Value co-creation in health care logistics services

Thesis event information

Date and time of the thesis defence

Place of the thesis defence

Online: https://oulu.zoom.us/j/62895698593

Topic of the dissertation

Value co-creation in health care logistics services

Doctoral candidate

Master of Science (Economics and Business Administration) Timo Pohjosenperä

Faculty and unit

University of Oulu Graduate School, Oulu Business School, Department of Marketing, Management and International Business

Subject of study

Economics and Business Administration

Opponent

Professor Jan de Vries, University of Groningen

Custos

Professor Jari Juga, University of Oulu

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The value of health care logistics services becomes visible in error situations

Understanding customer needs and value creation is essential in any services. When it comes to health care logistics, a lot can be learnt from the industrial and retail settings, but some unique features must be taken into account.

Nursing staff typically use the care items and therefore they have the main role in both perceiving and creating the value of health care logistics services. If the needed materials are easily accessible, the nurses have an opportunity to concentrate more on patient care. Shortages and errors in material deliveries help to recognise the possible risks and inefficiencies in service processes but they also cause uncertainty and stress for the nurses.

Developing the logistics services calls for value co-creation between the nursing staff and the logistics personnel. Ideally, they would develop into a dialogical process where both parties understand each other’s work and develop the task allocation. As a result a warehouse employee can for instance do the logistics tasks in one hour that previously took three hours by the nurses. Thus, developing health care logistics services can be justified from the economic perspective as well.

Value co-creation can be increased through modularity. In health care logistics this means for example standardising the storage layouts, decoupling of patient processes from logistics processes and developing the support services towards specialised professional organisations.

Also location matters. The care items must be easily accessible for the nurses. However, parts of the logistics process can be moved to more distant locations. This helps in arranging sufficient warehouse facilities and organising the logistics services into larger geographical entities. The services should be designed carefully in interaction between the actors. Therefore as the distance between logistics facilities and points of use gets longer the importance of value co-creation between the actors increases in order to secure trustworthy deliveries for the end users.
Last updated: 1.3.2023