Pharmacy in South Africa changed dramatically the past decade. Legislative
changes include the amendment of The Pharmacy Act in 2003 allowing for nonpharmacists
to own pharmacies. This opened the door for national chain stores to
change their business model by including a dispensary in their retail service
offerings. The regulation of medicine prices impacted the profitability of the
pharmacy industry. This caused a double edge sword to retail pharmacy – not only
do they need to compete with national supermarkets on front shop products, their
products, namely scheduled medication also are regulated in dispensaries. In an
environment of rapid change and shortened product and business model lifecycles,
the future profit streams from existing operations are uncertain. Businesses need to
consistently seek out new opportunities and therefore firms may benefit from
adopting an entrepreneurial orientation. Entrepreneurial orientation of retail
pharmacists operating in corporate and independent pharmacies’ might play a role in
survival of pharmacy business as a professional services provider for which a fee
may be charged. The entrepreneurial orientation of retail pharmacists in independent
and corporate pharmacies is explored. A literature study on the field of
Entrepreneurship is conducted. The term entrepreneurial orientation, consisting of
five constructs, namely autonomy, innovation, pro-activeness, risk-taking and
competitive aggressiveness is defined. Perceived success of the industry is defined
in terms of growth and development. An entrepreneurial orientation questionnaire
was distributed among retail pharmacists operating in corporate and independent
environments. Both ratings of the constructs and their evaluation of the perceived
success of the industry has been measured, analysed and reported. The results
obtained from the questionnaire and the in-depth interviews in conjunction with the
literature review are used to draw conclusions and make recommendations. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/8678 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | De Nobrega |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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