Building resilient supply chains through flexibility: a case study in healthcare

Abstract

This research seeks to understand how the capability of flexibility manifests itself for the formation of resilience in service supply chains. The survey was conducted through a single case study of a hospital chain that was impacted by the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. This analyzed chain was formed by the hospital, doctors, nurses, the Ministry of Health, State Secretary of Health of São Paulo and the pharmaceutical industry. As a result, the following categories of flexibility manifestation were identified: redesign, alteration/creation, prioritization, redundancy/availability/robustness and elimination.