The Impact of IoT on the Performance of Vaccine Supply Chain Distribution in the COVID-19 Context

Abstract

The Government of India has started the distribution of the Covishield and Covaxin vaccines across all the comprising states. In developing states like Bihar, the vaccine supply chain (VSC) is likely to face many challenges due to poor health infrastructure, multidimensional poverty, and poor literacy. Supply chain practitioners are experimenting with available technologies to deal with supply, demand, and behavioral challenges. The present research work seeks to inspect the potential impact of Internet of Things (IoT) on the performance of the VSC. This study draws literature on the impact of IoT on product management, demand management, supply management, social behavior, and government rules and regulations to develop and test the conceptual model in Bihar. Consequently, the study administrated a survey and used structural equation modeling to investigate the proposed hypothesis. The analysis illustrates the positive influence of IoT adoption on the performance of the VSC in distributing the COVID vaccine. The finding also shows the positive relationship between product, supply, demand, and social behavior in IoT adoption. Analysis displays that Indian politicians can substantially impact vaccine distribution because they have influence and awareness of their local districts. This research work has a significant theoretical and managerial contribution for government and practitioners, supporting regulatory officials and policymakers in improving vaccine distribution.

From Cultural Tourism to Social Entrepreneurship: Role of Social Value Creation for Environmental Sustainability

“…A study shows that diverse teams and leadership are more likely to develop environmental strategies that contribute to sustainable mechanisms (Figueroa-Domecq et al, 2020). This study also found that women were more likely to focus on environmental sustainability when leading tourism enterprises (Anser et al, 2020b;Latif et al, 2020;Kumar et al, 2022;Yang et al, 2022;Zaman et al, 2022). However, men had shown their interest in being part of economic sustainability (Pitafi et al, 2018(Pitafi et al, , 2019(Pitafi et al, , 2020Anser et al, 2020b;Latif et al, 2020;Rashid et al, 2020).…”

Assessing technological impact on vaccine supply chain performance

“…Vaccines are central to any immunization program, and coordinating its flow from manufacturing centers to the beneficiaries is achieved worldwide through a complex supply chain that includes cold storage and transportation (Li et al, 2022). Managing vaccine demand, distribution, wastage and stock information is crucial to the internal process performance of any vaccine supply chain (VSC) (Chandra and Kumar, 2021;Kumar et al, 2022;Li et al, 2022). However, several underdeveloped and developing countries cannot attain the standards set by WHO and UNICEF for storing, handling, distribution, and stock management of vaccines (WHO, 2018).…”

“…(Finkenstadt and Handfield, 2021). Integrating modern technology infrastructure and training the concerned officials for effective adaptation, internal assessment and service innovation can resolve these issues (Gurnani et al, 2020;Kumar et al, 2022;Yan, 2017). It is vital to assess the impact of these technological interventions using relevant VSC performance indicators (PIs) to justify the efforts and investments made while implementing them and simultaneously identify the PIs which show relatively minor improvement for a given region.…”

“…IMDS 122,8 1938 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0263-5577.htm Several studies have reported technology-based interventions and their benefit in VSC management in developing nations. Kumar et al (2022) explored the Internet of Things (IoT) application in vaccine distribution during COVID-19 in an Indian state. An indigenous eVIN technology was developed and implemented in multiple Indian states for efficient vaccine stock management and estimating the return on investment based on reduced costs associated with vaccine wastage (Gurnani et al, 2022).…”

“…, 2022). Managing vaccine demand, distribution, wastage and stock information is crucial to the internal process performance of any vaccine supply chain (VSC) (Chandra and Kumar, 2021; Kumar et al. , 2022; Li et al.…”