An Evaluation of Big Data Analytics (BDA) of the Supply Chain Management (SCM) within private Health sector organizations: case study of Private hospitals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

The supply chain plays a critical role in any sector as it's the core link between the organisation and the supply of resources. It impacts the profitability and reaches of services to consumers. It calls for actions to improve the supply chain by improving the performance and dependence of the supply through the adoption of technology; big data analytics. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's private healthcare can benefit from adopting the technology. The study sought to critically explore previous literature on Big Data Analytics, Supply chain management, and the private healthcare sector and develop recommendations for the KSA case study. The literature review analyzed the available data on SCM, big data analytics, and the private healthcare sector. The behaviours and policies that are needed for the proper adoption of technology were identified and showed the gaps that the technology can solve the adoption of technology issue. Th findings of the study found that some of the factors affecting the adoption of BDA include a shortage of professionals qualified to operate big data analytics in the supply chain, lack of transparency and accountability contributing to environmental barriers and legal constraints, resulting in delays in receiving approvals and permits from laws and regulatory agencies. The opportunities posed include demand forecasting, safety, quality assurance improvement, and indoor monitoring of the process. The results show that utilisation of BDA in KSA private healthcare has more excellent opportunities than challenges. Implementing BDA technology in the supply chain can revolutionise the sector and create room for significant developments. The recommendations include developing primary research by interacting with the managers and experts in the field to find out the current challenges in implementation, analysing the return on investment of focusing on big data analytics, and the duration it will take to make all the changes come to be. KSA's private healthcare supply chain has a more significant opportunity in the supply chain and can benefit from the government's Vision 2030 push toward digitalisation.