Integration of supply and marketing for a blood service

Purpose - The blood service sector faces issues with obtaining and retaining loyal donors at one end of its supply chain, a marketing issue, and being efficient and effective in blood and related product delivery to customers at the other end of its supply chain, a supply chain management issue. The purpose of this paper is to present an investigation of these issues and propose the adoption of techniques and technologies from the food processing and retailing sector to address them. Design/methodology/approach - An exploratory case study with the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service is used to investigate research questions stemming from extant literature. Findings - This study finds that a national blood service can achieve better stock management and resource optimisation and better communication with “input” and “output” stakeholders by implementing information flows and integration throughout the supply and marketing chain. It also finds that a national blood service can convince non‐donors to donate and increase donor relationships and loyalty by ensuring internal marketing takes place with its employees who can then inform external stakeholders through their first‐contact relationships. Research limitations/implications - This study is exploratory, thus empirical research is limited. Practical implications - This paper validates primary issues in recruiting and retaining blood donors and making blood supply chains more efficient and effective, and proposes the adoption of techniques and technology from other process sectors to overcome these issues. Thus, European national blood services should benefit from implementing suggestions in this research. Originality/value - This paper adopts a multi‐disciplinary approach across the marketing and supply chain management disciplines to explore issues usually associated with medical and pure sciences.