Promotion of Sustainability in
Pharmaceutical Supply Chains: the Use of
IT to Influence Consumer Choice
 Onyido, B.
 Chowdhury, M.
 Roadknight, A.
OBJECTIVES
 Appreciation of current situation
 Pharmaceutical Supply Chains
 Sustainability
 Application
 Parameters for Supply Chain members (Economic,
Environmental, and Social).
APPRECIATION OF CURRENT SITUATION
From: Cecere, L (2013) Pharmaceutical versus Consumer Products: The Race for Supply Chain Excellence. Retrieved March 3rd 2014.
Available at <http://www.slideshare.net/loracecere/pharmaceutical-versus-consumer-products-the-race-for-supply-chain-excellence>
THE PHARMACEUTICAL SUPPLY CHAINS
Supply
Production
Initial/raw
materials
supplier
Producer
Secondary
supplier
Chemical
ingredients
Repackaging,
distribution
Drug
manufacture
Distribution
Consumption
Wholesaler
End user
Retailer
Manufacturer
warehousing,
NHS Supply
Chain,
private
distributors
NHS and private
hospitals,
clinics,
pharmacies
Patients
SUSTAINABILITY
Issues:
Resource depletion, soil contamination, water pollution, greenhouse
gas emissions, land degradation, loss of habitats, labor exploitation,
social inequalities, armed conflicts
Non-sustainable
behaviors and lifestyle
Measures:
Energy efficiency, emissions reduction, resource conservation,
transition to sustainable materials, social responsibility
Adoption of
sustainable attitudes
Benefits:
Cost reduction, improved reputation, improved chances of winning
public sector work.
Improved health,
improved savings,
improved convenience,
increased productivity
SUSTAINABILITY (CONT’D)
Challenges:
Increase in capital expenditure, change resistance, negative
perceptions about sustainability, additional staff training and
development required, increase in auditing and specification.
Inadequate awareness,
change resistance
Responses:
Collaboration, customer engagement, flexible business practices,
supply chain localisation, selection of business partners and staff with
sustainability values
Knowledge
improvement,
willingness to
support sustainable
companies with their
purchases
FEATURES OF THE ‘APP’
 Provides consumers with a clear idea of the sustainability level
of different pharmaceutical companies and their supply chains.
 Enables consumers to compare different companies based on
their degree of sustainability (similar to comparison websites).
 Lets consumers know which companies offer the best balance of
price, quality,
responsibility.
environmental
protection,
and
social
 Promotes the use of sustainability as a marketing tool, thus
encouraging more companies to pay more attention to it.
 Sustainability information for the app will be obtained via
companies’ websites, professional reviews and testimonials,
peer-reviewed academic and industry research articles, and
primary research.
PARAMETERS
For a particular company, e.g. Pfizer, and its supply chain we would consider
the following sustainability parameters for each member of the supply chain:
Dimensions
Details
Weighting
Economic
Price
33%
Quality (e.g. have there been cases of fake materials, how effective
is their product reputed to be).
Environmental
Company has an environmental policy.
Energy efficiency.
Waste recovery (e.g. recycling).
Water conservation.
How local is the company (distance to consumer).
Environmentally-friendly infrastructure (e.g. green vehicles).
Degree of environmental accreditation.
33%
Social
Company has a CSR policy.
Jobs preservation.
Skills and work experience provision.
Social projects/philanthropy.
33%
The weighting criteria is based on the definition of sustainability as an
equilateral consideration of economic, social and environmental factors. The
sustainability performance of a supply chain would be based on the average
of the scores of all the members of the chain.
SustApp
LIMITATIONS/FUTURE WORK
Further work involving multiple stakeholders is
needed to look into:
Assigning weights to the different sustainability
criteria
Gaining access to APIs to obtain company
information
Achieving greater definition of sustainability
criteria (e.g. How local is ‘local’?)
10
QUESTIONS?
11
REFERENCES














Barbier, E. (2011); The Policy Challenges for Green Economy and Sustainable Economic Development;
Natural Resources Forum; Vol. 35; No. 3; pp.233-245
Brand, U. (2012); Green Economy – The Next Oxymoron? No Lessons Learned from Failure of Implementing
Sustainable Development; GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society; Vol. 21; No. 1; pp.28-32
Carroll, R., Buchholtz, A. (2012); Business and Society: Ethics, Sustainability and Stakeholder Management; 8th
Edition; Ohio: Cengage Learning
Cecere, L .(2013); Pharmaceutical versus Consumer Products: The Race for Supply Chain Excellence; accessed 3rd
March 2014; available at: http://www.slideshare.net/loracecere/pharmaceutical-versus-consumer-productsthe-race-for-supply-chain-excellence
Dunphy, D., Griffiths, A., Benn, S. (2007); Organizational Change for Corporate Sustainability: A Guide for
Leaders and Change Agents of the Future; London: Routledge
Lozano, R. (2008); Envisioning Sustainability Three-dimensionally; Journal of Cleaner Production; Vol. 16; No.
17; pp. 1838-1846
Makower, J., Pike, C. (2009); Strategies for the Green Economy: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World
of Business; New York: McGraw-Hill
Powell, S. (2011); The Nexus between Ethical Corporate Marketing, Ethical Corporate Identity and Corporate
Social Responsibility; European Journal of Marketing; Vol. 45; Nos. 9-10; pp.1365-1379
Robins, N., Singh, S., Clover, R., Knight, Z., Magness, J. (2010); Sizing the Climate Economy; New York: HSBC
Global Research
Strand, J., Toman, M. (2010); ‘Green Stimulus’, Economy Recovery, and Long-term Sustainable Development;
Washington DC; The World Bank.
Thaul, S. (2013); Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Security; Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service
Walker, D .(2014); Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Management System; accessed 3rd March 2014; available at:
http://www.editrack.com/casestudy/6/alliance-healthcare
Wiedmann, T., Lenzen, M. (2009); Unravelling the Impacts of Supply Chains: A New Triple-Bottom-Line
Accounting Approach; In S. Schaltegger, M. Bennett, R. Burrit, and C. Jasch (eds.); Environmental
Management Accounting for Cleaner Production; 1st Edition; Amsterdam: Springer; pp. 65–90
NHS Supply Chain (2014) Welcome to NHS Supply chain [online] Accessed March 12th 2014. Available at
<http://www.supplychain.nhs.uk>