MARKET ANALYSIS

Marketing Masterclass — Product differentiation for competitive advantage

Peter Dumovic and Daniel T. Knowles explore the key challenges and critical success factors behind competitive advantage in the product arena. Seeking long-standing and robust product differentiation is regarded as the key to enhanced competitive advantage.

Digital Marketing — The rise of e-health: Current trends and topics on online health communications

E-health is becoming a pervasive component of health communication and Renata Schiavo reviews the manifold channels used in current interactive health communication. This paper makes a case for the better integration of e-health into the current marketing mix.

Marketing Economics — Pricing and reimbursement: Towards a holistic approach

As pricing and reimbursement are key issues for today's medical marketers, Yorn Schmidt and Roman Rittweger propose a multi-dimensional model enabling companies to create a decision algorithm leading to more precise individual pricing. This will aid in improving the quality of the dialogue between pharmaceutical companies and those who ultimately decide market access.

Marketing Strategy — The need for new promotional models

The growing complexity of the healthcare environment means that pharmaceutical marketers need to do more to adapt to the needs of payers, patients, prescribers and regulators Guenther Illert and Ralf Emmerich propose a new perspective on marketing ROI and set the context for looking at the economics of targeted therapies, health education and new models of commercialisation.

PAPERS

Danes' awareness of and attitude towards direct-to-consumer advertising (DTC-A) of prescription drugs. A quantitative survey of 3,000 respondents

What do patients really think and know about direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs? Joakim Rehne and Claus Møldrup conducted an internet-based survey of Danish consumers finding that less than 20 per cent were in favour of DTC, whereas almost 1/3 were in favour of advertising of OTC products. This survey also found that many respondents were neutral concerning the role of pharmaceutical companies in disease awareness and health promotion campaigns.

Contract sales organisations (CSOs): Making the transition from tactical resource to strategic partnering

Beth Rogers describes the growing role of contract sales organisations (CSOs) in pharmaceutical marketing. This paper provides one of the few initial empirical research reviews of the strategic place of CSOs in pharmaceutical marketing strategy and some indication that CSOs will grow in importance in the light of the substantial changes that the industry in undergoing.

Consumer choice for over-the-counter drugs and supplements in the health care arena: Approaches to a macro-database across topics

Hollis Ashman, Samuel Rabino, Dorothy Minkus-McKenna and Howard R. Moskowitz present a framework to understand how consumers respond to over-the-counter (OTC) health care. This research provides an innovative approach to consumer segmentation in the light of the manifold offers in terms of wellness, health promotion and treatment in the current OTC universe.

Strategic alliances and competitive performance in the pharmaceutical Industry

What is the relationship between strategic alliances and company performance in the bio-pharmaceutical space? Francisco Rocha Gonçalves and Vítor da Conceição Gonçalves propose new approaches for developing alliance management capacity and development of alliance portfolios. The benefit of this approach lies in ensuring balanced, profitable and sustainable product portfolios.

Recruitment Perspectives

Strengthening corporate social responsibility in the pharmaceutical industry
Diego Esteban reviews the critical role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for today's pharmaceutical industry. A CSR 'orientation' requires new skills and viewpoints, something which not all traditional government and regulatory affairs-oriented pharmaceutical executives would have.

ResearchWatch

Brian Smith provides an overview of current research on the diffusion and acceptance of biomedical product innovation, physicians' search for data and current market segmentation practices. Other papers highlighted concern the role of information systems in the link between customer orientation and business performance, measurement of marketing performance and the role of acquisitions on firm performance.

Book Reviews

Science business: the promise, the reality and the future of biotech by Gary P. Pisano is reviewed by Brian Smith

Pharmaceuticals— Where's the brand logic? by Giles D Moss is reviewed by Mike Owen.