Trend Research and Business Model Innovation: envisioning the future of pharmacy

Abstract

Over the past decade, the Italian pharmacy sector has undergone a series of evolutions that have led to a radical overhaul of the ways in which the profession of pharmacist is approached and the way in which "customer-patients" perceive pharmacy inside the national healthcare context. Several societal, legislative, and technological changes, recently amplified and accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, have led to the emergence of specific trends, among consumers and in the industry, that will lead to a revolution in the way pharmacy is done. Therefore, the purpose of the research presented in this paper was to analyze today's context and conceptualize the business model of the average Italian pharmacy in order to understand, from a managerial and strategic point of view, what evolutions and transformations of the same may occur in the future. The first chapter is mainly based on the introduction of the concepts of business model, focusing on how the paradigm has evolved and investigating its role in business strategy, and innovation, particularly concentrating on how the innovation process is structured and which are the sources of innovation of the business model. The second chapter, on the other hand, addresses the subject of foresight and trends, focusing on the importance of "doing foresight," the important role that trends play in the process, and the methodology used in the research. Finally, the third chapter refers specifically to the project followed in Strategy Innovation s.r.l., a consulting firm based in Venice which provides consultancy for B2B and B2C companies, and will therefore focus on the description of the different research phases, which aimed to analyze new consumer needs and changes in the external environment, and the presentation of the outputs, which highlights the impacts of trends on today's business model and exposes possible future business models.