Robust management policies for positioning pharmacies as healthcare service providers

Building on service management, behavioural decision-making and social psychology literature, this article presents a framework for repositioning pharmacies as healthcare service providers in the healthcare service supply chain. The main tools for framework development are two polar-typed case studies on initiatives to develop healthcare services, and the development of a feedback model. The feedback model captures the rich interactions among basic structures for improving the service development process, decision-making processes and mental models. The exploration of these interactions leads to different types of decision problems during the formation and implementation of initiatives to develop healthcare services in order to reposition pharmacies. The management policies outlined here are not meant to be exhaustive but rather to highlight potential directions that can result in a management contribution towards advancing decision-making in the healthcare service sector. Because repositioning pharmacies as healthcare service providers represents a specific illustration on increasing the service orientation in typical retail companies, the findings can be transferred into the general retailer context.