The Americans are coming

Given the global nature of business in today's era of international commerce much of the success of a company comes down to how hard the front line workers do on a day to day basis.

What ever the future holds best being positive!

Passina is trying to work the Oracle, because he knows that the refinancing of the Boots debts is going to be very difficult, if not impossible, so a deal with Walgreen, he must be laughing all the way to the bank!!
It has been said that there will be no job losses, as a former employee, I know that comment is not true as staffing levels are under constant review.
Personally, I couldn't see Boots surviving in the UK, as the supermarkets are taking over, but now the Americans are involved, there could be a change in management, which is long over due, so Boots may now survive.

Having just returned from New York, I am able to compare the two chemist chains. How far the 'grass roots' is affected by the 'merger' is a wait and see issue. Walgreens and Dueanereade are a far slicker operation than the average Boots. All their stores in New York looked modern compared to the average Boots dated stores and presentation standards were much higher. The dispensaries were state of the art. Unfortunately, they also sell tobacco products and alcohol.

perhaps what matters is where Boots plc pay their taxes ... oh wait ...

The supermarket model is totally the wrong battle to be fighting - the sooner it's a healthcare concept, the better. There needs to be horses for courses and better links with GPs. The concept of one-stop healthcare and having GPs, dentists and pharmacists in one place is certainly one to consider. They were 10 yrs too early and asked dentists first, instead of the GPs, where most if not all the the prescription workload comes from.

Boots have never stood still - however I'm yet to be convinced they are pioneers as they aspire to be.

I think Walgreens think the end of the NHS is nigh, paving the way forward for insurance company decisions over how medical care is provided in future. They surely don't expect the way healthcare is funded in this country to continue as it is, and that includes the way Community Pharmacy is funded.

It will be interesting to see if they take up the other 55% if things don't change to what I think they expect.

Large corporate take-overs, buy outs are usually value destructive. Recent history proves it. It results in huge debts which then need paying back and that means cost containment eg staff cuts. Walgreens will be potentially taking on huge debts and ultimately they need to be paid back although in reality that may never happen. The chains have become too big and in many places are like monopolies as independents sell out to the highest bidder eg Boots, Lloyds, Rowlands all now owed by foreign companies.
Boots may operate in the UK but it has not been UK based for tax purpose for some time. Watch out redundancies are coming, locum rates will be further reduced. Still its great to be working with GP's in the local community and for sure the independent sector will survive.