A literature review on blood supply chain management focused on uncertainty: an inclusive approach

Abstract

In the context of Blood Supply Chain Management, blood supply chain network design is one of the most pivotal planning problems. The stages of blood supply chain management comprise of blood collection, production, inventorying and distribution. The main challenges faced by supply channels are related to shortage, out datedness, and supply chain cost which needs to be minimized. In the current scenario, supply chain network design decisions should be flexible enough to operate under complex and uncertain business environments for many years. Decision-making under uncertainty is a crucial phenomenon and a large number of relevant publications have emphasized its importance. This paper makes an attempt towards reviewing the literature in the fields of blood supply chain network design under uncertainty. This study is organized into two phases. In the first phase, a discussion is made on the types of blood products, potential issues, and stages of blood supply chain management whereas in the second phase, an exploration is made on the optimization techniques for dealing with uncertainty such as recourse-based stochastic programming, robust optimization and fuzzy mathematical programming. The scope of the study lies with capturing the unexplored dimensions related to blood supply chain management that will serve as substantial input for upcoming researchers and practitioners in the field of supply chain management.