It has been a great pleasure to work with such an enthusiastic and hardworking group of students over the past number of years, and I really look forward to welcoming a new cohort of students this autumn.

This Executive Diploma in Strategic Pharmacy Business Management is delivered by Dublin Business School (DBS) through a classroom, block-release, intensive and focused learning experience, and is currently taking place in DBS’ city centre educational premises, with further learning supports available through the virtual learning environment and classroom tools such as Moodle, Panopto and Zoom.

The programme was developed by DBS, in conjunction with the IPU Business Steering Group, with the aim of providing executive training to enhance the business skills of pharmacists to build their capacity to deliver on their strategic goals through growing their business, enhancing their market share, and underlining their profitability.

During the year, this programme delivers the following modules: Consumer Behaviour in a Pharmacy Setting; Organisational Behaviour in a Retail Environment; Pharmacy Retail Marketing; Legal Issues and Regulation in Retail; Leadership and Communication; Category Management and Retail Purchasing; Digital Marketing; Retail Pharmacy Business Strategy and Business Intelligence; and Data Visualisation.

We have opportunities for Virtual Retail Simulation, where participants can manage a virtual shop and compete between themselves to develop the best strategy to win the competition.

The primary objective of this programme is to build and enhance the retail business capability of pharmacists and business owners, as part of strategic pharmacy objectives for the future.

The course is evaluated by a series of continuous assessments per module, based on reflection and application of learnings to real pharmacy scenarios.

The final assignment is The Capstone Applied Retail Project, which is undertaken by each learner as soon as the taught modules are completed. The project presents learners with several issues that are common to start-ups attempting to implement a new business model in a competitive marketplace.

More specifically, the project requires learners to examine the strategic options available to a business offering both products and services in a high-contact professional environment.  Each learner is assigned a project mentor to guide them in the delivery of the project, with a focus on both practical and academic objectives.

In a service business, such as pharmacy retail, it is ultimately people who make the difference. Your employees create and deliver your organisation’s unique experience. It is the employees who form the unbreakable relationships between the organisation and its customers.

The pharmacists themselves are vital to the success of their business and for building and maintaining business-customer relationships, therefore training and development for pharmacists becomes a critical success factor for the pharmacy retail sector in Ireland.

“The primary objective of this programme is to build and enhance the retail business capability of pharmacists and business owners, as part of strategic pharmacy objectives for the future.”  

The advantages of training, development and skills are not illusionary, as they are a key aspect of the economic life, both at a business level, and for the individual. For the company, training offers increased competitiveness through raising skills levels, productivity and ‘value added’, while for the individual, education and training can increase knowledge, opportunities and employee engagement and job satisfaction.

As our next intake is starting this October, we would like to invite all members of the IPU, who wish to continue their professional development to enrol in this programme. You can find out more information and enrol on the course by visiting dbs.ie > Courses > Professional Evening Diplomas > Executive Diploma in Strategic Pharmacy Business Management. Alternatively, if you have any queries, please contact DBS directly at admissions@dbs.ie.