Supply chain management
Over the last two decades, supply chain management concept that has attracted considerable attention among organizations (Aronsson, Abrahamsson & Spens 176). This concept, which encompasses different perspectives, has attracted unparalleled interest among researchers. Consequently, most firms across all sectors have been adopting supply chain management in order to improve their performance (176).
Both theoretical and empirical literature has positively indicated that supply chain management practices bring numerous benefits to organizations. However, Aronsson, Abrahamsson and Spens (176) underscore that the health care sector has lagged behind in the adoption of supply chain management practices. Against this background, the latter authors carried out a desk-top research that sought to establish the necessary requirements for supply chain development in health care, how to conduct orientation and how to embrace lean and agile supply chain management practices in health care.
Aronsson, Abrahamsson and Spens (178) explore this concept from a philosophical point of view that perceives supply chain as a strategy to modify behavior towards a certain direction. On the same note, the authors explore how the concept can be applied to design an efficient patient pathway in health care organizations. To begin with, Aronsson, Abrahamsson and Spens (181) emphasize that, although supply chain strategies are present in the health care settings, there is a significant need to improve patient processes in order to facilitate efficiency. To achieve this, the authors add that supply chain orientation should be focused on altering the current mind set from functional to process thinking (182).
Conversely, the authors accentuate that the uniqueness of health care system calls for a multidisciplinary approach towards supply chain management, which is often daunting (182). To disentangle this quagmire, the authors propose a two tier approach (patient process and product process) that should be integrated together with lean and agile processes to improve flexibility.
Strategic management
While globalization and liberalization has attracted myriad opportunities for businesses, it has also brought challenges to business operations. This recent wave is muddled in uncertainties; thus, firms have been compelled to denounce traditional managerial practices to pave way for the new strategic management theory (Harrington & Ottenbacher 439). The concept of strategic management is a deliberate plan that involves five processes namely: goal setting, analysis, strategy formation, implementation and monitoring (439). Noticeably, the concept has gained considerable attention across various sectors due to its ability to generate numerous financial, and other benefits.
However, Harrington and Ottenbacher (440) accentuate that its application in hospitality industry is frequently varied both in scope and semantics. This is due to the diversified nature of hospitality researchers, which often bring controversies. Against this background, Harrington and Ottenbacher article sought to investigate the frequency of strategic management literature in hospitality industry, establish whether their content differed from the general tenets of strategic management, and to explore how these studies contribute to the future of hospitality strategic management (441).
Harrington and Ottenbacher (442) established that strategic management was a popular area of interest among hospitality industry researchers. Moreover, this popularity seems to have escalated over the last five years, owing to the numerous publications in hospitality sector journals. Secondly, the studies were found to have adhered to the general tenets of the general field of strategic management (450). Most importantly, most of these studies had identified key areas that called for further research. For instance, Harrington and Ottenbacher (454) established that some studies classified the hospitality industry as full of uncertainties; thus, there was significant necessity for strategic management to address those uncertainties. Furthermore, further research in hospitality industry would be vital to explore how strategic management can improve competitiveness among firms
Works Cited
Aronsson, HĂĄkan, Mats Abrahamsson, & Karen Spens. “Developing lean and agile health care supply chains.” Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 16.3 (2011), 176-183. Web.
Harrington, Robert J., & Michael C. Ottenbacher. “Strategic management: An analysis of its representation and focus in recent hospitality research.” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 23.4 (2011), 439-462. Web.