Suppliers, do you know your customers?

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate the customer's perception of service quality within the context of the pharmaceutical supply chain, and look specifically at the supplier/customer relationship. Design/methodology/approach - The research in question focuses on the trading relationship between a pharmaceutical wholesaler and its pharmacy customers. Existing literature shows that quality of the overall service is determined by the customer's perceptions of that service; therefore it is important that the supplier measures the customer's perception of service quality and understands what factors influence that perception and build this into their service delivery. The data were collected via a series of qualitative semi-structured interviews with hospital and retail pharmacies located in the North West of England. Findings - The findings show that pharmacy customers have a range of vitally important to less important criteria associated with good service quality and that pharmaceutical wholesalers as suppliers should aim to excel at the vital and important issues and meet those of lesser importance to satisfy customers expectations of service quality. Research implications/limitations - This reinforces the importance of measuring customer expectations and incorporating outputs into service design to ensure a customer focus to the service provided. Further consideration should be given to adopting the SERVQUAL tool in conducting future research and analysis. Practical implications - Suppliers should be aware that there are vital activities that customers expect to have performed/delivered and that they need to know what these are and excel at these, whilst managing less important criteria effectively. Originality/value - This paper provides an insight into the customer-supplier relationship within the pharmaceutical supply chain in the NHS, which will be of benefit to practitioners and academics in this field.