Background and Theoretical Foundations: During natural and man-made crises and hazards, global pharmaceutical supply chains have experienced fluctuations in demand, production capacity issues, and distribution problems. The prevention and management of these challenges are crucial for maintaining public health, as the scarcity of essential medicines, vaccines, and blood products can pose severe health risks and hinder medical care. The present research aimed to develop a model of pharmaceutical cold logistics management during and facing maritime crises. Following a practical objective, this study is exploratory-descriptive in nature and benefits from a mixed methods design.
Methodology: The statistical population of the research includes academic and military experts in the field of Supply Chain Management and Maritime Crisis Management. They involve 20 in the qualitative phase using purposive sampling and 120 constitute samples in the quantitative phase using convenience sampling. The qualitative phase was run through conducting semi-structured interviews, and a questionnaire was administered in the quantitative part. Data were qualitatively analyzed through thematic analysis, and a partial least squares (PLS) structural equation was run to quantitatively analyze the questionnaire.
Findings and conclusion: Results showed that the drug cold logistics management during the crisis includes the main themes of the application of emerging technologies, information and communication management, pharmaceutical supply and distribution management, quality and trust management, and pharmaceutical supply chain audit. Based on the quantitative findings, the structural model of the research was approved, possessing sufficient validity according to the quality indices. Finally, the results of ranking the dimensions of the research based on the Friedman test showed that the application of emerging technologies in the management of maritime crises had the highest importance, and the pharmaceutical supply chain audit was found to be the lowest priority in the management of maritime crises.
