The Italian pharmaceutical industry had an impressive growth in recent years, transforming Italy into the leading pharmaceutical producer in the Europe. Nevertheless, if on the one hand the industry side has been able to cope with the growing market uncertainty and complexity, on the other hand the distribution and logistics side has been increasingly under pressure. The constant temperature control and the need to be compliant with strict regulations in order to guarantee a high service level are just some of main issues daily affecting the pharmaceutical supply chain. As a consequence of this rising pressure, the margins of Italian logistics operators are dramatically diminishing, forcing many of them to leave the market as they are unable to make investments in costly and advanced technologies with their own resources in the short-run. In this context, the present thesis aimed to investigate the current issues influencing the pharmaceutical supply chain and the possible solutions, in order to improve the transportation activities. To pursue this objective, a critical review of the extant literature was followed by case study research. This approach allowed both to investigate the state of art of the current knowledge about the topic and to offer insights on practical instances, enriching the investigation of the subject. As a result, three main improvement directions were identified. First, bridging temperature-controlled food and pharmaceutical flows during transportation emerged as a valuable strategy to develop synergies and increase volumes. It represents an unexplored area of research and, at the same time, a viable solution for those players, like the pharmaceutical carriers in Italy, characterized by low margins. Second, upstream and downstream vertical integration strategies along the pharmaceutical supply chain might be developed, in order to reconfigure the chain in such a way to decrease inefficiencies. Lastly, it emerged the possibility to adopt innovative technologies to improve transport process. Overall, the emerged results from the mentioned research areas, intertwining with each other, allowed to draft a complete picture of the phenomena in place in the world of pharmaceutical distribution and to propose solutions. Despite its criticalities and challenges, the pharmaceutical supply chain is characterized by a huge potential for improvement, if properly detected and managed, as innovative solutions which can be very promising and effective were identified. The present thesis is thus intended for both researchers and practitioners in the field of logistics and supply chain to serve as a source of information regards the critical issues the pharmaceutical distribution is currently facing, especially at the European and Italian level. On the one hand, it introduced the theme of collaboration between different industries (i.e. food and pharmaceutical) but similar supply chains in terms of equipment and infrastructure required (cold chain) into the academic literature. On the other hand, it can support practitioners in identifying several ways to improve their daily operations, as the horizontal collaboration in transport can bring huge advantages. Lastly, the present research work is also intended to further stimulate the research about the collaboration across industries, and can be considered as a first step in this direction. For instance, a possible future development of the work can concern the investigation of additional synergies to be generated through the collaboration in transportation among pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.
L’industria farmaceutica italiana ha registrato una crescita impressionante negli ultimi anni, che l’ha portata a conquistare il primato europeo nella produzione. Tuttavia, se da un lato l’industria si è dimostrata in grado di far fronte alla crescente incertezza e complessità del mercato, dall’altro la distribuzione e la logistica si trovano sotto pressione. Il continuo monitoraggio della temperatura e la necessità di essere conformi a norme rigorose al fine di garantire un livello di servizio elevato sono solo alcune delle principali criticità che investono quotidianamente la filiera farmaceutica. Ne deriva che i margini degli operatori logistici italiani stanno diminuendo drasticamente, costringendo molti di loro a lasciare il mercato, poiché non sono in grado di investire nel breve periodo in tecnologie costose e avanzate con le proprie risorse. In questo contesto, la presente tesi mira ad investigare le principali problematiche a cui oggi deve far fronte la filiera farmaceutica e le possibili soluzioni per migliorare le attività di trasporto. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo, la revisione critica della letteratura esistente è stata accompagnata da un case study. Questo approccio ha permesso sia di indagare lo stato dell'arte sull'argomento, sia di offrire esempi pratici, arricchendo così l'indagine. Di conseguenza, sono state identificate tre principali direzioni di miglioramento. In primo luogo, il trasporto promiscuo dei flussi alimentari e farmaceutici a temperatura controllata è emerso come una strategia preziosa per sviluppare sinergie e aumentare i volumi. Essa rappresenta un'area di ricerca inesplorata e, allo stesso tempo, una valida soluzione per quegli attori, come i distributori farmaceutici in Italia, che soffrono di margini bassi di profitto. In secondo luogo, sono state considerate strategie di integrazione verticale a monte e a valle della filiera farmaceutica, al fine di riconfigurare la catena in modo da ridurre le inefficienze. Infine, si è considerata la possibilità di adottare tecnologie innovative per migliorare il processo di trasporto. Complessivamente, i risultati emersi dalle aree di ricerca, intrecciandosi tra loro, hanno permesso di tracciare un quadro completo dei fenomeni in atto nel mondo della distribuzione farmaceutica e di proporre soluzioni. Nonostante le criticità e le sfide, la filiera farmaceutica è caratterizzata da un enorme potenziale di miglioramento, se correttamente rilevato e gestito, in quanto sono state identificate soluzioni innovative che possono essere molto promettenti ed efficaci. La presente tesi si rivolge ai ricercatori e ai professionisti operanti nel campo della logistica e della supply chain come contributo sulle questioni critiche che la distribuzione farmaceutica sta affrontando, soprattutto a livello italiano ed europeo. Da un lato, la tesi ha introdotto nella letteratura accademica il tema della collaborazione tra settori diversi (vale a dire alimentare e farmaceutico), ma che presentano catene di approvvigionamento simili in termini di infrastrutture necessarie (catena del freddo). D'altra parte, può supportare i professionisti nell'individuazione di diversi metodi per migliorare le loro operazioni quotidiane, poiché la collaborazione orizzontale nel trasporto può portare enormi vantaggi. Infine, il presente lavoro di ricerca ha anche lo scopo di stimolare ulteriormente la ricerca sulla collaborazione tra settori diversi e può essere considerato come un primo passo in questa direzione. Ad esempio, un possibile sviluppo futuro del lavoro potrebbe consistere nello studio sulla possibile generazione di sinergie tra il settore farmaceutico e cosmetico, attraverso la collaborazione nel trasporto.
Pharmaceutical supply chain : analysis of the characteristics and investigation of improvement solutions for distribution in Italy
DISCACCIATI, ELENA
2018/2019
Abstract
The Italian pharmaceutical industry had an impressive growth in recent years, transforming Italy into the leading pharmaceutical producer in the Europe. Nevertheless, if on the one hand the industry side has been able to cope with the growing market uncertainty and complexity, on the other hand the distribution and logistics side has been increasingly under pressure. The constant temperature control and the need to be compliant with strict regulations in order to guarantee a high service level are just some of main issues daily affecting the pharmaceutical supply chain. As a consequence of this rising pressure, the margins of Italian logistics operators are dramatically diminishing, forcing many of them to leave the market as they are unable to make investments in costly and advanced technologies with their own resources in the short-run. In this context, the present thesis aimed to investigate the current issues influencing the pharmaceutical supply chain and the possible solutions, in order to improve the transportation activities. To pursue this objective, a critical review of the extant literature was followed by case study research. This approach allowed both to investigate the state of art of the current knowledge about the topic and to offer insights on practical instances, enriching the investigation of the subject. As a result, three main improvement directions were identified. First, bridging temperature-controlled food and pharmaceutical flows during transportation emerged as a valuable strategy to develop synergies and increase volumes. It represents an unexplored area of research and, at the same time, a viable solution for those players, like the pharmaceutical carriers in Italy, characterized by low margins. Second, upstream and downstream vertical integration strategies along the pharmaceutical supply chain might be developed, in order to reconfigure the chain in such a way to decrease inefficiencies. Lastly, it emerged the possibility to adopt innovative technologies to improve transport process. Overall, the emerged results from the mentioned research areas, intertwining with each other, allowed to draft a complete picture of the phenomena in place in the world of pharmaceutical distribution and to propose solutions. Despite its criticalities and challenges, the pharmaceutical supply chain is characterized by a huge potential for improvement, if properly detected and managed, as innovative solutions which can be very promising and effective were identified. The present thesis is thus intended for both researchers and practitioners in the field of logistics and supply chain to serve as a source of information regards the critical issues the pharmaceutical distribution is currently facing, especially at the European and Italian level. On the one hand, it introduced the theme of collaboration between different industries (i.e. food and pharmaceutical) but similar supply chains in terms of equipment and infrastructure required (cold chain) into the academic literature. On the other hand, it can support practitioners in identifying several ways to improve their daily operations, as the horizontal collaboration in transport can bring huge advantages. Lastly, the present research work is also intended to further stimulate the research about the collaboration across industries, and can be considered as a first step in this direction. For instance, a possible future development of the work can concern the investigation of additional synergies to be generated through the collaboration in transportation among pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/150913