The impact of service quality on the patronage of pharmacies during economic crisis: evidence from a pilot study in Greece

Theodoridis, C (2016) The impact of service quality on the patronage of pharmacies during economic crisis: evidence from a pilot study in Greece. In: 23rd International Conference on Recent Advances in Retailing and Services Science (EIRASS 2016), 11 July 2016 - 14 July 2016, Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Abstract

This paper seeks to provide an initial account of the changes that happen in the Greek pharmacy sector since the proposed by the government deregulation of the sector. It further looks at the response of independent pharmacists to the changes that are in line to take place. Pharmacy retailing is defined by set of characteristics; scientific, vocational, and entrepreneurial; that makes it a very intriguing sector to research. The entrepreneurial shift of the pharmacists is identified as necessary and priorities for the transformation have been addressed. A qualitative research project was devised in order to collect data on the perceptions of the pharmacists on the deregulation of the sector and their response to the emerging landscape. The major finding of the project was the reported lack of entrepreneurial culture which stems from the absolute un-entrepreneurial business environment pharmacist developed and operated in the past and has a result the lack of confidence to make business decisions as they do not know how to analyse the environment and take advantage of the potential opportunities that emerge.