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The purpose of the paper is to report on a study that investigated the critical success factors (CSFs) in the supply chain management of essential medicines in the public health-care delivery system in Malawi.

The exploratory and descriptive study followed a qualitative and quantitative research approach. Data were collected by means of semistructured interviews and a questionnaire administered to suppliers of essential medicines, regulators, donors and logistics companies in Malawi. Data was analyzed using SPSS.

The findings revealed that the significant CSFs are knowledge of disease patterns and prevalence, skills and experience of personnel, adequate financial resources, collaboration with supply chain partners and an efficient procurement and distribution system.

There were a number of limitations in this study. Although every effort was made to carefully and purposefully select the participants for the in-depth interviews in the first phase of the study and the respondents for the questionnaire in the second phase of the study, they were not randomly selected. As such, the findings cannot be generalised to all stakeholders in the pharmaceutical supply chain in Malawi. However, they can be used as a basis for further research on the topic.

No previous studies that deal with the identification of CSFs in the Malawi pharmaceutical supply chain were found. Therefore, this research makes a twofold contribution to the body of knowledge in the field. First, it identifies CSFs; second, it could assist stakeholders in the public health-care service delivery system in Malawi with regard to how they can improve the supply of essential medicines.

This study aims to document students’ supply chain solutions developed through the internship hackathon program. The study profiled innovative solutions developed by university students in Kenya to solve health supply chain logistics challenges during and beyond COVID-19. This is done by exploring students’ experience in developing sustainable logistics and supply chain management capacity-building programs in a low-middle-income country (LMIC).

This study used a qualitative approach to explore the experiences and perceptions of students and mentors who participated in a hackathon program. The study followed a cross-sectional descriptive survey design, collecting data from the participants through online questionnaires. The data were analyzed and presented using thematic analysis and narrative techniques.

Findings provide preliminary evidence for narrowing the gap between theory and practice through a hackathon internship blended with a mentorship program. Assessment of this program provides evidence for developing solutions toward ensuring the availability of essential medicine in LMICs during a pandemic such as COVID-19 by students. The profiled solutions demonstrate a broader perspective of innovative solutions of university students, mentors and potential opportunities for a triple helix approach to innovation for health supply chain system strengthening.

This original study provides evidence for advancing contribution to developing innovative solutions through partnerships between investors, universities and industry practitioners interested in mentoring students in the health-care supply chain during COVID-19 in LMICs. Specifically, contingency factors that affect the implementation of innovative programs during and beyond global pandemics such as COVID-19 by students’ innovators are identified, and implications for policy action are discussed based on the praxis of sensemaking.

This study examines a novel approach that combines internship, mentorship and hackathon projects for logistics and supply chain students in LMICs. The approach aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to create innovative solutions for essential medicines during and after COVID-19. The study urges more resources for supporting such programs, as they benefit both academia and industry. The study also argues that hackathon internship programs can help the logistics and supply chain industry adapt to the post-pandemic era. The study offers insights for investors, universities and practitioners in the health-care industry.

This study shows how to develop innovative solutions for the health-care supply chain during COVID-19 in an LMIC through partnerships between investors, universities and industry practitioners who mentor students. The study identifies the contingency factors that influence the success of such programs during and beyond global pandemics such as COVID-19 and discusses the policy implications based on the sensemaking praxis of the student innovators.

The study aims to provide insights into the availability of common drugs with respect to disease load, regarding three common childhood diseases, acute respiratory infection (ARI), diarrhoea and malaria. The study flags an important issue regarding the level of expertise of the present system to address humanitarian logistics in case of emergency.

A mixed‐method approach using both qualitative and quantitative study techniques was used to collect data. Hospital level data were collected from randomly selected primary health centers and community health centers. a cohort of three community health centers and nine primary health centers were selected for the study. The data collected were both on disease load and availability of drugs during the study period (2009‐2012), using a retrospective cohort. Expert interviews were conducted of practising medical practitioners on classification of drugs into Vital, Essential and Desirable categories.

Results show that the month of September represents the highest morbidity (case loads of all three diseases taken together). Acute respiratory infection is most prevalent among the three diseases, with total case loads of 1,539 cases during the month of September (during 2009‐2012). However the Vital and Essential drugs availability for acute respiratory infection was found to be 7 per cent, 57 per cent for malaria and 98 per cent for diarrhoea. Drug supply was not only inadequate but also uneven and erratic, having weak correlation with the pattern of disease morbidity.

Cases who attended the government‐owned health centres were only considered for the study and it did not consider those who were attended by private practitioners. The study did highlight the capability of the system to manage ongoing health supplies and the extent of vulnerability it can pose in case of any humanitarian crisis but the latter remains outside the scope of the present study.

The study adds to the existing body of literature by demonstrating the gap that exists in availability of drugs against requirement, for common childhood illness. The study provides health policy makers with a useful guide to establish drugs requirement based on disease load, which holds policy implications across other low and middle income countries as well.

This paper aims to uncover the key enablers of an agile supply chain in the manufacturing sector amidst disruptions such as pandemics, trade wars and cross-border challenges. The study aims to assess the applicability of existing literature to manufacturing and identify additional industry-specific enablers contributing to the field of supply chain management.

The research methodology is comprehensively described, detailing the utilization of extent literature and semistructured interviews with mid- and top-level executives in a supply chain. The authors ensure the robustness of the data collection process and results interpretation.

The study identifies six essential dimensions of an agile supply chain: information availability, design robustness, external resource planning, quickness and speed, public policy influencing skills and cash flow management. The study provides valuable insights for industry professionals to develop agile supply chains capable of responding to disruptions in a rapidly changing world.

This study is limited by its focus on the manufacturing sector, and future research may explore the applicability of these findings to other industries. By focusing on these essential dimensions identified in the study, managers can develop strategies to improve the agility and responsiveness of their supply chains. In addition, further research may investigate how these enablers may vary in different regions or contexts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced executives to reconsider their sourcing strategies and reduce dependence on suppliers from specific geographies. To ensure business continuity, companies should assess the risk associated with their suppliers and develop a business continuity plan that includes multisourcing their strategic materials. Digital transformation will revolutionize the supply chain industry, allowing for end-to-end visibility, real time insights and seamless integration of business and processes. Companies should also focus on creating a collaborative workforce ecosystem that prioritizes worker health and well-being. Maintaining trust with stakeholders is crucial, and firms must revisit their relationship management strategies. Finally, to maintain business leadership and competitiveness during volatile periods, the product portfolio needs to be diversified and marketing and sales teams must work in tandem with product teams to position new products accordingly.

This work contributes substantially to the literature on supply chain agility (SCA) by adding several new factors. The findings result in a more efficient and cost-effective supply chain during a stable situation and high service levels in a volatile situation. A less complex methodology for understanding SCA provides factors with a more straightforward method for identifying well-springs of related drivers. First, the study contributes to reestablish the factors such as quickness, responsiveness, competency, flexibility, proactiveness, collaboration and partnership, customer focus, velocity and speed, visibility, robustness, cost-effectiveness, alertness accessibility to information and decisiveness as applicable factors for SCA. Second, the study suggests a few more factors, such as liquidity management, Vendors’ economic assessment and economic diversity, that are the study’s unique contributions in extending the enablers of SCA. Finally, public policy influencing skills, local administration connects and maintaining capable vendors are the areas that were never considered essential for SCA. These factors have emerged as a vital operational factor during the lockdown, and academicians may consider these factors in the future to assess their applicability.

This study provides new insights for decision-makers looking to enhance the resilience and agility of their supply chains. The identification of unique enablers specific to the manufacturing industry contributes to the existing body of literature on agile supply chains in the face of disruptions.

A deteriorating security situation and an increased need for defence equipment calls for new forms of collaboration between Armed Forces and the defence industry. This paper aims to investigate the ways in which the accelerating demand for increased security of supply of equipment and supplies to the Armed Forces requires adaptability in the procurement process that is governed by laws on public procurement (PP).

This paper is based on a review of current literature as well as empirical data obtained through interviews with representatives from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration and the Swedish defence industry.

Collaboration with the globalized defence industry requires new approaches, where the PP rules make procurement of a safe supply of defence equipment difficult.

The study's empirical data and findings are based on the Swedish context. In order to draw more general conclusions in a defence context, the study should be expanded to cover more nations.

The findings will enable the defence industry and the procurement authorizations to better understand the requirements of Armed Forces, and how to cooperate under applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

The paper extends the extant body of academic knowledge of the security of supply into the defence sector. It serves as a first step towards articulating a call for new approaches to collaboration in defence supply chains.

This study examines whether the law of one price (LOP) or price convergence holds during the COVID-19 pandemic for essential food items in India.

The authors use the daily retail price data of 22 essential food items from 103 Indian markets for two years (2019 as pre-COVID and 2020 as COVID period). Pesaran's (2007) second-generation panel unit-root test has been used to examine the price convergence of essential food commodities across various markets of different zones in the pre-COVID and COVID periods.

The authors find a tendency toward the convergence of prices across the spatially segregated markets for essential products. But, during the COVID period, there is a weak or no convergence of prices for essential food items. Hence, the LOP does not hold during the pandemic, indicating massive price deviations for food items across Indian markets. This has severe implications for food security as enormous price increases in some markets have been evidenced during the pandemic.

The study calls for immediate policy adoption to restore the disrupted supply chain of essential food items. Along with that, the public authority should strictly prohibit black marketing and unlawful hoarding of essential food items. In addition, farmers should be provided direct cash benefits for restoring their farming activities.

This paper is first study to examine that hypothesis of LOP in the context of COVID crisis.

This paper systematically evaluates the existing literature of innovations in freight transport, including all modes, to uncover the key research themes and methodologies employed by researchers to study innovations and their implications in this industry. It analyses the role of transport and the impact of innovations during crises, such as COVID-19.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the innovations in freight transport unravels the pre-requisites of such endeavours in achieving a resilient and sustainable transport network that effectively and efficiently operates during a crisis. The authors performed keyword co-occurrence network (KCON) analysis and research focus parallelship network (RFPN) analysis using BibExcel and Gephi to determine the major resulting research streams in freight transport.

The RFPN identified five emerging themes: transport operations, technological innovation, transport economics, transport policy and resilience and disaster management. Optimisation and simulation techniques, and more recently, artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML) approaches, have been used to model and solve freight transport problems. Automation innovations have also penetrated freight and supply chains. Information and communication technology (ICT)-based innovations have also been found to be effective in building resilient supply chains.

Given the growth of e-commerce during COVID-19 and the resulting logistics demand, along with the need for transporting food and medical emergency products, the role of automation, optimisation, monitoring systems and risk management in the transport industry has become more salient. Transport companies need to improve their operational efficiency using innovative technologies and data science for informed decision-making.

This paper advises researchers and practitioners involved in freight transport and innovation about main directions and gaps in the field through an integrated approach for evaluating research undertaken in the area. This paper also highlights the role of crisis, e.g. COVID-19, and its impacts on freight transport. Major contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) a qualitative and quantitative, systematic and effective assessment of the literature on freight transport through a network analysis of keywords supplemented by a review of the text of 148 papers; (2) unravelling major research areas; (3) identifying innovations in freight transport and their classification as technological and non-technological and (4) investigating the impact of crises and disruptions in freight transport.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the knowledge existing in the literature on supply chain resilience for identifying the supply chain practices adopted for securing resilience in given uncertain event.

A systematic literature review is conducted to identify 84 conceptual and empirical studies. The research findings are synthesized in categories of uncertain events, supply chain practices and outcomes.

A set of propositions linking the uncertain events, mechanisms and supply chain resilience improvement is developed. It was found that the sufficient conditions for resilience under unexpected disasters are substantially different from those required for resilience against disruptions caused by internal practices or complexity.

Practitioners can benefit from the knowledge of interventions and mechanisms to improve their supply chain resilience in the face of different unpredictable situations. The contribution of this paper is twofold: first, it develops an actionable theory of supply chain resilience by developing testable propositions in the context of supply chains exposed to uncertainties resulting from unexpected disruptions, complexity of supply chains and adoption of certain internal practice; second, the paper highlights the key shortcomings of existing literature and provides opportunities for further research and improvement.

Vertical lift (VL) assets are vital and expensive resources in humanitarian missions. What and where supplies are needed evolves in short time following a disaster. The purpose of this paper is to offer analysis to understand the range of capabilities of these assets.

The authors use scenario analysis to investigate the tradeoff between two key capabilities of VL, agility and speed. The authors do this by generating loads and distances randomly, based on historical data. In post hoc analysis, based on different factors, the authors investigate the impact of configuration of Expeditionary Strike Force (ESG) on providing disaster relief.

The authors find the most effective deployment of VL in a HADR mission is in supplying essentials to victims in a focused region. Delivering sustainment requirements leads to substantial shortfall for survival needs. If the configuration of the ESGs were changed for HADR, it would better-meet the demand.

Cargo capacity is modeled assuming every aircraft type was equal, in terms of mean and variance of cargo-capacity utilization. Detailed information on cargo-bay configurations was beyond the scope of our model and data. However, this means the benefit of standardizing cargo load-outs and the variability associated with randomized load-outs may be understated in the results.

The analysis presents decision-makers with projections of VL asset performance in the early stages of disaster relief, to assist in planning and contingency planning.

This research deals exclusively with the most critical but expensive capabilities for HADR: VL. The in-depth analysis illustrates the limitations and benefits of this capability.

In industry today the majority of managers appear to be aware of the importance of the purchasing function in manufacturing organisations and of the need to secure supplies of materials at the best available prices. What is not well recognised, however, especially by the senior non‐purchasing managers in the majority of manufacturing organisations, is the need to consider purchasing as a risk‐taking function and the need for supply management to be involved in strategic planning processes. Furthermore, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest an alarming ignorance of the need for senior executives in procurement operations to make strategic evaluations of their supply markets, to evaluate the risks involved in particular supply channels and to be able to relate these to their company's marketing objectives. The strategic planning requirements of purchasing are not well understood at a fundamental level and this may, in part, explain the view held widely in manufacturing organisations that purchasing is essentially an administrative function, concerned mainly with administrative procedures and tactical decisions, and need not be involved in the forward corporate strategy and planning processes of the organisation.