Abstract
The blood supply chain is under pressure from COVID-19. How should the 3rd largest blood bank in the US, OneBlood, respond? Is adopting an agile supply chain philosophy an effective approach? The case provides an overview of the agile approach to management and its impacts on supply chains. It details the need for IT, operational, and managerial competence to enable a successful agile approach. The specifics of the blood industry and OneBlood provide the context for examining when and how agile can be effective. The case challenges the students use the specifics of the blood industry in general and OneBlood in particular to write a memo from the CFO to the rest of the executive team advocating for the adoption of the agile approach to managing the company’s blood supply chain. An epilogue, HKS Case 2233.1, accompanies the case.
Learning Objective
The teaching goals for this case include:
- Understanding the value of agile supply chain management and the preconditions to tapping the value.
- Seeing the application of agile to an industry and company.
- Articulating how to make the case for adopting the agile approach for managing supply chains.
