Supplier Relationship Management in Health Care Practice - A Case Study

Structural changes and increasing market dynamics in the health care sector intensify the hospitals' need for cost-savings and process optimization. One source to generate not only short-term savings but also sustainable benefits is the active and sophisticated management of the relationship with different suppliers, also known as supplier relationship management (SRM). As in the health care sector material cost continuously augment, it is crucial to understand the basic concepts of SRM in general, but also to recognize the potentials for health service providers in particular. For this purpose a case study is presented which reproduces the impact of the implementation of different SRM concepts and tools in a leading Swiss hospital. A major finding of the case study is that not only benefits for the hospital's purchasing department are generated but also for the nursing service. As SRM is still quite unknown in health care practice, future research needs to be dedicated to deliver capable models and methods for the integration of both managerial and technical aspects of the management of supplier relationships.