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Value Over Profit ?
When pharmacy comes under financial pressure it always looks for a “quick fix” and it usually takes the form of concentrating resources and focus into various retail channels of activity. Even though pharmacists are criticised for expanding their retail offering and daring to create survival profits, it is a necessary activity to ensure that the…
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4 Corners or 4 Circles?
Two brilliantly interwoven stories over the last ten days or so have given the ABC and Fairfax media plenty of fodder to attack pharmacists and the complementary medicine industry. In the first instance, pharmacists came under fire over the allegation that having been “shadow shopped” by Choice reporters over the question of the best options…
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Marketing Focus: Essays on Management & Marketing February 2017
Momentum. That will be, and should be, the mantra for commerce during 2017. Momentum will precede profits, sustainable growth, enhanced productivity, more expeditious decision-making and, above all else, improved confidence. It is indisputable that the calendar year 2016 was a period of economic slow-down for many sectors, regions and entities. In reality, it is arguable…
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Planning for Uncertainty and Anxiety
To say that pharmacy began the current fiscal year with a high level of uncertainty – a major contributor to anxiety levels – is to state the obvious. Every person working within the pharmaceutical industry has been affected, with employed pharmacists complaining about the poor incomes they receive and fresh reports of a potential for…
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Design for a Medication Safety Plan
The problem of creating a quality professional pharmacy practice for community pharmacy is often in conflict with the metrics required to provide a solid business infrastructure. Without a sound infrastructure there is no support to underpin a professional practice, so Codes of Conduct and minimum levels for Standards of Practice have to be developed. Increased…
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Design Thinking- What it is
Design thinking is not new but it has been evolving more rapidly since 1960 as a valid management process described as: * A unified framework for innovation * An essential tool for simplifying and humanising It has evolved by appropriating many of the best tools and techniques from creative fields, social and computer sciences. Design…
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The “Bent Spoon” award developed by people with bent thinking
Skeptics Australia, is an organisation noted for its biased opinions and its campaigning against a range of health groups. Originally it was set up to debunk paranormal issues but its agenda seems to have been hijacked by people reflecting the vested interests of global corporates, in particular, those of Big Pharma. I have commented in…
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The Power of Broke
A lot of people believe you only have one shot at success. Let’s agree that’s just not true. But what is true is that many people don’t even take that one shot – out of fear of failure, inexperience, lack of motivation or just not knowing where to begin. Daymond John, one of the stars…
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Patient impressions
Do we really understand how your patients perceive us? Experts agree that our patients form an opinion of our practice in a matter of seconds. And some of the latest research on first impressions suggest that it might be within the blink of an eye. I’m not referring to the pharmacy building here….I’m referring to…
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Methods for gaining knowledge – mentors, advisers and choosing a discomfort zone
I was reading up on some material written by marketing guru Seth Godin and marveled once more at the insight this man brings to his writing so effortlessly and at once, so obvious as to wonder why you hadn’t tapped the same vein of thought through your own resources. He highlights that if we go…