Delivery Reliability and Public Procurement - A Case Study on a Healthcare Provider

Abstract: Assuring delivery reliability is a vital part for any organisation in a supply chain, and in few cases could the consequences of a failed delivery be as dire as they would in the case of a healthcare provider. However, delivery reliability is not a well-studied subject within the context of public healthcare procurement. The aim of this thesis has been to identify the factors that affect delivery reliability with regards to the purchasing function and how these could be applied to the case organisation. The author identified five factors that affect delivery reliability with regards to purchasing. These are the purchasing process, supplier management, risk management, the power balance between the supplier and buyer and metrics. This is a multiple case-study where the author used five different procurements as cases. The data was gathered from interviews, one for each case and one interview that focused on the organisation as a whole. The cases were then compared to each other and to the established theory from a literature review, resulting in a gap analysis. From there general conclusions were drawn regarding how the case organisation could improve their work in delivery reliability with regards to purchasing. These conclusions have to do with the importance of data handling, supplier management, risk management, handling power imbalances and the purchasing process. Specifically, Region Skåne should work more with proactive expediting, evaluations, risk management, supplier management, power imbalances with their supplier, more process-oriented work in general and finally data and IT solutions. The hope is that other similar organisations can find lessons here as well.