Strategic planning in pharmacy operations

• Strategic planning

  • The process by which organizations determine and establish long-term directions and formulate and implement strategies to accomplish long-term objectives while taking into account relevant internal and external environment variables
• Internal Stakeholders

  • are directly involved in the day-to-day operation of the organization
• External stakeholders

  • tend to contribute unique perspectives and valuable input to the strategic plan due to their position outside the organization
• Aspects of strategic devt

  1. mission
  2. goals
  3. alignment of short term goals
  4. evaluation and revision
• Steps in strategic planning process

  • identify
  • prioritize
  • develop
  • implement
  • update
• Vision statement

  • captures an organization’s aspirations and it is intended to inspire employees and other stakeholders who would want to achieve this future state
• Mission statement

  • defines why an organization exists and it briefly describes the purpose of an organization and explains why an employee’s work is important
• Values

  • generally reflected in the organization’s vision and mission – its central priorities
  • it helps define organizational culture and provide employees and other stakeholders with general expectations of how the organization operates and how employees should operate as representatives of the organization
• SWOT analysis

  • used to assess an organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats
• Strengths

  • factors that are beneficial or conducive to achieving the goals of the strategic plan
• Weakness

  • factors that may detract from achieving the goal
• Opportunities

  • factors that may help the organization achieve its goals
• Threats

  • factors that may hurt the organization’s position or performance
• S - social

  T - technological

  E - economic

  E - ecological

  P - political
• STEEP analysis

  • may be used to develop a better understanding of the external environment that the organization functions within, thereby exposing key data needed for decision making during the strategic planning process
  • may also provide information about the future trends that the strategic plan should consider
• S - specific

  M - measurable

  A - acceptable

  R - realistic

  T - time-based

  E - extending

  R - rewarding
• Action plan

  • details strategies that ensure an organization accomplishes the goals of the strategic plan
  • it should include objectives, defined as interim or short-term milestones that signify progress toward achieving goals as well as the tactics necessary to accomplish these objectives
• Tactics

  • are a series of actions deployed when a strategy is implemented
• Donabedian’s structure-process-outcome framework

  • is useful when constructing an action plan
• Structure

  • refers to the physical setting
• Process

  • refers to the service that will be provided
• Outcome

  • refers to the result of the service
• Resources

  • materials, funds, technologies, and people needed to conduct work assignments and achieve desired objectives
• Steps in strategic planning

  1. Organizing a strategic planning team
  2. Identifying strategic direction
  3. Conducting a strategic analysis
  4. Defining major long-term goals
  5. Action planning
  6. Monitoring and evaluating
  7. Communicating the plan
• Market analysis

  • studies the dynamics of a market within an industry