SME Management: Analysis of Pharmacy2U's Growth and Challenges

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Pharmacy2U, a prominent Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) in the UK, focusing on its management strategies, growth trajectory, and the challenges it has faced. The report begins with an executive summary and a detailed table of contents, setting the stage for an in-depth examination of Pharmacy2U's nature as an online pharmacy specializing in NHS repeat prescriptions. It explores the company's startup process, current demand, and development, highlighting its expansion and technological advancements, including automated dispensing systems. Key challenges in managing the SME are identified, such as financial constraints and regulatory scrutiny, along with the strategies employed to overcome these hurdles. The report also examines the strategies and government support that have contributed to Pharmacy2U's success, including social media use and government policies. It concludes with recommendations for continued growth and success in the competitive UK market. The report also includes references and a reflective journal. This report is contributed by a student to be published on the website Desklib, which provides all the necessary AI based study tools for students.

Module Name: Managing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Module Code:
UWL ID:
Word count: 2000+

Executive Summary
This study mainly describes the management of SMEs like Pharmachy2U including the
growth, key challenges of SMEs, the current level of demand, strategies to maintain, and
government support. Pharmachy2U focuses on the concept of an online pharmacy that brings
the idea of giving online prescription transfers and offers the services of online doctor and
online mail orders to its customers. This company was incorporated in 1999 and owned by
Julian Harrison and Daniel Lee who work for the development of the service of NHS
electronic prescription. This study mainly stated the Pharmachy2U’s services like NHS repeat
prescriptions, online pharmacy services, online doctor services, etc. It has more than 350,000
EPS patients that are nominated till 2019 and also dispensed more than 621,128 prescription
items. Moreover, Pharmachy2U follows some strategies to achieve its desired targeted goals.
It is now trying to open a new dispensary that will have a completely automated system and
the dispensing capability will be up to 6.5 million prescription items in a month. Thus,
Pharmachy2U tries to develop the technology to improve its performance toward its
customers.

Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1
Aim of the Study:..............................................................................................................................1
Objectives of the study:.....................................................................................................................1
Findings.................................................................................................................................................2
Nature of Pharmachy2U....................................................................................................................2
Start-up Process.................................................................................................................................2
Current Demand, Growth, and Development of Pharmachy2U:.......................................................3
Key Challenges of managing SMEs:.................................................................................................3
SMEs current development strategies and government support:........................................................4
Conclusions...........................................................................................................................................4
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................5
References.............................................................................................................................................6
Reflective Journal..................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
SMEs can be defined as a special type of company that is ascertained by some number of
employees or some assets which help to generate a certain level of revenues or earnings.
According to the Companies Act of section no. 382 and 465 in the UK, SMEs can be stated
like- if a company has a balance sheet of not more than £3.26 million, a turnover which is not
more than £6.5 million and the number of employees will be less than 50, this is a small
company. If a balance sheet of not more than £12.9 million, a turnover of not more than
£25.9 million and employees will not more than 250 (What is an SME? A simple guide and
SME definition, 2021). Pharmacy2U is a company is known as the UK’s largest NHS online
pharmacy that turning into a medium-firm from a small firm. It was founded by the
pharmacist Daniel Lee in November 1999 and officially launched to the public in 2000. The
background of this firm is - when Daniel Lee worked with his father in his business and then
the plan of giving online mail-order prescription services came to his mind. This firm mainly
involves conducting electronic prescription transfer services and also manages NHS repeat
prescription on the side of the patients in the UK. As it was started its journey as a small-
medium enterprise, it is now growing its business by developing its services and operations.
Now, Pharmacy2U is providing its services to more than 100,000 patients with 200000+
items per month and also directly exerting NHS repeat prescriptions to the patients.
Furthermore, The Pharmaceutical journal disclosed that Pharmacy2U dispenses more than
430,000 prescription items in a month and ingressed the SCR 31 times throughout the year
(Pharmacy2U accessed summary care records 31 times in a year, NHS Digital data show,
2019).
Aim of the Study:
This study aims to describe the growth and management style of SMEs like Pharmacy2U
regarding the startup process, nature, key challenges that are faced, and governmental
support.
Objectives of the study:
The objectives of this study are given below:
 To bring out nature, startup process, and key challenges that are faced in managing its
operations by Pharmacy2U.
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 To figure out the competitive environment and also the current level of service
demand.
 To explain the development strategies and governmental support towards
Pharmacy2U.
Findings
Nature of this SME
The nature of Pharmacy2U is to focus on the services of NHS repeat prescriptions which is
an authorized service online that is availed by UK customers. The online pharmacy concept is
pioneered by Daniel Lee who took the initiative to deliver online prescriptions and services
with low rates more efficiently and more conveniently to its customers. Daniel, the founder of
Pharmachy2U, sold his apartment to create a website that is named pharmacy2u.co.uk, and
finally, it became the first online pharmacy with all its efforts and hard works in SME.
Moreover, It has been managing significantly two service areas such as retail products that
are sold online and prescription drugs in the UK. This company also faces some difficulties
from the British Medical Association that had concerns about the internet uses of prescribing
and also the Association of National Pharmaceutical wanted to inspect the structure and
business practices. But the nature of this company includes hard work, patience, creativity,
innovative thinking, and the desired vision to help Pharmacy2U to become one of the fastest-
growing companies in the UK. Therefore, this company aims to lead cost efficiencies over
the pharmacy sector in the Health Department (Owen, 2021).
Start-up Process
At an early phase the founder of Pharmacy2U, Daniel Lee, worked with his father for his
family business and also had a chemist shop in Leeds, UK. When he worked with his father,
he popped up with a plan to establish a pharmacy that will be based on an internet mail orders
system. After creating a website for his pharmacy, this company used courier services for his
company to supply its services to the customers (Philip et al., 2015). The two main
association of the UK, the British Medical Association and the National Pharmaceutical
Association, both expressed their concerns about the activities of Phamachy2U which flowed
out as a challenge for this new start-up business. But afterward, both of the associations gave
positive feedback and recommended Pharmacy2U to stay open their practices and activities
to rise internet-based pharmacy companies in the UK.
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Current Demand, Growth, and Development:
After getting positive feedback from the associations, Pharmacy2U has confirmed the amount
of £7million of investment from the Fund of Business growth and others to support its home
delivery NHS repeat prescription services(Owen, 2021). While merging with
ChemisDirect.co.uk, Pharmachy2U secured an amount of £10million of capital investment
from the BGF which help to introduce counter drugs in the UK and also to the global market.
Now, this firm dispenses up to 700,000 prescription items per month. Along with its repeat
prescription services, it offers assistance with the management of medication from
pharmacists and also clinical advice. G Square Healthcare also invest in Pharmachy2U to
develop its online services of NHS repeat prescriptions which help to ensure infrastructure to
meet up the demands of the customer. This firm also wants to teach its patients how
technology can improve and simplify the way they manage their medication. Moreover, it
achieved 350000 EPS customers in its customer base and dispatched 621,128 prescription
items to UK customers till the end of 2019 (Inside Pharmacy2U, 2019). Pharmachy2U also
added 330,000 NHS patients to its customer base whereas 5.3 million prescriptions of NHS
have been given away in the UK (Pharmacy2U reports £16m loss in 2018/2019, 2020). Its
first-class dispensing hub and award-winning technology are already the most advanced and
biggest in the UK which has the capability of dispensing 1 million NHS prescription items in
a month (2021). When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Pharmacy2U’s services became even
more critical, as the NHS responded to the crisis and at-risk patients needed to shelter at
home. In this coronavirus pandemic situation, Pharmacy2U had to respond fast to maintain
the rise of demand and it needed to take orders from its customer of whether it’s diabetes or
blood pressure tablets, or whatever the situation (New Relic Is a Prescription for Growth at
the United Kingdom’s Biggest Online Pharmacy, 2021). As Pharmachy2U is continuing to
develop, it will be starting its state-of-the-art dispensing facility for its customers in North
West Leicestershire in 2020 (2021).
Key Challenges of managing SMEs:
As we know that Pharmachy2U’s growth and development hasn’t come without any
challenges, When Pharmachy2U is listed as a small business, it has faced financial
challenges. BGF helped this firm with the amount of £10 million for raising the amount of
investment (Pharmacy2U | BGF, 2021). Pharmachy2U is regulated by the Care Quality
Commission and the General Pharmaceutical Council like all of the UK pharmacies to ensure
the best standards of clinical safety. The CQC has asked about some matters with
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Pharmachy2U’s prescriptions, asthma care, and also patient identification. After that, the firm
has taken action immediately to solve these issues. Pharmachy2U has also struggled for
providing advanced services to its customers because of the difficulties with the model of
establishment-based remuneration and along with the logistics to obtain the consent of the
patient (Inside Pharmacy2U, 2019). Besides, this firm faces many changing market
conditions challenges like increased demand for personalized medicines, demand for
generics, preventative products of medicine, etc (Healy, 2021). By optimizing the clinical and
cost-effective use of their services, it contributes to improving the health outcomes of the
patients (Barnett, 2019).
SMEs current development strategies and government support:
SMEs like Pharmachy2U use social media for informing their customers about the available
products and services and also give important information about their new services. The
management of Pharmacy2U uses the social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook,
Twitter, etc. for ensuring accessibility to its intended customers. This company tries to
provide different types of pharmaceutical products as per the required condition of its
customers in the UK which makes it different from other pharmaceutical companies. As its
distribution centers are well-connected online, it can interact with its customers to get
feedback, conviction, and preferences which help to develop its manufacturing department
(Pharmacy2U criticized for confusing marketing tactics, 2017). Therefore, Pharmacy2U must
discover some strategies to successfully survive in the market. The government of the UK has
launched a new policy for the development of SMEs by providing finance, developing
flexible regulations and policies to overcome the challenges, and trying to build the capability
of growing and managing small businesses in the UK. UK’s government supports SMEs to
formulate a strategy that results in high growth, try to encourage innovation by keeping rules
and regulations flexible, advise on managing and running the business properly, and develop
skills by providing training. Thus, the key finding is that Pharmachy2U maintains a broad
range of processes, systems and follows a transparent leadership structure to handle its
service delivery and also governance.
Conclusions
Being the largest online pharmacy in the UK, Phamacy2U offers its customer a different kind
of experience which help to save time and money and also try to make its patient healthier
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and happier with the help of their award-winning technology and clinical excellence. This
company provides consultation of online doctors, treatment, and also prescribing that relates
to a medical condition. These services are easily accessible for 24 hours each day and 7 days
a week. Daniel Lee tries to focus on the services of NHS repeat prescription NHS service is
regulated by GPhC. Pharmachy2U’s mission is to make modernize healthcare and develop
the outcome of the patient by managing its repeat prescription services. This company tries to
ensure its quality improvement and the procedure and protocols of medical emergencies for
managing its services. It has faced many key challenges in the UK and has overcome these
challenges with its proper management strategies and planning. As Pharmachy2U now
supports 500,000 patients in a year with their services of NHS repeat prescription, it’s
focusing on growing to be the biggest online pharmacy in the UK (New Relic Is a
Prescription for Growth at the United Kingdom’s Biggest Online Pharmacy, 2021). For
managing and running in the UK market, this company needs to understand the desire and
needs of its customer and make flexible strategies to survive in the UK.
Recommendations
Pharmachy2U creates an easier way for its patients to manage their NHS repeat prescriptions
that help to manage their medication. This company can take the following steps to manage
and improve its service quality to its customers.
 Needs to build its strategy on multiple market structures by concentrating and
understanding the preferences and requirements of the customers.
 Must try to bring out some innovative products and needed to set a target of
improvement per year.
 should work for maximizing its financial and operational performances in the UK.
 should work on its teamwork and its entire achievement and try to improve its
infrastructure for gaining its desired goal.
 should be aware of its dispensing services to avoid unexpected delays in taking some
orders.
 should create flexibility in the engagement of employees.
 Needs to develop the clinical audit arrangement and should maintain all recordings of
the incidents to learn from these incidents.
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References
Simplybusiness.co.uk. 2021. What is an SME? A simple guide and SME definition. [online]
Available at: <https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2020/05/what-is-an-
sme/> [Accessed 16 April 2021].
The Pharmaceutical Journal, 2019. Pharmacy2U accessed summary care records 31 times in
a year, NHS Digital data show.
Owen, V., 2021. Online pharmacy Pharmacy2u secures £7m support. [online] This is
Money. Available at: <https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/smallbusiness/article-
4480244/Online-pharmacy-Pharmacy2u-secures-7m-support.html> [Accessed 18 April
2021].
Philip, A., Gessner-Wharton, M., Birney, P., Blee, J., Desai, A., Gorbach, C., Karralli, R., Lorimer,
D., Munch, K., Nweke, G., Parekh, S., Puebla, M., Cox, R., Pitman, E. and Garey, K., 2015.
Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative task force report: Improving participation in a survey on hospital
pharmacy practices in Texas. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 72(12), pp.1053-1057.
The Pharmaceutical Journal, 2019. Inside Pharmacy2U.
The Pharmaceutical Journal, 2020. Pharmacy2U reports a £16m loss in 2018/2019.
Trustpilot. 2021. [online] Available at:
<https://business.trustpilot.com/customer-stories/build-trusted-brand/how-pharmacy2u-uses-
reviews-to-build-trust-with-their-patients> [Accessed 19 April 2021].
New Relic. 2021. New Relic Is a Prescription for Growth at the United Kingdom’s Biggest
Online Pharmacy. [online] Available at:
<https://newrelic.com/resources/case-studies/Pharmacy2U-case-study> [Accessed 19 April
2021].
Barnett, N., 2019. Opportunities for collaboration between pharmacists and clinical
pharmacologists to support medicines optimization in the UK. British Journal of Clinical
Pharmacology, 85(8), pp.1666-1669.
Publications.parliament.uk. 2021. [online] Available at:
<https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmpublic/Medicinesandmedical/memo/
MMDB01.pdf> [Accessed 19 April 2021].
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BGF. 2021. Pharmacy2U | BGF. [online] Available at: <https://www.bgf.co.uk/case-
studies/pharmacy2u/> [Accessed 18 April 2021].
Healy, P., 2021. The UK Pharmaceutical Industry: Current Challenges and Future Solutions.
[online] Issuu. Available at:
<https://issuu.com/stockholmnetwork/docs/uk_pharma_industry/40> [Accessed 19 April
2021].
The Pharmaceutical Journal, 2017. Pharmacy2U is criticized for confusing marketing tactics.
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Reflective Journal
In my regular entries over the 10 weeks of the semester, the learning that I have learned from
those 10 weeks are described below:
In the first week, I have learned the process of starting SMEs in the UK and how SMEs
provide their services. Next week, I have got to know about the current demand for SMEs’
services like the services of Pharmachy2U’s NHS repeat prescription items, online doctor
services, etc. Furthermore, I have come to know in the third week about the challenges that
are mostly faced in the UK while starting up a new SME. In week no.4, I have gathered
some knowledge about the rules and regulations of SMEs that are needed to maintain and
follow strictly. In the fifth week, I have got to know the development and growth associated
with SMEs In the UK. At the week of six, I have got an idea of how to manage and deal with
the changing situation in the context of SMEs. In week no. 7, I have acquired knowledge
about the strategies that are followed by the SMEs to overcome their challenges. Next week, I
have learned about the importance of evaluating customer’s preferences to achieve the
desired goal of any SMEs. In the ninth week, I have learned about SME's current
development and growth strategy which help them to obtain their targeted goals. In the last
week, I have come to know about the government supports towards SMEs in the UK.
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