The relevance of marketing activities in the Swiss prescription drugs market

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the most relevant marketing factors and examine existing theories and to provide guidance for planning future studies. Since drug markets are very complex, this paper will focus on a particular market/country to reduce some of this complexity.Design/methodology/approachA serial research study is undertaken to examine the essential marketing success factors by means of two qualitative studies applying Focus group and Delphi survey techniques. Swiss healthcare professionals in middle and senior management positions (Focus group n=5, Delphi group n=11) are asked to voice their personal opinion regarding the importance of various factors that might influence the turnover of prescription drugs. The fundamental findings derived from the Focus group interview are used for the Delphi group survey set‐up. To reach a consensus within the Delphi group, a three‐step interactive procedure is applied. For the evaluation of the Focus group results, a content analysis is performed. The results of the Delphi study are investigated, using descriptive statistics.FindingsThe paper ultimately yields a ranking of 29 instruments perceived to be important in the marketing of pharmaceuticals in Switzerland. With this paper, the proposed model and its propositions could be supported.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper investigates their relevance based upon practical experience of Swiss health care professionals and is therefore somewhat limited to the Swiss market.Practical implicationsIn the Swiss market, successful marketing has to consider appropriate product properties including issues such as efficacy and safety plus a promotion policy that emphasizes relationship with opinion leaders and personal selling. Additionally, it is vital that the product is also distributed via sales channels such as hospitals and physicians and that the product will be reimbursed by health insurance.Originality/valueThese findings will enable pharmaceutical companies to improve their sales success. The proposed model can be extended to other markets and countries.

Antecedents of Symmetry in Physicians’ Prescription Behavior: Evidence from SEM-Based Multivariate Approach

“…The outcomes in Table 3 demonstrate that the values of Cronbach's and composite reliabilities range between 0.80-0.90, which meets the minimum threshold criteria (>0.6) [114,118]. The outcomes of Table 3 further demonstrate that the values of factor loadings range between 0.70-0.95, which also meets the criterion of discriminant validities [114,116].…”

“…The outcomes in Table 3 demonstrate that the values of Cronbach's and composite reliabilities range between 0.80-0.90, which meets the minimum threshold criteria (>0.6) [114,118]. The outcomes of Table 3 further demonstrate that the values of factor loadings range between 0.70-0.95, which also meets the criterion of discriminant validities [114,116]. Similarly, the values of average variance extracted (AVE) are greater than 0.50 in all items; hence, the condition of convergent validity has also been fulfilled, which is also a pre-requisite for the SEM, EFA, and CFA approaches [119].…”

“…The results of Table 8 show that the values of fit-indices ((RNI:0.97, CFI:0.99, IFI:0.99, GFI:0.97, TLI:0.98, NFI:0.93, PNFI:0.88, PCFI:0.87 & RMSEA:0.004) are within the required threshold criterion for the considered structured model. Hence, it was concluded that our structural model is accepted as a suitable means to asses the symmetry in PPB [114,118].…”

“…According to Ahmed et al [114], and Huang et al [115], the normality of data is a pre-requisite for the analysis of SEM-based approaches. Therefore, we have transformed our considered data sample into z-scores and used descriptive statistics.…”

Revisiting the Role of Traditional, Electronic and Mobile-Based Communication Channels in the Pharmaceutical Industry of Lithuania

“…They would have an extensive experience in clinical research, publish articles in international and national journals (Flicker, 2012), they would be well respected by their busy colleagues willing to listen to them about the benefits of the latest drugs on the market (Janakiraman et al, 2008). Companies start promoting their new drugs to opinion leaders a year before the drug is introduced into the market (Stros et al, 2009) and use opinion leaders to promote the drug in the introductory product life cycle stage (Groves et al, 2002) as well as in the maturity product life cycle stages (Nair et al, 2010).…”