of healthcare due to digital transformation. For this purpose, a systematic bibliographic review is performed, utilising Scopus, Science Direct and PubMed databases from 2008 to 2021. Our methodology is based on the approach by Wester and Watson, which classify the related articles based on a concept-centric method and an ad hoc classification system which identify the categories used to describe areas of literature. The search was made during August 2022 and identified 5847 papers, of which 321 fulfilled the inclusion criteria for further process. Finally, by removing and adding additional studies, we ended with 287 articles grouped into five themes: information technology in health, the educational impact of e-health, the acceptance of e-health, telemedicine and security issues.

Collaborative approaches in sustainable and resilient manufacturing

In recent years, the manufacturing sector is going through a major transformation, as reflected in the concept of Industry 4.0 and digital transformation. The urge for such transformation is intensified when we consider the growing societal demands for sustainability. The notion of sustainable manufacturing has emerged as a result of this trend. Additionally, industries and the whole society face the challenges of an increasing number of disruptive events, either natural or human-caused, that can severely affect the normal operation of systems. Furthermore, the growing interconnectivity between organizations, people, and physical systems, supported by recent developments in information and communication technologies, highlights the important role that collaborative networks can play in the digital transformation processes. As such, this article analyses potential synergies between the areas of sustainable and resilient manufacturing and collaborative networks. The work also discusses how the responsibility for the various facets of sustainability can be distributed among the multiple entities involved in manufacturing. The study is based on a literature survey, complemented with the experience gained from various research projects and related initiatives in the area, and is organized according to various dimensions of Industry 4.0. A brief review of proposed approaches and indicators for measuring sustainability from the networked manufacturing perspective is also included. Finally, a set of key research challenges are identified to complement strategic research agendas in manufacturing.

Association of individual resilience with organizational resilience, perceived social support, and job performance among healthcare professionals in township health centers of China during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

Primary healthcare professionals were overworked and psychologically overwhelmed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Resilience is an important shield for individuals to cope with psychological stress and improve performance in crises. This study aims to explore the association of individual resilience with organizational resilience, perceived social support and job performance among healthcare professionals in township health centers of China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Data from 1,266 questionnaires were collected through a cross-sectional survey conducted in December 2021 in Shandong Province, China. Descriptive analysis of individual resilience, organizational resilience, perceived social support, and job performance was conducted. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the correlations among these variables, and structural equation modeling was performed to verify the relationships between these variables.

RESULTS

The score of individual resilience was 101.67 ± 14.29, ranging from 24 to 120. Organizational resilience (β = 0.409, p < 0.01) and perceived social support (β = 0.410, p < 0.01) had significant direct effects on individual resilience. Individual resilience (β = 0.709, p < 0.01) had a significant direct effect on job performance. Organizational resilience (β = 0.290, p < 0.01) and perceived social support (β = 0.291, p < 0.01) had significant indirect effects on job performance.

CONCLUSION

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the individual resilience of healthcare professionals in township health centers was at a moderate level. Organizational resilience and perceived social support positively affected individual resilience, and individual resilience positively affected job performance. Furthermore, individual resilience mediated the effect of organizational resilience and perceived social support on job performance. It is recommended that multiple stakeholders work together to improve the individual resilience of primary healthcare professionals.

Analysis of factors impacting firm performance of MSMEs: lessons learnt from COVID-19

Purpose

The micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) faced various challenges in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, making it challenging to remain competitive and survive in the market. This research develops a model for MSMEs to cope with the current pandemic's operational and supply chain disruptions and similar circumstances.

Design/methodology/approach

The exhaustive literature review helped in identifying the constructs, their items and five hypotheses are developed. The responses were collected from the experts working in MSMEs. Total 311 valid responses were received, and the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used for testing and validating the proposed model.

Findings

Critical constructs identified for the study are-flexibility (FLE), collaboration (COL), risk management culture (RMC) and digitalization (DIG). The statistical analysis indicated that the four latent variables, flexibility, digitalization, risk management culture and collaboration, contribute significantly to the firm performance of MSMEs. Organizational resilience (ORS) mediates the effects of all the four latent variables on firm performance (FP) of MSMEs.

Practical implications

The current study's findings will be fruitful for the manufacturing MSMEs and other firms in developing countries. It will enable them to identify the practices that significantly help in achieving the firm performance.

Originality/value

The previous researches have not considered the effect of “organizational resilience” on the “firm performance” of MSMEs. This study attempts to fill this gap.