Purpose – Managing perishable inventories is a trade-off of shortages and lost sales against wastage. This paper aims to identify what drives good management of perishables within the supply chain using the example of blood inventory management in hospitals. Design/methodology/approach – Seven case studies with hospital transfusion laboratories in the UK blood supply chain were carried out in order to explore how perishable inventories are managed. The case studies identify drivers for good performance in perishable inventories. Findings – Six recommendations are developed for how managers can improve perishable inventory performance. These are based around simple management procedures implemented by experienced staff. The case studies develop three propositions that recommend how inventory theory should be embedded in practice. Research limitations/implications – This research demonstrates that managerial changes and training issues have a significant impact on waste reduction and inventory management performance in perishable supply chains. However, as the case studies focus on the blood supply chain, some caution needs to be applied in generalising these findings beyond the specific context studied. Practical implications – A multi-disciplinary approach, combining awareness of the importance of the dynamics of the whole supply chain with good skill and experience, leads to new thinking, which enables staff to make better inventory decisions resulting in better performance and reduced wastage. Managerial changes and training are critical for good inventory performance. Originality/value – Literature suggests that sophisticated and complex inventory models will drive performance; however, in practice a combination of basic well-grounded inventory theory with simple management procedures carried out by experienced staff leads to better performance.

Purpose: – Are lateral transshipments an effective instrument to ensure the safe and efficient supply of blood? This paper will use the lens of institutional theory to determine how the blood supply chain can benefit from lateral transshipments and what requirements are necessary for their implementation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach: – The research design comprises two stages. First, 16 case studies clustered into two case groups were conducted with transfusion laboratories in UK hospitals resulting in the derivation of eight key themes which were tested using a follow-up survey.Findings: – The blood supply chain acts under the influence of significant institutional pressures. Coercive pressures result from regulations enforced to ensure the safe supply of blood, normative pressures are imposed by society, demanding wastage is minimized and mimetic pressure from other hospitals fosters efficient supply chain operation. Lateral transshipments offer a powerful organizational tool to allow the blood supply chain to conform to these pressures.Research limitations/implications: – This paper offers a novel institutional perspective on a complex supply chain issue where additional external pressures are seen to complicate the context. Due to the special characteristics of the blood supply chain, generalization of the findings to other industries must be done with care.Practical implications: – The paper confirms the benefits of lateral transshipments in a perishable product context. Special requirements for the blood supply chain/health care services are identified.Originality/value: – The key contributions of this paper are five propositions which offer an institutional theory perspective on the application of lateral transshipment relationships in the blood supply chain.

Despite the scale of blood usage worldwide, blood remains a scarce and precious resource. As with any perishable product, careful management of inventories to minimize wastage is crucial. However, due to the nature of the supply of blood, wastage is not only an economic issue as every unit wasted, squanders the time and effort of the human donor. Blood inventory management is therefore a trade-off, ensuring 100% availability of all blood products at all times whilst minimizing wastage. Hospitals are at the front line of blood use and are the location where much blood is wasted. Inventory management practices in hospital transfusion laboratories are critical. Much of the extant literature in this area posits that good management of hospital blood inventories is due to sophisticated inventory models and algorithms. However, recent research has found that good management practices are much more important. The drivers for low wastage and good inventory management practice can be described using six key themes. Blood supply chain management is much more than managing wastage in hospitals. Proper management of the supply chain as a whole can lead to significant reductions in blood wastage. Recent research has found that methods commonly used in commercial supply chain management can lead to efficiencies in the blood supply chain context. An example of this is stock sharing or lateral transhipment of blood units close to expiry between hospitals, reducing wastage across the supply chain.