Abstract
Boots UK Limited was formerly known as Boots the Chemists Limited. During those times it was trading as Boots. Boots was a pharmacy chain which had its roots in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Boots UK, has decided to motivate and coach reps by the use of results-driven metrics. This methods includes motivating and coaching their sales team straight within the Salesforce. The business functions efficiently as a whole as a result of improvement in the operations through enhancing a sequential flow in the products and services of the company and minimizing the extent to which activities are delayed in the production and distribution process. The firm ensures the best quality products enter the market and that it is sensitive to consumer needs. The firm ensures efficient processes throughout its supply chain which is comprised of manufacturers, pharmacies and wholesalers.
Introduction
The background of the Boots Company.
Boots UK Limited was formerly known as Boots the Chemists Limited. During those times it was trading as Boots. Boots was a pharmacy chain which had its roots in Ireland and the United Kingdom. They had managed to have outlets even in the most high streets, airport terminals and the shopping centres.The former parent of the company which was the Boots Group PLC got into an agreement to merge with the Alliance UniChem in the year 2006, this led to the formation of the Alliance Boots .in the year 2007 Stefano Pessina and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, bought the Alliance Boots. The company was made private and the headquarters shifted to Switzerland. The company has been operating a good number of stores across Ireland and the United Kingdom, shipping centers and some of the high streets.
The future plans for the Boots organization.
The Boots UK Limited, got into a deal as from February 2015, with the Walgreen’s, which is the largest pharmacy chain in the United States. The Walgreen tends to buy the remaining 55% stake in the giant European beauty and health retail and wholesale Alliance Boots. If they come into terms and seal a deal, the merged European-US company will have branches in more than 28 countries and with a minimum of 370 wholesale distribution centers and these will come a long with not less than 11200 pharmacies.by doing so the Alliance Boots will have more avenues to market their products, and increase the profit margin that they will be making.
Among the top agendas of the Boots, who are now part of the Alliance Boots group, in line with the future plans of the company is to review, revise and set up plans which will recognize the pension scheme of the company. The revised pension scheme will transfer the employees from the former final salary scheme to a new one which is less generous. This is after the company had a pension scheme that has a surplus of almost 188 million pounds. This will create a future liability that would have to be catered for by the final salary pension scheme.
Boots UK, have a 75000 workforce who have been given information concerning the changes regarding the new intended pension scheme. When the new pension schemes to be more popular and the workers demand for it, it would be too expansive for the company to run. This will imply that the cost of production will much higher than the profit made, thus the profit margin being lower (COAKES, WILLIS, & CLARKE, 2002). The company will be forced to look for an alternative method to solve the situation in case a crisis erupts between the workers and the company management over the pension scheme. Therefore the company will have to be careful in managing the profit related to cost.
Sales performance management of Boot UK.
Boots UK, has decided to motivate and coach reps by the use of results-driven metrics. This methods includes motivating and coaching their sales team directly within the Salesforce. Coaching helps more reps to achieve their allocation every month. The top are publicly recognized, exhibiting what they have being doing to win their deals.
The other method is tieing objectives directly to the Salesforce data. This method helps the company to have all sales data within the Salesforce and allows the company to generate some objectives that can be attributed straight to the Salesforce information. This will make it stress-free for the company track and effectively measure their improvement as they move forward.
The third method is to simply the performance summaries with the drag-and-drop actions. This enables the company to focus on the selling, and pay minimal attention on the paper work. The company can now easily evaluate the performance of its people whenever they choose (BRAVO, 2012).
The company was able to meet their objectives both with their customers and the employees. The company became prompt in service delivery .this was one of the things that made the customers to prefer the Boot UK, from other companies that sells similar products. The value of the products was up to the expectation of the customers vend little almost to zero complaints were raised by the customers, this made the company come second to none and build a reputation that they cherish and try all ways and means not just to maintain but to improve on it.The employees were also very motivativated by the new pension scheme which greatly favored them, thus making the management and the employees be in harmony (ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT, 2008).
Customer Perception of Quality and Quality Management
Quality can be described as a standard of measurement of something in comparison to another thing. It is a way of comparing to objects. Expectation can be defined as a situation in which an individual firmly believes that something will happen. Perception is the process by which an individual perceives or understand something in regards to their sensory system.
Expectation perception model can, therefore, be described as a way in which a person is expected to perceive something be it a service or a product. Customers normally have high expectations of a company. Given that Boots Pharmacy is a pharmaceutical product company the customers are very particular about the quality of products they want from the company. The products that the company sells directly affect the customers' well-being and, therefore, they should assure quality in the best way possible. The pharmacy has set forward some strategy to ensure that the customer expectations are met (BABSON, BRUNTON, & ALLEN, 2005).
The company ensures that their products are of the best quality. Thus assuring the customers that they will not be victims of counterfeit products. The companies supplying to the boots company are recognized, and they have a history of perfect quality.
The company has trained their employees efficiently. They are courteous and discreet. Boots Company deals with medical products. Most customers will require discretion about their purchases they have the best knowledge of the products. Therefore, they give the customers not only the benefits but also the effects of certain products. Clients are therefore assured of their safety and the expectation of every product. Also, the employees take a time to get to know the clients need. They, therefore, can advise on the best product to use in every situation (BABSON, BRUNTON, & ALLEN, 2005).
The company has set a call direct line. The call center ensures that they are readily available to the customers. The customer can therefore trust that should they have any question about the company's product they can always ask. Moreover, the company has a follow-up plan where they ask the customers on the quality of the products. They follow up to ensure that the customer got the desired effect and to ensure that they were treated with respect while on the premises. If the customer has a complaint, the company follows up to ensure that the claim is launched and attended to (EVENSON, 2011).
The company has set reasonable prices to the products. There are many pharmaceutical companies in the city. Therefore, even if the company is quality oriented, it has set reasonable prices to their products. This assures customers of affordable but quality products.
The customers expect that the products they purchase from the company are perfect. However, there can be a misunderstanding where an employee recommends the client the wrong product. This situation rarely happens but should it happen; the company has set in place a reconciliation plan where they apologize and offer the right product to the customer at a subsidized rate. Therefore, the customers have no problem with spending their hard earned money in the company. There is a suggestion box on the premises where customers can drop in their suggestions or complaints. It ensures that the managers are updated on the clients’ expectation, and they make plans to meet them.
Boots Company has a website where they educate the customers about their products. In addition to that, the company keeps enhancing their knowledge by research about new products in the market. The customers, therefore, trusts the company to give them the most recent products that are probably more efficient. This makes the company a preferred choice for many clients. Moreover the company, through its website, advises customers on other important issues of life like eating healthy. This way, the company gives customers who sense of belonging. It is through the website that the company advertises its products. Most customers also as questions through the site. By following the client's questions through the site, the company gets a lot of trust from the customers (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1995).
The company has set up delivery means to customers. It keeps the customers at peace to know that they do not have to reschedule their daily work to book an appointment. The company not only delivers its products in the United Kingdom but also in overseas countries. It assures the customers that they can get their quality products no matter where they are in the world. Besides, should a customer accidentally purchase a wrong product, the company can take it back as long as it is not yet used given that the client is a key player in any business the company is also searching for better ways to not only retain the existing customers but also get new customers. The company has introduced follow up calls and is planning on introducing loyalty cards. The company is also introducing new products to meet new clients' demands.
The Manufacturers
Manufacturers play a major role in ensuring drugs are available to patients since they are the source of the drugs. This implies that consumers rely on the ability of the manufactures to invest significant amount of their financial resources in scientific research and data to come up with new and better ways to solve health problems across the globe. Manufactures play role in the supply chain through managing the flow of drugs from the production plants to the wholesalers, mail order stores, hospitals and government. There is therefore need for higher efficiencies and effectiveness in the supply chain to ensure that manufactures are able to meet the demand of consumers. Manufacturers also need to consider the safety of the drugs sold to patients by ensuring that there are labels with the prescription and components of the drugs as well as electronic bar codes that make it easier to trace back the foundation of the drug in case of health safety issues.
Wholesalers
The other players in the supply chain are the wholesalers who play the role of purchasing the drugs from the manufacturers and distributing to a range of customers including community clinics, pharmacies, diagnostic labs and hospitals. Unlike in the previous years, modern wholesalers are involved in many processes including repackaging of the drugs and providing electronic order services to enhance flexibility with which customers are able to access the drugs. However, then need to promote supply efficiencies is a major consideration for wholesalers since they are involved in operations that enhance economies of scale to saver on tier operating cost.
The other key aspect that wholesalers use to improve their supply chain efficiencies is the need to deliver drugs on time while at the same time providing financial incentives such as discounts for pharmacies that make prompt payments.
Pharmacies
Pharmacies are also important component of the supply chain with Boot forming critical part of pharmacy chains. Pharmacies are the final step before drugs reach customers hence the need to ensure that their operations are efficient enough to allow stocking of adequate drugs and safe storage of the drugs such that when dispensed to consumers there is limited likelihood that the drugs will have negative effects on the body of consumers. Pharmacies need to ensure they provide accurate information to customers in the form of prescription since patients depend on the prescriptions given by pharmacists to improve their health outcome. To ensure that there are adequate drugs in store and to be able to track the expired drugs, there is need for firms to consider automating their operations like the case of Boot Chains. Through automation of operations, higher efficiencies are achieved in the form of retrieving drugs, identifying availability of the drugs in the store and also prepare billings and payments easily. With automated services, it is also easier to enhance customers’ loyalty by using the electronic means to check on the applicability of their health benefit plans for customers who are unable to make immediate payments .
Pharmacy Benefit Managers
The other essential element in Boot’s supply chain are the pharmacy benefit managers whose role is to ensure customers and pharmacies are able to access drugs at lower cost through price discounts. Customers are also able to access drugs through relying on their health benefit plans to cater for the cost of the drugs bought at the pharmacies. With the need to improve drug manufacturing, the pharmacy benefit managers are involved in development of programs aimed at managing diseases and ensuring clinical practitioners are involved in coming up with compliance rules to improve health care delivery. A visual representation of the supply chain is shown below:
Recommendations to improve Operations Management to support Strategic Aims
There are various ways that could be used to improve operations in order to keep up with the goals and objectives of the firm. The business functions more as a whole as a result of improvement in the operations through enhancing a sequential flow in the products and services of the company and minimizing the extent to which activities are backtracked in the production and distribution process. Utilizing a sequential flow in the products and services is important since it improves efficiencies within and outside the firm hence implying that the firm is able to satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers in tis segments. Attention needs to be placed in the manufacturing stage since it is the step necessary in determining firm’s ability to meet the demand by consumers. Limited flow of work in the manufacturing process implies that the firm is likely to be unable to meet production targets. With a sequential flow of manufacturing activities, it is easier for the operations managers to monitor the work flow hence able to identify the areas that require much attention and improvements. It is important for managers to ensure effective communication among workers involved in the production process since the pharmaceutical industry requires employees to work in teams to avoid making blunders that could have damaging effects to the reputation of the firm. A sequential flow pattern in the process is therefore necessary in facilitating good communication among workers such that issues of poor interpersonal relationships are eliminated .
The other key recommendation for improvement in operations management is the need to take necessary steps to ensure that there is minimal or zero backtracking of work in the process. Backtracking activities limits the chances of the firm to meet its demand and satisfy the needs of consumers. There is need for managers to avoid incidences where the firm sends some elements of production back since the process of tracking the parts may be difficult. Backtracking work is also destructive for the firms since it inhibits flow of other parts along the supply chain. In the end, the firm is forced to deal with issues of inefficiencies and ineffectiveness which then lead to wastage of time and costs since the process may involve outsourcing of the tracking task to other organizations. However, it is also likely that at times, the firm could be forced to backtrack some of its work in process but there is need for caution when making such step. This implies that the firm ought to maintain separate entries for the backtracked processes. This then makes it easier for the firm to distinguish the works that had been backtracked and hence improve ways in which operations could continue easily with minimal wastage of time. There is need to consider maintain flexibility in dealing with backtracked work through reconfiguring the manufacturing facility such that it is possible to introduce new products easily while at the same time setting aside work that could not be completed as stipulated.
Conclusion.
The main agenda for a company is to satisfy their customers and have their profits increasing. This can be done if the company has better strategies in handling their customers than their competitors. The employees are also an important tool towards the success of the company and cannot be ignored at all cost, therefore, it is advisable to ensure that everyone is satisfied with the role they play towards the success of the company.
References
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Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 1995. Identifying, meeting, and assessing customer expectations. Oak Ridge, Tenn, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
