07 апреля 2016г.
Abstract
Pharmaceutical market investigation and analysis importance comes from its high economic value and specific features. These should be done in real market and practical context. We investigated, in Egyptian market, utilization of pharmaceutical companies’ promotional activities relative to those companies' different Activities Orientation.
Key words:
Promotion, Pharmaceutical Companies, Promotional Departments’ Name, Company Activities. Introduction
Marketing promotion is an important method to establish dialogue and liaison in order to directly and indirectly inform, encourage and remind distributors, physicians and patients about pharmaceuticals. In other words, it enables customers to get information about pharmaceutical product on the right time, through people, feelings, events and places (Bol'sheva, 2002). Marketing communication is an essential element of marketing mix. It has different modes of communications as defined and summarized in Table 1.
Table 1
Comparison of Promotional Tools (Bol'sheva, 2002;Cateora, 2007)
|
Items
|
Time frame
|
Main Motive
|
Major Task
|
Contribution to Profitability
|
|
Personal Communication
- Personal Selling: Personal interaction of medical representative, e.g., with physician and/or patient to produce effective communication and sales orders.
- Direct marketing: Using specific tools directed to customers, e.g., internet, postal mail, telephone, virtual social groups and E-mail.
|
|
Personal Selling
|
Both long term
and short term effects
|
Rational mode
|
Selling and/or mutual relations
|
High impact
|
|
Direct marketing
|
Short term
|
Rational mode
|
Selling
|
High impact
|
|
Mass communication
- Sales promotion is a group of short term incentives to trigger trying and/or buying.
- Public relations is a program designed to enhance image and/or brands in the community.
- Advertising is a paid mode to communicate services, goods and ideas through a sponsor.
|
|
Sales Promotion
|
Short term
effect
|
Rational mode
|
Selling
|
High impact
|
|
Public relations
|
Long term
effect
|
Emotional mode
|
Favorable attitude
|
Low impact
|
|
Advertising
|
Long term
effect
|
Emotional mode
|
Image and/or
positioning of brand
|
Moderate impact
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pharmaceutical companies should be neutral in using different media and utilize promotional tools in purchasing and decision making with due regard to efficiency and effectiveness in a specific situation at both local and international markets (Alba&Hutchinson, 1987). They should integrate them together in order to achieve strategic goals and communicate effective messages. Such knowledge will lead to efficiently allocate budget and implement right programs in promotional campaigns. Multinational pharmaceutical companies have a great impact on organizing pharmaceutical promotional tools. For promoting medicinal products, marketing promotion objectives are oriented towards certain customers, i.e., distributors, patients, pharmacists and physicians. To achieve pharmaceutical company's total promotional objectives, the following tasks should be performed: 1- Encouraging customer; 2 - Initiating, establishing and renewing need of buying; 3- Improving company’s and brand’s image; 4 - Presenting company activities; 5 - Informing about manufacturer and products to the community; 6- Stimulating purchasing process; 7 - Forming position and preferences about brands and 8- Reminding continuously about pharmaceutical product and company(Bol'sheva, 2002).
Sampling in our research was simple random probability, where companies in the Egyptian pharmaceutical market responded to questionnaires.
We investigated promotional departments name, promotional tools utilization in general, promotional tools utilization with due regard to orientation of company activities: practice
selling, practice manufacturing & selling and practice manufacturing, selling & developing of new drugs.
1-
Promotional Departments Name:
We found that promotional departments name varies in different companies.
Table 2
Promotional Departments Name
|
Company Origin
|
Promotional Departments Name %
|
|
Marketing Department
|
Selling and
Marketing Department
|
Other names (Promotion, Advertising, Selling
Department, Commercial Sector and Scientific Office)
|
|
Egyptian Companies
|
48.1
|
15.4
|
36.5
|
|
Foreign Companies
|
72.2
|
27.8
|
-
|
|
All Companies
|
54.3
|
18.6
|
27.1
|
Egyptian companies have a lot of names for their promotional departments, but foreign companies use only two names thereof. Furthermore, this department is mainly named marketing department in all companies.
2-
Promotional Tools Utilization:
Pharmaceutical companies mainly depend on using personal selling and sales promotion, followed by public relations, advertising and direct marketing.
Table 3
Promotional Tools
|
Promotional Tools %
|
|
Personal Communications
|
Mass Communications
|
|
Personal Selling
|
Direct Marketing
|
Public Relations
|
Advertising
|
Sales Promotion
|
|
100
|
23.5
|
51
|
38.8
|
83.5
|
It is worth mentioning that all pharmaceutical companies utilize personal selling where communication with both pharmacist and physician is essential for both non-prescribed and prescribed drugs.
3-
Promotional Tools Utilization with Due Regard to Orientation of Company Activities
We investigated promotional tools utilization with due regard to different activities of pharmaceutical companies. We found that there were no differences in utilization of different promotional tools if we only considered their ranking.
On the other hand, we found differences on comparing their extent of utilization with due regard to activities orientation. Direct marketing is utilized to a higher extent by pharmaceutical companies that practice selling, for its short term effect. Furthermore, public relations and advertising are utilized to a
higher extent by pharmaceutical companies that practice manufacturing, selling and developing of new drugs.
Finally, promotional department in pharmaceutical companies is mainly named marketing department and the most utilized promotional tool is personal selling, where all pharmaceutical companies utilize it. There are no differences in utilizing different promotional tools by ranking in general, but their utilization extent varies according to differences in pharmaceutical company activities.
List of references
1.
Alba, J.W., & Hutchinson, J. W. (1987). Dimensions of consumer expertise. Journal of consumer research, 411- 454.
2.
Bol'sheva,
S.N.,
Issledovanie
organizacionnyh aspektov
prodvizhenija
lekarstvennyh sredstv
na Rossijskom farmacevticheskom rynke: dis. Kand.Farm.nauk, M., S. 12-14, 2002.
3.
Cateora, P. R. (2007). International Marketing 13E (Sie):
Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
