Case assessment and identification of pharmaceutical supply chain performance measures and metrics

Abstract

A lot of attention has been paid to performance measurement during the past few decades. There are several reasons for utilizing performance measurement in a business, but the most important one is that, when done right, it will increase productivity. Productivity is crucial to a business’s capacity to compete and generate long-term profitability while providing required customer service. A firm will not last in the fierce business world of today if it cannot use its resources effectively to provide value for its consumers. This is especially important for public companies with limited public investments. The creation of adequate and completely usable performance assessment systems, or sets of measures, has, nevertheless, proven to be a very difficult process. This research has focused on the identification of key performance measures and metrics, on which there is still no common understanding. It focuses on identifying the outbound logistical aspect of the pharmaceutical supply chain’s performance measures and metrics. The study is mainly based on previous studies and opinions of the case company’s management staff. Based on a review of previous studies on and discussions with the management staff of the case company, performance measures for a pharmaceutical supply chain (focusing on inventory management and distribution activities) are identified and categorized into quality, time, financial, and productivity measures. Quality measures are observed to be the most crucial metric while assessing pharmaceutical supply chain performance. The case company’s management can utilize the study as a base to develop their own performance measurement system.