Problem
The Case of 19011 Pharmacy Chain
A. In May 2022, Cairo Economic Court put an end to the expansion of famous pharmacy chain 19011, declaring its bankruptcy.
B. The Chain has controversially dominated the pharmaceutical market in Egypt briefly before crashing.
C. The 19011 chain of pharmacies - which is owned and operated by Alfa Pharmacy Company - was founded in October 2017 by a group of seven low-profile young pharmacists.
D. The company started with ten branches only.
E. By 2019, the chain acquired 100 registered and operating existing pharmacies.
F. At its peak, Alfa had 300 branches nationwide (27 governorates) with 250,000 pharmacists, administrators, and workers.
G. At the time, due to its massive expansion, the chain stirred controversy among marketers, strategists and management consultants for the reasons of: speed and rate of expansion, as well as its unknown source of funding.
H. Fast forward to 8 June 2022, a Cairo Economic Court declared Alfa bankrupt as of 29 May 2022 due to its inability to pay huge debts to banks and drug companies.
I. Give all possible reasons for the collapse of the 19011 chain of pharmacies / Alpha Company, using the Ten Marketing Pillars: Segmentation, Targeting, Research for Consumer Attributes, Differentiation, Positioning, Value Proposition, Product attributes, Pricing, Promotion & Advertising, and Distribution / place.
J. In your perspective of management: what could have gone wrong in terms of decision taking that 19011 managers did?