Digital Solutions for Resilient Pharmaceutical Supply Chains: Systematic Literature Review

The pharmaceutical supply chain (PSC) plays a principal role in the healthcare sector, and its output is indispensable for saving human lives and preserving their well-being. During pandemics and natural or man-made disasters, their role magnifies, and their resilience is essential. The resilience capabilities of a supply chain enable resistance, adaptation, and recovery from occurring disturbances and uncertainties. Industry 4.0 technology presents several digital solutions which assist in the collaboration and connection between supply chain network actors leading to a resilient supply chain. This paper focuses on providing a narrative synthesis of the conducted papers to investigate the link between digital solutions and resilience strategies in order to overcome pharmaceutical supply chain challenges in face of crisis and/or unexpected events. The pharmaceutical supply chain challenges are identified and analyzed, and various resilience strategies that can be implemented via digital solutions are explored. Findings reveal the applicable resilience strategies and their corresponding digital solutions across the entire phases of the supply chain network.