Abstract
“Critical Analysis of Innovative Marketing Practices for Optimization in
Pharmaceutical Industry”
By
Ruchi Sharma
Pharmaceutical companies, healthcare services and diagnostic services are booming in the
present era. Government has also come up with organizing and regulating the legal, marketing,
human resource development and technological aspects in the pharmaceutical sector. Various
initiatives are being taken to boost the growth of firms involved in the manufacturing of various
formularies. Indian pharmaceutical industry is highly fragmented with estimated 20,000 units.
The organized sector consists of 250 to 300 companies, which account for 70% market share.
While the largest player holds a market share of less than 7 percent, the top ten players control
35 percent of domestic market. Because of generic market nature, Indian pharmaceutical industry
is characterized by large number of players. Therefore it was necessary to study the Indian
pharmaceutical market. The concept of innovation in the pharmaceutical marketing is one of the
emerging fields that are growing on par with the information technology industry. It is a field
where the pharmaceutical players, physicians and different customers in the nations brainstorm
together to develop effective and creative marketing for the customers. Initially, we have studied
the Indian healthcare system in India. We have also studied the pharmaceutical marketing, its
evolution and various interventions by public and private sector. We have also discussed about
the promotional mix strategy used in the pharmaceutical marketing and understood the changes
in marketing process from the form of writing on paper for prescribing their products to
innovative marketing methods. The present study focuses on these issues and specifically makes
an attempt to answer the research topics like the importance related to different innovation in
marketing strategy by pharmaceutical companies, the most challenging factors in pharmaceutical
industry, important promotional tools used by different types of pharmaceutical companies, the
level of innovation in marketing strategy used by the selected pharmaceutical companies and the
level of improvement in performance in a pharmaceutical company.
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We have studied the concept of medical tourism which has now started prevailing in India. The
concept of intellectual property right, Indian pharmaceutical market data, major challenges faced
by the pharmaceutical industry, significance of marketing and organization markets in India were
also discussed to see the effectiveness of development of modern technology for Pharmaceutical
marketing. Some of the major initiatives of Pharmaceutical marketing in India were PublicPrivate Partnership, formation of Pharmexcil and use of innovative marketing strategy through
use of latest information and communication technology.
There has been development done in encouraging in partnering public and private sector so as to
continue the health services. The Central Government Health Services has made it mandatory for
all healthcare institutions and diagnostic centers providing care to have either NABH 1 / NABL2
certification. The government has also taken initiatives of including flagship programmers such
as Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana and State level Insurance schemes like the Arogyashri,
Chiranjeevi etc. which is an innovative project implemented by the state. We have also focused
on market research in the Indian pharmaceutical industry.
Our research was exploratory in nature where the main purpose of study was that of formulating
a problem for more precise investigation of developing the working hypothesis from an
operational point of view. The major emphasis in study is on the discovery of ideas and insights
of potential of innovation, awareness and implementation of the pharmaceutical marketing in
Indian pharmaceutical system. The research design for the study is flexible enough to provide
opportunity for considering different aspects of problem under study. Flexibility in research
design is needed because the research problem, broadly defined initially, is transformed into one
with more precise meaning in exploratory studies, which may necessitate changes in the research
procedure for gathering relevant data. In order to acquire information by observation and
experimentation about the performance of implementation and awareness of Pharmaceutical
marketing in India, the researcher used survey method for collecting data. These methods helped
interviewer to get the first hand data and enabled to know the opinion of people to make
pharmaceutical marketing innovative and implement it at grass root level in India.
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2
National Accreditation Board for Hospitals
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories
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The main objective of our research is to critically analyze the innovative marketing practices for
optimization in pharmaceutical industries. The study was conducted by the collection of primary
data through various sources such as observations, interview and questionnaire and also by
actively participating in various conferences. Secondary data was collected from other sources
such as internet, newspapers, journals, individuals, various pharmaceutical literature and
institutions etc. For the analysis of primary data various statistical tool were applied. In our
study, we used chi square test, arithmetic mean and various graphs such as pie chart and the bar
graph for analysis and interpretation of the results.
For the analysis we have prepared two types of study i.e. appendix 5 and appendix 6. We have
collected data from different pharmaceutical companies and hospitals of Rajasthan and NCR
region. A stepwise analysis was conducted to study the data. The data was collected by providing
them with the questionnaire and taking their follow up frequently. Demographic variable is
mainly used in the statistics as it influences the buying behavior of the individual. So, we have
divided the sample profile into age group, qualification, gender, and geographical area. The
questionnaire of appendix 5 constitutes the questionnaire for the physician and appendix 6
includes the questionnaire of the medical representative. These questionnaires include objective
type of questions and open ended questions both in the questionnaire of medical representatives
and the physician. We have also included comparison of few different parameters of
pharmaceutical marketing by rating method. We have also framed 15 hypotheses by using chi
square test. From fifteen hypotheses, 12 hypotheses were accepted and 3 hypotheses were
rejected. Respondents were asked to choose their preferences for awareness and implementation
level in the pharmaceutical environment from four different options.
Analysis of physician data is actually based on the promotional strategies, medical ethics,
technology utilization and the major challenges in the pharmaceutical sector. Similarly data of
medical representative data have been taken and analyzed on the parameters like awareness of
promotional tools, implementation of innovative method, positive attitude towards innovation,
employee improvement in performance. Different bar graphs have also been used here in the
study to analyze them.
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After the analysis of appendix 5, another study that is appendix 6 was done to get the insights of
issues and awareness level of pharmaceutical marketing strategy both from the physicians and
medical representatives. So, in this study two groups were taken. The sample size of medical
representatives was 369 and sample size of physician was 100. So structured questionnaire was
framed and filled by the respondents of both the group. This was analyzed and interpreted
further. Further, we draw the conclusion and throw some light on future potential of
pharmaceutical marketing and its implantation. Comparative analysis of innovative practices of
pharmaceutical company has been done and the marketing strategy of the pharmaceutical
companies has been done that helps in reducing the cost and effectively helps in managing the
resources. Therefore it was necessary to study and critically analyze the optimization techniques
used by pharmaceutical organization. Finally the study has been made to study and find the
issues, trends, future potential and suggestions in the prevailing Indian market scenario.
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