Purpose: Service industry is a massive sector accounting for about two-thirds of GDP of developed economies and is the field of an intensive competition between service companies and their supply chains. As a result, service supply chain management has become a subject of growing interest to researchers and business analysts. Healthcare industry is among the largest service industries with the highest potential for improvement in sustainability performance. The purpose of this study was to identify the concepts influencing the sustainability of hospital supply chain and provide a causal model for sustainable supply chain of hospital service.Design/methodology/approach: In this study, concepts that influence the sustainability of a hospital service supply chain were identified by in-depth interviewing of 18 experts in hospitals of Kerman, Iran. Delphi method was used to reorganize the initial concepts into 15 concepts. Finally, the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Cognitive Map (IFCM) method was used to develop the causal model of sustainable supply chain management for hospital service.Findings: Delphi method was used to reorganize 68 initial concepts into 15 concepts Contains: demand management, resource and capacity management, customer relationship management, supplier relationship management, service management, information management, financial performance management, Attention to the environment, contamination, energy consumption, legal requirements, employees, community and stakeholders, social accountability and business ethics. The results indicate that service delivery management is highly central among other concepts.Originality/value: with focusing on concepts such as service management, and capacity and resources management, The sustainability of the hospital supply chain can be improved.

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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate systematic application of grounded theory to understand strategic agility in knowledge-based companies (KBCs) in Iran and to explain relationships between them.Methodology: This study uses mixed methods research to explore the determinants of strategic agility in KBCs. This study uses mixed methods approach. Qualitative analysis using “Paradigm model” of grounded theory for data analysis. In Quantitative stage, Structural equation modeling with partial least square is used.Findings: The results of the first phase of the study revealed that causal conditions affecting strategic agility were organizational and environmental factors. As well, intervening conditions included Facilitating and Deterring role of intrinsic attributes of companies; and contextual conditions encompassed Limiting and Encouraging factors. Moreover, strategies and practices were comprised of Extra-organizational and Intra-organizational practices and consequences of strategic agility were consequences at macro and organizational level. The results of the quantitative study, as the second phase, correspondingly confirmed factors identified at the qualitative phase and demonstrated that the casual conditions explain 58.2% of the variance in strategic agility, the three independent constructs explain 72.9% of the variance in strategies, and the strategies explains 59.1% of the variance of consequences.Research limitations: This study was developed on the basis of opinions of a limited number of individuals which could reduce theoretical generalizability of the results. Another limitation is that the research data are limited to KBCs in Iran.Value: The results of this study would theoretically complement the body of knowledge about KBCs which can be cited in future research. Furthermore, the mixed methods approach offers a better insight in understanding strategic agility in KBCs vs the use of either a qualitative or quantitative method alone.

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There are many overlaps between sustainability concepts so they are sometimes used interchangeably. This study was aimed to provide a deep analysis of the sustainability concepts in the circular supply chain (CSC) field and to identify research gaps and paths for future research. We conducted a search using keywords including “sustainability” combined with at least one of the keywords sustainable supply chain, green supply chain, circular supply chain, and closed-loop supply chain in the Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and Emerald as well as the Web of Science. Mind Map Software was used to identify the gaps in the use of the CSC. The comparative investigation of the different concepts of sustainability showed that the CSC encompasses all concepts of sustainability and has a comprehensive concept that goes beyond all concepts of sustainability.

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Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficiency of the Iranian Red Crescent Society in managing their non-monetary resources involved in COVID-19 response. Methods: For this purpose, the data envelopment analysis approach was used to measure the efficiency, considering the number of personnel and vehicles and screened passengers as the input and output parameters, respectively. It was examined the efficiency of 10 IRCS's branches given 17 days of screening operation. For the analysis,the DEA SolverPro software 15a version was used. Results: The results show that only one branch had been full efficient in using the resources while five branches showed less than 50% efficiency. This study reveals that it is unnecessary to use a fixed number of volunteers at different stations with different passenger numbers. Conclusions: Using resources without efficient planning can lead to direct costs such as food, transportation, and maintenance, as well as indirect costs such as burnout, fatigue, and stress when responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This analysis should support IRCS’s managers to move their valuable resources from inefficient to efficient centers to increase the screening rate and reduce the fatigue of aid workers for the next pandemic rounds.