Purpose ¿ The purpose of this study is to investigate the customer's perception of service quality within the context of the pharmaceutical supply chain, and look specifically at the supplier/customer relationship. Design/methodology/approach ¿ The research in question focuses on the trading relationship between a pharmaceutical wholesaler and its pharmacy customers. Existing literature shows that quality of the overall service is determined by the customer's perceptions of that service; therefore it is important that the supplier measures the customer's perception of service quality and understands what factors influence that perception and build this into their service delivery. The data were collected via a series of qualitative semi-structured interviews with hospital and retail pharmacies located in the North West of England. Findings ¿ The findings show that pharmacy customers have a range of vitally important to less important criteria associated with good service quality and that pharmaceutical wholesalers as suppliers should aim to excel at the vital and important issues and meet those of lesser importance to satisfy customers expectations of service quality. Research implications/limitations ¿ This reinforces the importance of measuring customer expectations and incorporating outputs into service design to ensure a customer focus to the service provided. Further consideration should be given to adopting the SERVQUAL tool in conducting future research and analysis. Practical implications ¿ Suppliers should be aware that there are vital activities that customers expect to have performed/delivered and that they need to know what these are and excel at these, whilst managing less important criteria effectively. Originality/value ¿ This paper provides an insight into the customer-supplier relationship within the pharmaceutical supply chain in the NHS, which will be of benefit to practitioners and academics in this field.

Purpose ¿ This paper aims to examine the role of e-commerce in hospital pharmacy in the procurement of pharmaceuticals and determine how this has improved the internal pharmaceutical supply chain. Whilst e-commerce is in its infancy in this area it is still considered to be an important facet of supply chain management. E-trading within NHS pharmacies is conducted via electronic data interchange (EDI) offering proven benefits and ensuring the efficient and effective transmission of data between remote parties. Design/methodology/approach ¿ The data were collected via a case-study in an NHS trust pharmacy supported and by questionnaires distributed to NHS and community pharmacies in the north-west of England. Findings ¿ The findings support the view that there are benefits to be gained from introducing EDI into a purchasing department as the next logical step towards a total e-commerce solution (internet-based) and instigating quality improvements. It also proposes that the implementation and use of e-commerce in hospital pharmacies can be aligned with progress made in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and questions why, if such benefits can be realised, the use of e-commerce systems are not more widespread. Research limitations/implications ¿ The implications of this research is that it offers a ¿snap-shot¿ of progress made-to-date of e-commerce in NHS Pharmacy, which can provide guidance for mangers and healthcare professionals managing their e-commerce/quality improvement agenda. The research conducted was restricted to a specific regional area of the NHS and could be applied to a larger national sample group. Future research within this field should also consider the cost of not introducing e-commerce in pursuing quality improvement. Originality/value ¿ This discussion offers an insight into how a pharmacy approached EDI, and this is further supported by recent research conducted into examining the pharmacy systems in operation in the north-west of England and accompanying EDI systems and an analysis of EDI uptake and use in a sample of pharmacies in the same region, the latter being supported by anecdotal evidence of pros and cons to using EDI and potential barriers to its introduction.

No / Purpose – This paper aims to examine the role of e-commerce in hospital pharmacy in the procurement of pharmaceuticals and determine how this has improved the internal pharmaceutical supply chain. Whilst e-commerce is in its infancy in this area it is still considered to be an important facet of supply chain management. E-trading within NHS pharmacies is conducted via electronic data interchange (EDI) offering proven benefits and ensuring the efficient and effective transmission of data between remote parties. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected via a case-study in an NHS trust pharmacy supported and by questionnaires distributed to NHS and community pharmacies in the north-west of England. Findings – The findings support the view that there are benefits to be gained from introducing EDI into a purchasing department as the next logical step towards a total e-commerce solution (internet-based) and instigating quality improvements. It also proposes that the implementation and use of e-commerce in hospital pharmacies can be aligned with progress made in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and questions why, if such benefits can be realised, the use of e-commerce systems are not more widespread. Research limitations/implications – The implications of this research is that it offers a “snap-shot” of progress made-to-date of e-commerce in NHS Pharmacy, which can provide guidance for mangers and healthcare professionals managing their e-commerce/quality improvement agenda. The research conducted was restricted to a specific regional area of the NHS and could be applied to a larger national sample group. Future research within this field should also consider the cost of not introducing e-commerce in pursuing quality improvement. Originality/value – This discussion offers an insight into how a pharmacy approached EDI, and this is further supported by recent research conducted into examining the pharmacy systems in operation in the north-west of England and accompanying EDI systems and an analysis of EDI uptake and use in a sample of pharmacies in the same region, the latter being supported by anecdotal evidence of pros and cons to using EDI and potential barriers to its introduction.

No / The purpose of this study is to investigate the customer’s perception of service quality within the context of the pharmaceutical supply chain, and look specifically at the supplier/customer relationship. The research in question focuses on the trading relationship between a pharmaceutical wholesaler and its pharmacy customers. Existing literature shows that quality of the overall service is determined by the customer’s perceptions of that service; therefore it is important that the supplier measures the customer’s perception of service quality and understands what factors influence that perception and build this into their service delivery. The data were collected via a series of qualitative semi-structured interviews with hospital and retail pharmacies located in the North West of England. The findings show that pharmacy customers have a range of vitally important to less important criteria associated with good service quality and that pharmaceutical wholesalers as suppliers should aim to excel at the vital and important issues and meet those of lesser importance to satisfy customers expectations of service quality. This reinforces the importance of measuring customer expectations and incorporating outputs into service design to ensure a customer focus to the service provided. Further consideration should be given to adopting the SERVQUAL tool in conducting future research and analysis. Suppliers should be aware that there are vital activities that customers expect to have performed/delivered and that they need to know what these are and excel at these, whilst managing less important criteria effectively. This paper provides an insight into the customer-supplier relationship within the pharmaceutical supply chain in the NHS, which will be of benefit to practitioners and academics in this field.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine those factors perceived by users to influence the successful on-going use of e-commerce systems in business-to-business (B2B) buying and selling transactions through examination of the views of individuals acting in both purchasing and selling roles within the UK National Health Service (NHS) pharmaceutical supply chain. Design/methodology/approach Literature from the fields of operations and supply chain management (SCM) and information systems (IS) is used to determine candidate factors that might influence the success of the use of e¿commerce. A questionnaire based on these is used for primary data collection in the UK NHS pharmaceutical supply chain. Factor analysis is used to analyse the data. Findings The paper yields five composite factors that are perceived by users to influence successful e-commerce use. "System quality," "information quality," "management and use," "world wide web - assurance and empathy," and "trust" are proposed as potential critical success factors. Of these, all respondents ranked information quality, system quality, and trust as being of most importance, but differences in the rankings between purchasing and selling respondents are evident. Research limitations/implications The empirical study is limited to a single supply network, and although the findings seem intuitively to be of relevance to other sectors and supply contexts, there remains an opportunity to test this through further research. There is also an opportunity to extend the survey research, particularly into the wholesaler organisations that operate in the sector of study. Practical implications The managerial implications that result from this research provide practical guidance to organisations in this sector on how to ensure that e¿commerce systems for B2B buying and selling are used successfully. Originality/value This paper furthers knowledge and understanding in the fields of operations management, IS, and SCM, by suggesting potential determinants of successful e¿commerce use in both buying and selling organisations within supply networks.