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Pharmaceutical market value in Iran exceeded to more than US$4bn in 2013, indicating annually over 20 per cent growth. In the past decades, Iranian pharmaceutical industry was supported by government policies, namely, generic substitution, import limitation and local production support; however, the local pharmaceutical manufacturer’s market share in value has been decreased gradually. This study aims to provide historical data on Iran pharmaceutical market to show the importance of new product development to attain greater market share and tries to motivate the pharmaceutical industry located in developing countries to develop more innovative medicines.

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study that investigates the Iranian pharmaceutical market by focusing on new products over a five-year period (2009-2014), and that was augmented by an expert panel to rank subjectively firms’ performance indicators to shed light on the importance of new product development to firms’ performance.

The expert panel results find out that new product development is one of the most important “result indicators” for Iranian pharmaceutical companies. Historically, in line with the experts’ opinion on the new product development, the Iranian pharmaceutical industry has shown its capability to develop new medicines by developing 3,095 new products (mostly new-to-firm) across about 100 firms. Despite this fact, the share of local manufacturers in new medicines’ market decreased from 52 per cent at the beginning of studied period to 24 per cent at the end, and the gap between the unit value of imported and domestically produced medicines has been significantly increased due to low-innovative medicines locally produced.

This research was challenged with limitations such as lack of reliable published data on new medicines in the Iran pharmaceutical market.

This study highlights the fact that developing more innovative products in the generic pharmaceutical industry such as Iran can grant its market share.

This is an original study that shows the effect of innovative product development on market share through historical data.

Knowledge is a key success factor in achieving competitive advantage in the current fast-paced and uncertain economic environment. Several studies in the literature have analyzed the relationship between knowledge creation (KC) and organizational success; however, the mechanisms by which KC leads to accumulation of intellectual capital (IC) and thereby affects various dimensions of organizational performance are understudied. The purpose of this paper is to examine how KC and IC and their relationship influence key dimensions of organizational performance.

A research model was developed and tested based on the literature in the areas of KC, IC and organizational performance. This study uses a survey sent to companies in an intensive knowledge-based industry. The balanced scorecard (BSC) approach was used to measure the key dimensions of organizational performance.

The results from structural equation modeling (SEM) on 470 completed questionnaires received from the pharmaceutical companies in Iran reveal that KC activities lead to the accumulation of organizational IC and IC has a crucial and positive impact on the BSC. Furthermore, the results from the path analysis indicate that IC mediates the effects of KC on the BSC.

The findings of this study contribute to the extant literature on the relationship between knowledge and organizational performance by demonstrating that knowledge and KC lead to performance when organizations utilize KC activities and leverage them to accumulate IC. Once used effectively, IC will result in a better performance in the knowledge-intensive environments.

This is the first study that investigates how KC contributes to firm performance by incorporating the mediating impact of IC on the BSC. The proposed model and results will help organizations to identify the mechanisms through which KC initiatives improve organizational performance.

In recent years, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has taken on a more prominent role in both large and small businesses because of its significant impact on various aspects of business performance. To date, a growing body of literature has demonstrated the mechanisms whereby CSR practices affect organizational outcomes; however, there has been little research examining how CSR practices contribute to customer loyalty within the pharmacy context. As such, this study aims to explore how CSR practices influence the loyalty of pharmacy customers, particularly in relation to the mediatory effects of customer-company identification (CCI) and customer trust.

A survey questionnaire was developed and administered to collect the required data from the pharmacy context. The resultant data were subjected to exploratory factor analysis to identify the scale dimensions, followed by multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses.

Analysis of the results (n = 528) revealed that perceived CSR indirectly impacts loyalty through the mediatory effects of trust and CCI. All hypothesized effects were also confirmed via empirical testing.

The findings of this research suggest that not only are CSR activities responsive to societal concerns, but they can also promote customer identification with pharmacies and strengthen customer trust, which can, in turn, lead to long-term customer loyalty.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model to determine whether organizational climate (OC) mediates the effect of managerial skills (MSs) on business performance in small businesses, such as pharmacies.

The model proposed in this research was tested using separate questionnaires specifically designed for managers, employees and clients. The data set consists of responses from 301 managers, 470 clients and 328 employees from community pharmacies in Tehran, capital of Iran, which were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Although the results indicated no significant direct relationship between MSs and pharmacy performance (PP), they also confirmed that having a context-appropriate set of MSs can positively affect PP via the mediating effect of OC.

This is the first study investigating how MSs improve performance in retail pharmacies. Although this research focuses specifically on small businesses in the pharmaceutical industry, it nevertheless contributes to the literature by showing the importance of OC.

Different studies have analyzed the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and innovation performance (IP). However, the question of how innovation culture (IC) affects the relationship between OL and IP remains unexplored. This study aims to examine the impact of IC on the relationship between OL and various dimensions of IP, including product, process and objective innovation.

A research model was developed and performed based on the relevant literature in the field of OL, IC and IP. The hypotheses are tested with the data collected from companies operating in an intensive knowledge-based industry.

Based on the results of 625 questionnaires completed by pharmaceutical companies, OL activities and IC can result in product and process innovation. However, this relationship was not supported for the objective innovation. Furthermore, in terms of the moderating role of IC in the relationship between OL and IP dimensions, the results were significant.

The findings help to gain a better understanding of how organizational commitment by creating a culture for innovation can help to maximize the benefits of continuous OL in product and process innovation.

Considering the three aspects of IP, it is the first survey of the contribution of OL in firms’ IP with considering the moderating role of IC. The proposed model would enrich the relevant literature and provide us with better understanding how OL contributes to the IP.

A balanced scorecard (BSC) is an applied tool for implementing strategic management in various organizations. Implementing strategic management using the BSC approach has not received much attention in pharmacy departments. This study aims to provide a model for the strategic management of pharmacy departments using the BSC framework.

This experimental study was conducted from 2015 to 2018 in a 300-bed hospital and regional healthcare centers affiliated with the Petroleum Industry Health Organization in Tehran province, Iran. After carefully reviewing the organization's mission and vision, the strategic objectives were determined via the internal matrix and the external matrix (IE matrix), and the strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–threats matrix (SWOT matrix) were examined. Then, six BSC measures and interventions were identified, and each was examined from the perspectives of finance, patient satisfaction, internal processes and learning/growth. Finally, the proposed strategy was evaluated.

Results showed significant increases in patient satisfaction and gross profit. The observed increase range, from 0.09 to 0.29, indicates more effective operational management for optimal resource utilization. In addition, the pharmacy department was able to save US $539,137 by implementing prepared protocols for expensive medications. Similarly, the pharmacy department saved $442,899 during the two years of our strategic management plan by implementing the standard mechanism for returning unused medications to the pharmacy department after patients were discharged from various treatment units.

This study is among the first studies to demonstrate the simultaneous development, implementation and evaluation of the proposed strategy using the BSC in a pharmacy department in a public healthcare center. The BSC application improved the optimal use of resources and reduced costs while increasing patient satisfaction. It appears that the application of such an intervention may be as valuable to public pharmacies as it is to other private centers.

Innovative organizations are increasingly facing challenges in a dynamic market to address corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues; however, research on how organizational learning (OL) contributes to organizations’ social responsibility and innovation remains sparse. This study aims to bridge the gap in previous research and examines how OL and dynamic capabilities (DCs) act as drivers of CSR performance (CSRP) and innovation performance.

This study is survey-based and uses time-lagged, multisource data from 151 pharmaceutical industry-related companies in Iran. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the validity of the measurement model and hierarchical regression was used to test the key hypotheses.

DCs mediate the relationship between OL and CSRP. Moreover, CSRP significantly mediates the relationship between OL and innovation.

Drawing on the perspective of DCs, this research is among the first to offer new insights in a new context on what antecedent conditions lead to the successful implementation of organizational CSRP and how CSRP would, in turn, lead to subsequent innovation performance improvement.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the implementation of total quality management (TQM) and organizational performance, using the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach.

In order to investigate the relationship between TQM and BSC, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 30 largest pharmaceutical distribution companies in Iran. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the measurement model and to test the research hypotheses using the data from 933 completed questionnaires.

The results supported the research model and revealed that TQM implementation can positively and significantly influence the BSC and its four perspectives.

Considering the strong association between TQM and all four perspectives of organizational performance (BSC), managers should strongly leverage the implementation of TQM practices in order to reach their strategic objectives.

This study is the first empirical study conducted on the association of TQM and BSC in the pharmaceutical industry. The findings of this study provide strong evidence supporting the implementation of TQM in the pharmaceutical context.

The direct impact of organizational learning (OL) on organizational performance has been studied over the past two decades. However, how OL contributes to organizational innovation still remains under-researched. Based on the knowledge-based view of the firm and dynamic capability theory, we developed a theoretical framework in order to empirically examine how OL offers organizations the essential tools for creating dynamic capabilities (DCs), which pave the way for innovation performance (IP).

The authors apply a time-lagged, multisource and survey-based research designed to test the proposed model in the pharmaceutical industry where knowledge is a source of innovation. The data collected from companies operating in such an industry were analyzed by utilizing hierarchical regression analysis to explore how OL could lead to IP through DC.

The results indicated that OL is positively, significantly associated with DCs, as well as its dimensions of learning, integrating and reconfiguring capabilities. The findings showed that these capabilities are significant predictors of innovation performance. In addition, the findings revealed that innovation culture significantly moderates the relationship between DCs and innovation performance.

By dedicating more time and resources, managers can reinforce dynamic capabilities as a strategic tool to generate new knowledge and distribute it across the organization, which can go a long way toward boosting innovation performance in the pharmaceutical industry. This study offers researchers and practitioners invaluable insights into how effective OL can enhance firm-level innovation performance through dynamic capabilities.

The purpose of this research is to propose a framework for developing business intelligence systems (BIS).

Following a qualitative research method, a comprehensive framework at organizational and individual level, as well as team level, was developed.

The findings revealed that team-level influential factors play a more significant role in BIS development success. The results also indicate that BIS development relies on suppliers, customers and their relationships, whereas the supplier side has a more significant impact on determining successful development. Drawing on these findings, embedded knowledge, knowledge management process capability and project team members’ interaction were identified at team level on supplier side which significantly influence the success of BIS development.

This research provides insights into a framework toward successful development of BIS.

The findings of this exploratory study would be useful for planners and managers of BIS development projects to enhance success probability of such projects.