Case 1: Patient safety and the pharmaceutical supply chain (page 338) http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/prote…
This case can be divided into two different discussions. You may focus on both or pick only one to discuss.
1) Discuss the importance of quality-products from the pharmaceutical industries. Focus on Procurement, transportation, logistics, etc. to ensure a good quality product for customer (in our case, customer is patient). The quality is especially important when people’s safety or lives are at risk. Currently, in order to reduce costs, many pharmaceutical industries have outsourced (mostly to China) the making of important medical equipment(s). Some of these equipment(s) are nor reliable or safe for usage. You can discuss how this can be done appropriately to reduce risks. Chapter 3 shows some outsourcing and offshoring issues, which you can use.
2) Discuss the leakage of proprietary patient information (because the information is available online). You need to focus on technology and security problems that accompany technology. Decide what information should be outsourced/offshored and how it should be done to increase security. Currently, in order to reduce costs, much patient information is outsourced/offshored (mostly to India) for diagnostics, charting, performance, etc. Chapter 11 introduces the use of technology. Use this chapter to find the way to implement the appropriate technology (if any) to ensure patient safety.
Case 2: Why supply chains should be involved in product design (page 354)
For this case, you should focus on “what can go wrong if the company doesn’t involve the right people during the design stage?”. One example would be: if the supplier doesn’t become involved in the company’s new product design, it might not be able to provide the parts needed for the new product. This could prolong the implementation or stop the process.
