Success factors and performance outcomes of healthcare industrial vending systems: An empirical analysis

A healthcare industrial vending system (IVS) represents a specific form of Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI) solution that links healthcare supply network participants to each other. These networked systems are used by healthcare organizations to optimize the availability of items and minimize cost. This research investigates a series of success factors and performance outcomes associated with healthcare IVS, a current healthcare resource and materials management topic. A measurement instrument was developed based on earlier VMI work, and a sample of 91 users of healthcare IVS's was used to test the proposed structural model. The study results confirm, from a buyer's perspective, that the success of a healthcare IVS depends on the quality of the information generated by the system as well as the quality of the buyer-vendor relationship. Findings also indicate that the successful implementation of a healthcare IVS can result in improved inventory management, enhanced customer service levels, and reduced costs.