Understanding the UK hospital supply chain in an era of patient choice

Author Posting © Westburn Publishers Ltd, 2011. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copy-edit version of an article which has been published in its definitive form in the Journal of Marketing Management, and has been posted by permission of Westburn Publishers Ltd for personal use, not for redistribution. The article was published in Journal of Marketing Management, 27(3-4), 401 - 423, doi:10.1080/0267257X.2011.547084 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2011.547084The purpose of this paper is to investigate the UK hospital supply chain in light of recent government policy reform where patients will have, inter alia, greater choice of hospital for elective surgery. Subsequently, the hospital system should become far more competitive with supply chains having to react to these changes as patient demand becomes less predictable. Using a qualitative case study methodology, hospital managers are interviewed on a range of issues. Views on the development of the hospital supply chain in different phases are derived, and are used to develop a map of the current hospital chain. The findings show hospital managers anticipating some significant changes to the hospital supply chain and its workings as Patient Choice expands. The research also maps the various aspects of the hospital supply chain as it moves through different operational phases and highlights underlying challenges and complexities. The hospital supply chain, as discussed and mapped in this research, is original work given there are no examples in the literature that provide holistic representations of hospital activity. At the end, specific recommendations are provided that will be of interest to service to managers, researchers, and policymakers

Stakeholder perceptions of the importance and effects of sustainability education

This chapter discusses the role that universities are expected to play in addressing sustainability-related issues, noting a lack of agreement on definitions for key terms and on the most effective way to include relevant content within the curriculum. These debates need to be seen within the context of calls to ensure that graduates are ‘work ready’. The way that sustainability issues are addressed in curriculum, and the impact on subsequent attitudes, beliefs and behaviours has been the subject of considerable debate in both academic and industry outlets. We discuss a multi-phase study by an Australian regional university that has made significant investment in integrating sustainability into all subjects within undergraduate business degrees. This investment was informed both by the academic debate on sustainability issues and by discussions with potential employers. We review the curriculum changes and examine key stakeholders’ views regarding the importance of both sustainability specifically and overall work readiness of graduates. The chapter concludes with a discussion of strategies for ongoing fine-tuning of business curricula and for ongoing engagement with current and prospective employers regarding sustainability-related issues within the wider context of equipping graduates with the skills and abilities valued by prospective employers in a rapidly changing workplace