ABSTRACT
Covid‐19 has changed consumer behaviour, probably forever. Initial consumer stockpiling led to stockouts, threat and uncertainty for consumers. To overcome shortages, consumers expanded their use of channels and many consumers started buying online for the first time. In this paper, we aim to address important research gaps related to consumer behaviour during the pandemic and especially stockpiling. Our paper starts by presenting the findings of our pre‐study, which used social media to elicit or confirm potential constructs for our quantitative models. These constructs complemented the protection motivations theory to explain stockpiling behaviour, forming the basis for study 1, the stockpiling preparation stage and study 2, the effects of the Covid‐19 pandemic disruptor on customer service logistics and lockdown shopping channel preferences. For studies 1 and 2 we gathered data via a UK online panel‐structured questionnaire survey (n = 603). Results confirm that consumer‐driven changes to supply chains emanate largely from consumer uncertainty. Lockdown restrictions led to consumers feeling socially excluded, but enhanced consumers' positive attitudes towards shopping online and increased consumers' altruism. In response, consumers stockpiled by visiting physical stores and/or ordering online. Lockdown restrictions led to feelings of social exclusion but, importantly, stockpiling helped to minimize consumer anxiety and fear and even increase wellbeing.
ABSTRACT
Research on Blockchain implementation in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chains (PSC) is lacking despite its strong potential to overcome conventional supply chain challenges. Thus, this study aims to provide critical insight into the nexus between Blockchain and PSC and further build a conceptual framework for implementation within the pharmaceutical industry. Following a systematic literature review and text mining approach, 65 interdisciplinary articles published between 2010 and 2021 were studied to capture the decade long developments. Descriptive and thematic analysis showcases nascent developments of Blockchain in PSC. The drivers and barriers to adoption, implementation stages, and applications identified through the thematic analysis guide in setting the agenda for future research, primarily focussing on the use of Blockchain for drug counterfeiting, recall issues, along with other sector-specific challenges such as patient privacy, regulations and clinical trials. Research on Blockchain for PSC has been slow compared to other sectors, but has accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic. Identified influential factors, implementation process and apparent applications are expected to influence researchers and practitioners in developing a roadmap for adopting Blockchain in the pharmaceutical industry. The proposed conceptual framework is novel and provides valuable directions to producers, regulators and governments to implement Blockchain in the pharmaceutical industry.
ABSTRACT
Pharmaceutical SC faces a great challenge due to COVID 19 restrictions and its impact on two of the largest manufacturers of pharmaceutical ingredients: Because of these restrictions, the non-delivery of pharma products to purchasing countries caused a shortfall and disturbance in pharmaceuticals SC. [...]logistics activities have ceased, cycle times have increased and the risk of product obsolescence has increased. [...]Taiwan used a health database and integrated it with the customs databases to begin creating big data for analysis and based on travel history and symptoms from clinical trials, real-time alerts were created regarding medical visits to help identify cases (Wang et al., 2020). [...]in the event of a pandemic like COVID-19, the resilience of the pharmaceutical and FSC is of paramount concern. [...]managing these operations is a top priority and addressing these issues requires proper design and management of SC stages such as planning, delivery, manufacturing and distribution.