Opportunities and challenges of drones and internet of drones in healthcare supply chains under disruption

Abstract

This study investigates the use of drones and the Internet of Drones (IoDs) in healthcare supply chains (HSCs), highlighting the opportunities and challenges of integrating them to respond to HSCs disruptions, an area that is currently under-examined in supply chain literature. A mixed methods approach is employed in this research. The article establishes important contributions. Firstly, it evaluates and integrates current research to provide new insights for dealing with pandemics and other similar emergencies. Secondly, the article framework reveals relevant political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal influencing factors to respond to disruptions. Thirdly, the analysis through the SCOR provided a hierarchical process model for HSCs enabled by drones and IoDs. Fourthly, the paper provides a framework for a shift from people-dependent HSCs to technology-dependent HSCs. Promising future research directions are indicated to advance the supply chain research on this topic.