Bruce Annabel
FCA, MPS (Assoc.) BA (acc)
Adjunct Professor of pharmacy management QUT
Biographical information
Overall Expertise and skill set:
Bruce Annabel is an acknowledged authority on commercial and strategic planning issues
surrounding the business of retail pharmacy, both in Australia and overseas.
Business Credentials
He was the founding partner in 1986 of Pitcher Pharmacy Services a division of Pitcher Partners
Chartered Accountants, Brisbane. This division has now grown to include four partners and 30
support staff, serving the interests of some 600 community pharmacies in all states and territories of
Australia, making it the largest business development and strategic planning partner of retail
pharmacy in Australia.
Bruce’s depth and breadth of client exposure also enables him to have an excellent overview of
business management – in both understanding the external and internal issues affecting the
industry, as well as likely future directions.
Bruce is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, a member of the Pharmaceutical Society
of Australia and adjunct professor of pharmacy management at Queensland University of
Technology.
Pharmacy Industry Exposure
Bruce is regularly invited to contribute his expertise and observations by the Pharmacy Guild of
Australia, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesalers,
pharmacy chains and other industry groups. This sees him speaking at conferences, run strategy
workshops, facilitate strategy board sessions and engaged as a consultant both domestically and
overseas.
He is a board member and consultant to several retail pharmacy healthcare companies and a
member of several industry advisory boards.
Mainstream Retail
Bruce has attended and spoke at several retail summits here and overseas working with groups on
high level strategic development with special focus on:
Retail financial management and strategic planning
Retail strategy Implementation.
USA retail formats study tour with Australian retail executives
USA studying the Medicine Shoppe franchise system (1200 members) and strategy
Strategic value optimisation in retailing (on-line, multi-channel, retail metrics and retail
strategy) with professors from Santa Clara University Retail Management Institute
Involved in numerous one and two day workshops and seminars run by the Australian
Centre for Retail Studies on subjects such as retail trends here and overseas, retail buying,
retail metrics, demographics, experiential retailing, category management and so on…
Part of an advisory team to Warner Bros on how to improve the retail performance of their
retail outlets.
Assisted IPOS pharmacies, the 150 member retail pharmacy chain in Republic of Ireland, to
analyse their present position and devise strategies to totally reposition the group to a
differentiated and customer relevant retail healthcare offer.
Approach
Bruce presents his strategic vision and service proposition concepts in a forthright, yet methodical
and understandable manner to facilitate and implement measures aimed at shaping businesses to
deliver sustainable growth, profitability and improved customer relevance.
