Insights from CBI’s Customized Distribution and Pharmacy Strategies Summit

I gave an interesting presentation to a group of pharmacy distribution experts at the recent CBI Customized distribution and Pharmacy Strategies Summit and would like to share some of my insights from the conference. The retail channel is undergoing a significant change and must be thought of and managed differently than in the past. The retail channel is saturated with product and it is getting harder and harder to get product on shelves. It is getting harder and harder to have the right amount of product available for purchase: too little and you risk therapeutic interchange and too much and […]

Tags: big data, Channel Management, specialty pharma launch

April 1, 2014 | Josh Halpern

Can Pharma Do VMI or CPFR

Over the past fifteen years, concepts like Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) have become commonplace in many verticals. But propose VMI or CPFR at a Life Sciences channel management brainstorming session and you will get some interesting looks. The order management/supply chain folks in the room chuckle. Trade shakes its head from side to side, as if to say, "Not in my lifetime..." Pretty much everyone else wonders what VMI and CPFR mean. So I'll ask the provocative question - why not VMI and/or CPFR in Life Sciences? Life Science companies sell through demand networks, just like the many consumer product companies who have made VMI and CPFR well-honed business processes. In this post, I'd like to examine what I think the reason is - and ask whether the logic still applies.

Tags: Channel Management, CPFR, Life Sciences, Pay for Performance, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)

January 28, 2014 | Josh Halpern

Daily Business Management Series: An Introduction

The evolution to Daily Business Management

Today's blog post will kick off our first blog series on a concept we've been talking about for a little while here at IntegriChain - Daily Business Management. I had the opportunity to speak about it back in December at CBI Trade & Channel, and will also be serving on a panel at HDMA Distribution Management and Technology Expo with several of our customers who are currently at various stages in adopting and embracing Daily Business Management.

Tags: Channel Management, Daily Business Management