Degree
Master of Business Administration Executive
Faculty / School
School of Business Studies (SBS)
Year of Award
2023
Advisor/Supervisor
Dr. Rameez Khalid, Associate Professor, Department of Management
Project Type
MBA Executive Research Project
Access Type
Restricted Access
Keywords
Demand planning and forecasting for anticancer medicines, Production planning of life-saving drugs, Supply planning of life-saving drugs, Demand planning types in the Pharmaceutical industry, Capacity planning models in the Pharmaceutical industry, Demand forecasting models in the Pharmaceutical industry, Lifesaving drugs supply chain, Drugs supply chain, Inventory Planning models in Pharmaceutical industry, Medicines shortages, Medicines accessibility, Drugs stock-outs in Pakistan, Supply planning in pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, Drugs management, Medicines production planning
Executive Summary
Supply chain therapeutic segmentation in Pakistan’s Pharmaceutical industry has not been researched much. The industry is yet to build therapeutic segmentation strategies to treat different therapies differently. This has led to the usage of one size fits all approach for all therapies. However, with ever-changing patient needs, medicines call for tailored approaches and strategies not only to fulfill patient needs but also commercial targets of pharmaceutical companies. This report will explore current industry dynamics, existing strategies, and tailored therapeutic segmentation strategies to cater to therapies in multiple business decision areas like demand forecasting, production planning, capacity planning, supply planning, and inventory management. This report summarizes the background, literature review, and methodology adopted to execute the research report “The Shift from One-Size-Fits-All to Therapeutic Segmentation Strategy in Pakistan's Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: An Exploration of Multiple Perspectives and Factors”. This study helped us to analyze current strategies that pharmaceutical finished goods manufacturing companies are using in their supply chain areas i.e., demand planning, supply planning, production and capacity planning, and inventory management, and to what extent companies are using one size fits all strategy and therapeutic segmentation strategies, the tools associated with it, their impact, associated variables, and limitations and barriers they are facing in this whole process. Since this research focused on therapy-level supply chain segmentation strategies so we decided to include life savings, anti-cancer, and anti-infective therapies in our scope. We selected lifesaving medicines based on their criticality and adverse effects on patients in case of their unavailability. Anti-cancer and lifesaving therapies are somehow interlinked and overlapped based on the strategies we proposed. Lastly, anti-infective medicines include generic medicines used to treat infections such as viral, bacterial, fungal, etc.
We thoroughly analyzed secondary research at both local and global scales. We did not find any research targeting therapeutic-level supply chain segmentation. The data from our primary research conducted through semi-structured interviews revealed that most of the companies are still using one size fits all approach in their supply chain areas which leads to drug shortages and stock-outs in markets and hence patient deaths, suffering, and disabilities. However, now the trend is shifting towards a more disease-centric and patient centric approach. Currently, companies are running their processes based on historic demand data based on primary and secondary sales. There is a lack of visibility of tertiary sales (point of sales, where end consumers buy medicines from retailors/pharmacies) which is not being used by manufacturers to forecast demand. The tertiary sale is not integrated with secondary sales (distributor to retailors/pharmacies/hospitals) and subsequently primary sales (manufacturer to distributor) data points. Moreover, drug manufacturing companies are facing intensive challenges due to DRAP’s inefficient role in regulating prices, poor approval systems, our country’s current depleting economic situation, poor infrastructure, and lack of regulation at the downstream level. Hence, we proposed a framework for life-saving and general medicines at multiple supply chain areas level which will help mid-stream companies to use the proposed strategies to manage these therapeutic drugs not only to improve their own performance but also to prioritize patients to save their lives, suffering, and disabilities.
Pages
108
Recommended Citation
Saleem, S., Rehman, A., & Shahbazkar, M. (2023). The shift from One-Size-Fits-All to Therapeutic Segmentation Strategy in Pakistan's Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: an exploration of multiple perspectives and factors (Unpublished graduate research project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/research-projects-emba/599
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