MIDDLE EAST people to acknowledge the quality of service . Then they would go out of their way to receive that quality again , and there would always be a pharmacist who could counsel them on their medication , that would show them how to use the medication , and be readily available to serve .”

The customer proved far easier to convince than the authorities . Aryan faced an uphill battle against the Jordanian Pharmaceutical Association in attempting to convince the historically conservative organisation to allow an outsider to promote chain pharmacies . Other pharmacies in Jordan are , in Aryan ’ s words , “ mom and pop shops ” and there were no chains despite the fact that the law allowed them . Prior to Aryan ’ s arrival , that law had never been implemented .

By 2003 he had managed to open the second branch of Pharmacy One , and remained with just the two

stores while working on perfecting his business processes until 2005 .

“ During that time I was building the platform for the expansion , by which I mean IT systems , trading procedures , personnel , and so on . I spent four years building that platform , and once it was ready , I started expanding at a rate of 12 new branches per year . “ No one had done this before so it was challenging . The consumer accepted it and loved the idea of having pharmacies with the same name , with consistent availability of products , consistent quality of service , and the ability to access the same records at any branch . The smaller competitors , threatened by the introduction of a big chain , began improving their own quality of service ; I would say we ’ ve raised the bar for pharmaceutical care in Jordan as a result .”

Technological needs

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