SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION AND HEALTH FIRMS OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE- IMPLICATIONS FOR UNDERDEVELOPMENT COUNTRIES

Based on RBV Theory The study investigated the effect of Supply Chain integration (SCI) on medical sector Operational Performance (OP). the data were collected from 307 managers out of 330 managers, by questionnaire, which adopted from previous studies and refined through experts’ interviews and the panel of judge. Statistical techniques such as descriptive statistics, correlation, and SEM were employed. The results of the study indicated a positive significant relationship between SCI and medical sector OP. The results also indicated that the managers in Medical Sector were almost similar in their preference of the customer integration and internal integration indicators. Furthermore, empirical results indicated that the interactions between the two components of SCI effect strongly on and OP. Results indicated that the internal integration was having the highest effect on OP, followed by customer. The study shows Theoretical and Practical implications. Theoretically the SCI require higher level of internal integration. Thus, for an institution to support the participation of partners it must create a suitable internal integration. Practically the full collaboration of participation and they integrate the firm internally and externally that should lead to high performance. Moreover, the study provided a suggestion for future research.