INVESTIGATING THE CHALLENGES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Technology has played a leading role in advancing industries by promoting growth and business operations in recent years. The incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in emerging technologies has created radical demands for industry players to keep up with costly changes in technology. Furthermore, these changes can be challenging to incorporate and afford as it requires the development of adequate infrastructure. This paper aims to investigate information technology (IT) challenges in supply chain management (SCM). The challenges described in the article were acquired from theoretical problems studied within the pharmaceutical industry, which were based on desktop research and critical analysis of available literature. The secondary data sources used for this paper included relevant literature found from journals, conference papers, books, private and public reports, and online sources. The findings from this paper showcased that the lack of public expenditure to allocate efficient resources and the lack of skilled labor contribute to significant challenges affecting public hospitals. This paper will be advantageous to academics, pharmaceutical communities, government officials, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders by understanding the challenges of implementing technology within the supply chain and why it is necessary to find suitable solutions to allow sustainable growth within the South African pharmaceutical industry.