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UPS survey finds global healthcare executives driving supply chain transformation to reach new markets

Investments planned in areas such as technology amid growing concerns over product protection, global regulatory environment.

Changing regulatory environments, new customer demands around the globe, challenges around product security, and increasingly complex products are driving healthcare executives to make strategic supply chain investments, according to findings from the sixth-annual UPS "Pain in the (Supply) Chain" healthcare survey, conducted by TNS.

New technology investments and go-to-market models are top of mind as healthcare executives drive business and logistics transformations to meet evolving industry needs.

Over the next five years, 84% of global healthcare executives surveyed will invest in new technologies, 78% will enter new global markets and 70% will implement new distribution channels such as going direct to providers, retailers and even end-patients. In addition, 59% will increase reliance on third-party logistics partners. Together, these strategies indicate a move toward transformation in the healthcare supply chain.

Technology investments, in particular, signal growing concerns over product protection, which includes the security of high-value shipments and product spoilage, with large jumps in the number of executives planning to invest over the next three to five years in systems that support e-pedigree/ serialization, temperature-sensitive, and product security solutions.

For the first time since the survey's inception in 2008, product security surpassed cost management as the second supply chain concern with 53% of executives citing it as a top issue. Executives face challenges in product security with the top concern being increasing counterfeit sophistication at 48%, followed by poor supply chain visibility, cited as an issue by 40%.

Despite investment plans, concerns over the global economy and healthcare business landscape continue. Globally, 50% are still feeling the impacts of the economic downturn, and 60% in the U.S. are reporting continued impacts. Executives in Asia express the most optimism on the economy with only 31% reporting they are still feeling the effects.

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