Beyond Digital Technologies: Investigating the Barriers to Supply Chain Integration of Healthcare Organizations

Supply chain integration (SCI) plays a crucial role in the success of healthcare organizations by facilitating strategic collaboration with partners and the cooperative management of intra and interorganizational processes to achieve effective and efficient flows of information, products, and services. Despite the adoption of digital technologies to support SCI, evidence suggests that healthcare organizations face challenges in integrating their supply chains. To shed light on this issue, this research aims to investigate empirically the main obstacles hindering health organizations from achieving SCI, despite having suitable technology. An exploratory multiple-case study was conducted involving the pharmaceutical supply chains of 30 Italian healthcare organizations. The study identified seven key barriers to digitally enabled SCI in the healthcare field, primarily associated with a lack of motivation, resistance to change, a noncost-effective mindset, and a lack of initiative from health authorities or dominant players in the ecosystem. Contrary to expectations, the availability of financial resources and technologies played a minor role, at least in the case studies considered. These findings offer insights for healthcare organizations seeking to overcome obstacles to achieving SCI.