“Key performance indicators for the assessment of suppliers in the retail of pharmaceutical products - comparative research in the region of Western Balkans (Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo)”

This paper attempts to explore and to critically evaluate how the assessment of suppliers in the downstream logistics is done in three of the countries in the Western Balkans region -Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. The aim is to study two areas that would differentiate this research from the published academic and applied studies. The first aspect relates to the specific requirements and the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the assessment of suppliers in the pharmaceutical industry, being one of the sectors with the highest level of regulation and compulsory standards in the business. The second aspect is the geographical coverage - the conclusions represent a comparative study for the region of Western Balkans - Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia, an emerging region in Europe that has not been explored in many details. The research focuses on the evaluation of KPIs which the customers (pharmacies) tend to use while assessing their suppliers. The conclusions are based on statistical analysis of data obtained through a quantitative survey with 144 respondents - owners and managers of pharmacies. The findings show that long term relations and the perception for overall customer satisfaction play the most important role in the decision making process used by pharmacies to select the manufacturers of pharmaceutical products. The findings obtained through the survey could be used by pharmaceutical companies to elaborate adequate and up-dated business solutions.