Service Innovation in German Community Pharmacies. The Consumer Perspective

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2021 in the subject Business economics - General, grade: 1,0, LMU Munich (Institut for Innovation Management), language: English, abstract: This thesis reviews the currently available literature on the role of community pharmacies and their services from the consumer perspective. As literature is very scarce qualitative, consumer interviews have been conducted to answer the research question "how do consumers perceive the pharmacists’ role and their responsibility towards providing / innovating patient care services".In recent years, the shift from a goods-centered perspective to service oriented economic concepts is dominating marketing research. This service dominated approach is lately also applied to healthcare. Issues such as consumer experience and perspectives, customer journeys and value cocreation are entering the healthcare context. Community pharmacies are essential service providers in German healthcare and thus an important touchpoint for patients within their medication and disease management. New digital technologies and networks further facilitate the opportunities for an active cooperation between patients and healthcare providers such as community pharmacies.