Improving hospital performance by understanding its logistics function: the diversity revealed by the organizational charts of french university hospital centers

Logistics represents an important driver for improving the working conditions of health professionals, patient care, and hospital efficiency. One of the conditions for letting logistics play this role is based on organizational structure. However, the organization of this function is rarely analyzed in hospitals. To investigate this theme, this paper intends to analyze how the logistics function is distributed in hospitals, in terms of position and content. The underlying assumption is that the position of the logistics function in the structure reflects its strategic nature. To answer the research question, we explore a specific methodology that compares the organizational charts of 30 French university hospital centers. We investigate whether these artifacts can reveal the position of logistics in hospital organizations as a strategic or an operational and support function. This research reveals several results. At the academic level, by developing a typology, the paper highlights that when logistics is attached to a strategic level (as in 47% of cases), it embraces a supply chain management perspective linked to other functions (purchasing or investments). The methodological contribution is based on a comparison of organizational charts that could be reused in several contexts. This methodology could be used to compare the position and content of other functions at different times to analyze their dynamics. The results permit healthcare managers to benchmark their structure to help them change (or maintain) their organization.