With the rapid development of digital technologies, many supply chain professionals are wondering how to move forward. Three technologies are poised to change supply chain business processes: robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and blockchain. Based on interviews with supply chain professionals in 14 large, mature manufacturing and service organizations, we outline the promise of each process and forecast their broad-scale adoption potential. Organizations should take the following measures to ensure their readiness to adopt and effectively use one or more of these technologies: (1) identify a supply chain technology visionary who can lead through the maze of technologies and the changing digital landscape, (2) develop a digital technology roadmap for their supply chain processes, and (3) update foundational information systems.

One of the most important goals in healthcare today is reducing costs while maintaining high-quality care. This article focuses on a triadic relationship that is responsible for a significant amount of nonlabor spending in hospitals: physician preference items. The triadic relationship among salespeople, physicians, and hospitals' supply managers has a direct influence on costs. Regarding some key purchases, the physician-salesperson relationship is closer than the physician-supply manager relationship-even though the latter two entities work for and within the same company and strive for the same mission. This reality creates a type of conflict that is perplexing to solve and costly to ignore. To better understand the sources of friction and opportunities for collaboration in this triad, personnel across hospitals, suppliers, and healthcare consortiums were interviewed. Herein, we introduce strategies to help resolve the conflict. It is essential that hospital supply managers continually negotiate for best solutions that consider both long-run costs and quality of patient care. Yet, salesperson motivations and close salesperson-physician relationships place barriers that prevent negotiations more common to other areas of spending. The strategies offered in this article highlight ways to mute negative and amplify positive effects of the physician-salesperson relationship.

Reverse e-auctions, which enable suppliers to compete online in real time, are changing the way organizations select their suppliers. Explores how five large firms in different industries learned to use e-auctions and how e-auctions were integrated into their purchasing processes. To implement e-auctions successfully, organizations should: build e-auction competencies; organize for knowledge management; create a holistic sourcing process; focus on the total cost of ownership; and experiment with e-auction designs. Draws key observations from the case studies and presents implications for supply managers.