Supply chain management as a tool for gaining sustainable competitive advantage challenges and responses of lndian pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

The present research aims to study the impact of various supply chain management practices on the ability to gain sustainable competitive advantage and to improve the overall performance of a supply chain in Indian pharmaceutical industry. Indian pharmaceutical industry affects the lives of millions of people where any disturbance in one part of a supply chain may disrupt the working of the entire supply chain, ultimately affecting the healthcare system of the country. Therefore, perspectives of members of a pharmaceutical supply chain i.e., manufacturers and chemists formed the basis of analysis of the present study. Apart from this, the study also aims to determine the extent of supply chain mapping and to analyse whether such practices and their impacts vary across members of a supply chain or not. Since the study involves complex inter-relationships, Structural Equation Modeling has been used to analyse the hypothesized relationships. On analysing, it is observed that supply chain management is very much well capable of creating sustainable competitive advantage for Indian pharmaceutical industry along with improving the overall performance of its supply chains. However, the impact of various practices varies across groups. Along with this, the members of Indian pharmaceutical supply chain are largely unaware of their extended supply chain members. This is a cause of concern as quality checks will become difficult to maintain. Nonetheless, this study is a great stepping stone as it explores the impact of recent advances in Information Technology and Sustainability in supply chain management. newline