Walgreens

Is Walgreen 's pursuing any of the efficiency-enhancing practices discussed in this chapter

Most industry watchers and analysts have cited Walgreen 's as the gold standard for corner drugstores . It has continued to dominate the market on drug retailing owing to its efficiency-enhancing practices from its leadership to its human resource programs (Hill Jones , 2001 Walgreen 's have branch or store managers who have been with the company for a long time and have been promoted to senior positions based on their skills and abilities , moreover , the company always hires someone

from the inside thereby lowering the costs of training new employees (Frederick , 1997 . Moreover , the company has made use of technological advancement in the delivery and monitoring of their stocks , cutting the costs of storage and holding . A computer system also free ups the pharmacists from filling prescriptions and giving them time to work with patients who need information on medicines and prescriptions . The pharmacy computer system decreases the time spent in filling the prescription and the risk of errors are lowered . As such , the program also identifies and measures performance efficiency through the computer program and generates information that the HR could use to enhance skills and correct mistakes (Garbato , 2004 . Walgreen 's have also made use of their R D department as it have led to the identification of the needs and buying behavior of their customers which in turn have enabled stores to target specific markets depending on its location and the population it serves , therefore Walgreen 's is more able to realize profits by utilizing this information rather than offering the same products at each store . Furthermore , Walgreen 's own most of it 's properties and do not have external debts which would mean lowered operational costs as the years progress

2 . Is Walgreen 's pursuing any of the quality-enhancing practices discussed in this chapter

Walgreen 's places important on the quality of the service and product it delivers to its customers . In this connection , the company has actively sought to measure quality in terms of how many prescriptions have been filled successfully without error or replacements , the number length of phone call holds and the response rate of the pharmacists in entertaining the concerns of the customers . However , a set back for the company was reported in a news when a couple sued the company for negligence , it seemed that the pharmacists entered the name of the medicine incorrectly and thus have led to the life-threatening condition of the child . This indicates low quality , but the company has invested billions in making sure that the quality of the services they provide is of the utmost importance . Since prescription lawsuits are based on human error , the quality control for such processes cannot be really a 100 percent guarantee since the encoding of the information is always the job of the pharmacist . The handwritten prescription however is also subject to further inquiry as the pharmacists may have difficulty in reading the prescription from the doctors

3 . Is Walgreen 's pursuing any of the practices designed to enhance innovation discussed in this chapter

Walgreen 's have engaged in the research of the location of its stores as such the stores they have are usually strategically positioned as it enabled them to maximize the clients of each store . The company when choosing a property would ways see that it is of the most prime locations and information regarding the traffic , proximity to bus stops and others have been adequately considered before a store is built wherein the team from the R D have scrutinized it (The Business Journal of Milwaukee , 2007 . Since the company does not really manufacture products but sells it to the customers , the prime role of its customer service assistants and pharmacists is to make sure that the customer 's experience in the pharmacy are relaxed , informative and of high quality .4 . Is Walgreen 's pursuing any of the practices designed to increase responsiveness to customers discussed in this chapter

Walgreen 's have been very responsive to customer needs , in fact early on it has demonstrated that each Walgreen store is culturally sensitive and usually trains people who can speak in different languages , which would increase brand loyalty and customer satisfaction . In a similar way , the company has also actively promoted its pool of pharmacists to higher positions which means that these people know more about their patients and can provide valid information for the general population and not for a specific person . The company is also engaged in acquiring new facilities and products that would answer the more specialized needs of the customers such as home infusion (Walgreen .com , 2007 . Moreover , the use of computers has made it possible to customize s and the filling of prescriptions as well as shorten the delivery time . The Internet has also made it possible to open store websites that provide detailed information about the needed medicine and it has increased the customer 's access to the store which have been rated as number one among online drug stores (HealthRatings .org , 2007 . Lastly , the company often listens to its customers as requests for new items are immediately answered through micromarketing

5 . Evaluate the competitive position of Walgreen 's in the light of your answers to questions 1 - 4 . Explain what , if anything , the company needs to do to improve its competitive position

Walgreen 's is competitive and has secured its place in the greater drug retail market , it has changed the concept of what a neighborhood drugstore should be and have utilized the methods in achieving efficiency as well as placing great importance to customer characteristics and needs (Farley , 2006 . Since the company is involved with the delivery of services , controlling the quality of the service is difficult to do as demonstrated by the prescription case against one of its employee 's and is also one of the weak points of the company and should be improved . Customers look for consistency , reliability and safety when they go to pharmacies and they expect that each filled prescription is the right one . Thus , together with quality , the company should also look into decreasing human errors by skills training

References

Farley , S (2006 . Updating the Corner Drug Store . pharmacytimes .com Retrieved September

25 , 2007 from HYPERLINK "http /www .pharmacytimes .com /Article .cfm ?Menu 1 ID 3149 http /www .pharmacytimes .com /Article .cfm ?Menu 1 ID 3149

Frederick , J (1997 . Walgreen Co . Annual Report , Industry Overview Illustration . Drug Store

News . April 28 , 1997 . Retrieved September 25 , 2007 from HYPERLINK "http /findarticles .com /p /articles /mi_m3374 /is_n8_v19 /ai_ http /findarticles .com /p /articles /mi_m3374 /is_n8_v19 /ai_

Garbato , D (2004 . A Model of Efficiency . Retail Merchandiser Retrieved September 25 , 2007

from HYPERLINK "http /www .allbusiness .com /retail-trade /4301519-1 .html ?yahss 114-411345 6-4301519 http /www .allbusiness .com /retail-trade /4301519-1 .html ?yahss -4301519

Hill , C Gareth Jones (2001 , Strategic Management Theory : An Integrated Approach , Houghton Mifflin , Boston

Walgreens .com ranks highest among online drugstores : Most are helpful but not best as sole

resource (2007 . HealthRatings .org , Retrieved September 25 , 2007 from HYPERLINK "http /www .ajc .com /health /content /health /stories /2007 /09 /12 /onlinepharm acy .html http /www .ajc .com /health /content /health /stories /2007 /09 /12 /onlinepharma cy .html

Walgreens to open 550 new stores next year . The Business Journal of Milwaukee

September 25 , 2007 from HYPERLINK "http /milwaukee .bizjournals .com /milwaukee /stories /2007 /09 /03 /daily17 .h tml http /milwaukee .bizjournals .com /milwaukee /stories /2007 /09 /03 /daily17 .ht ml

Walgreen Co . to Acquire Specialty Pharmacy and Home Infusion Provider Option Care , Inc

July 02 , 2007 from HYPERLINK "http /news .walgreens .com /article_display .cfm ?article_id 4443 http /news .walgreens .com /article_display .cfm ?article_id 4443 ...