Lean procurement practices and tools on procurement efficiency of pharmaceuticals: the case of Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Services
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Abstract
Pharmaceutical procurement is a critical undertaking in ensuring availability of essential
medicine in the health care. In undertaking procurement, efficiency maximizing mechanisms
are deemed important to ease the process together with managing costs. Among these, lean
procurement practices and tools are notable as a means for customer value creation through
eliminating waste. This study is designed with an aim of assessing the use, influence and
implementation challenges of lean procurement practices and tools in pharmaceutical
procurement function taking the case of Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Services (EPSS).
In this research, a positivism philosophy is applied alongside a deductive approach, building in
existing lean theories, to address the research objectives. Quantitative data by using structured
survey questionnaire was collected in cross-sectional time horizon from sixty-three
procurement experts working in EPSS. The collected data was cleaned in Microsoft Excel and
analysed using SPSS. Both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis were used to present
the overall result. In the process all ethical procedures are duly abided and followed.
The finding of this study showed, E-procurement, supplier relationship management, Kaizen,
Just-in-time, total quality management, employee involvement and customer engagement are
used in EPSS. A positive significant relationship is found between the lean procurement
practices/tools and procurement efficiency as indicated by correlation coefficient (r=0.423, p<
0.001) and the simple linear regression coefficient (β=0.600, p=0.001) values obtained from
the data analysis. Moreover, the study identified challenges affecting the lean implementation
in procurement such as gaps in skills and expertise and lack of employee training about the
tools/practices among others.
As the finding demonstrated the utilization of the lean tools/practices in EPSS has brought
positive influence in procurement efficiency. Hence, their use shall be promoted and the
challenges hindering the proper implementation should be addressed systematically for
optimum efficiency gain. Furthermore, to better understand lean in the context of
pharmaceutical supply chain, future researches are recommended in the area to provide insight
and enhance knowledge.