SEGMENTATION OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET AND GOODS POSITIONING
Market segmentation is a marketing strategy that involves dividing a broad target market into subsets of consumers who have common needs, and then designing and implementing strategies to target their needs and desires using media channels and other touch-points that best allow to reach them. Market segments allow companies to create product differentiation strategies to target them.
Methods for segmenting consumer markets
Geographic segmentation
Marketers may segment according to geographic criteria—nations, states, regions, countries, cities, neighborhoods, or postal codes. The geo-cluster approach combines demographic data with geographic data to create a more accurate or specific profile.[1] With respect to region, in rainy regions merchants can sell things like raincoats, umbrellas and gumboots. In hot regions, one can sell summer wear. In cold regions, someone can sell warm clothes. A small business commodity store may target only customers from the local neighborhood, while a larger department store can target its marketing towards several neighborhoods in a larger city or area, while ignoring customers in other continents.
Psychographic segmentation
Psychographics involves using sciences like psychology and demographics to better understand consumers. Psychographic segmentation divides consumers according to their lifestyles, personality, values and social class. Consumers within the same demographic group can exhibit very different psychographic profiles.
Behavioral segmentation
Behavioral segmentation divides consumers into groups according to their knowledge of, attitude towards, use of or response to a product.
Segmentation by occasions
Segmentation according to occasions relies on the special needs and desires of consumers on various occasions - for example, for products for use in relation with a certain holiday. Products such as Christmas decorations or Diwali lamps are marketed almost exclusively in the time leading up to the related event, and will not generally be available all year round. Another type of occasional market segments are people preparing for a wedding or a funeral, occasions which only occur a few times in a person's lifetime, but which happen so often in a large population that ongoing general demand makes for a worthwhile market segment.
Segmentation by benefits
Segmentation can take place according to benefits sought by the consumer[2] or according to perceived benefits which a product/service may provide.
Selecting a target market requires an appraisal of the market opportunities available to the organization. A market opportunity analysis involves, firstly, a study of the various environmental forces that affect a firm's market program. Then the organization must analyze the three components of a market—people (or organizations), their buying power, and their willingness to spend. Analysis of the "people" component involves a study of the geographic distribution and demographic composition of the population. The second component is analyzed through the distribution of the consumer's income and the consumer's expenditure patterns. Finally, to determine consumers' "willingness to spend" management must study their buying behavior. This involves the sociological and psychological factors that influence buyer's behavior.
A demographic or demographic profile is a term used in marketing and broadcasting, to describe a demographic grouping or a market segment. This typically involves age bands (as teenagers do not wish to purchase denture fixant), social class bands (as the rich may want different products than middle and lower classes and may be willing to pay more) and gender (partially because different physical attributes require different hygiene and clothing products, and partially because of the male/female mindsets).
A demographic profile can be used to determine when and where advertising should be placed so as to achieve maximum results. In all such cases, it is important that the advertiser get the most results for their money, and so careful research is done to match the demographic profile of the target market to the demographic profile of the advertising medium. For instance, shortly after the cancellation of Star Trek in 1969, NBC's marketing department complained that was premature. They explained that their newly instituted demographic audience profiling techniques indicated that the series' main young urban audience was highly desirable for advertisers. In 1971, CBS acted on their own marketing department's demographic findings about their television network's programming and canceled several series that appealed primarily to older and rural audiences in a move nicknamed the rural purge.
In more recent years, such demographic marketing considerations does not always dictate such drastic programming decisions with the rise of numerous cable channels. For instance, on the channel, The Hub, it was discovered that their original animated series, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, was not only attracting good ratings with its intended young girl demographic, but also a significant teen and adult male and female audience as well. Although this cross-demographic appeal was entirely unexpected by the network's executives, the franchise owner, Hasbro, decided to take advantage of this opportunity with some considerations for this fandom in the series' writing and marketing and the decision produced favorable results with the series attracting the highest ratings in the network's history. A good way to figure out the intended demographic of a television show, TV channel, or magazine is to study the ads that accompany it. For example, in the United States the television program The Price is Right most frequently airs from 11 a.m. to Noon. The commercials on it (besides the use of product placement in the show itself) are often for things like arthritis pain relievers and diapers. This indicates that the target demographics are senior citizens and parents with young children, both of whom would be home at that time of day and see that show. Another example would be MTV, for it has many ads with digital audio players indicating that the channel is targeted to young adults and teenagers and/or fans of music.
Analyzing the market of medical products study let us the following characteristics:
1. The market capacity (a possible sales volume at the given parity and a price level)
The factors influencing a market capacity are as follows: « diseases of the population;
• number of doctors;
• level of availability of medicine and the medicinal help;
• techniques of treatment (standards, data cards); . occurrence of new effective medicines.
Market capacity =VOLUME OF A DOMESTIC PRODUCTION + VOLUME OF IMPORT-VOLUME OF EXPORT + COMMODITY STOCKS
2. Market Share is defined as a ratio of the sales volume of the firm to product's sales volume of the same production of other firms.
The increase of Market Share depends on quality of the goods, the price, a degree of service, advertising, the image of a firm.
For purposes of this study, percent market share can be defined by the formula:
percent market share = A/B * 100%
where "A" is the number of prescriptions written for the drug under its primary diagnosis and "B" is the number of prescriptions written for the entire drug class, in which the drug appeared under its primary diagnosis. For example, the percent market share of Amoxil® was calculatcd as
4,771/12,525 x 100 = 38. 10% of all brands
Segmentation ok the market and its basic criteria. The target market. Market niche. Market window
The total market for most types of products is too varied — too heterogeneous — for management to consider it as a single, uniform entity.
Market segmentation is the process of dividing the total heterogeneous market for a product into several segments, each of which tends to be homogeneous in all significant aspects. Management then selects one or more of these market segments as the organization's target market. Finally, a separate marketing mix is developed for each segment or a group of segments in this target market.
The market segmentation is a customer-oriented philosophy and, thus, it is consistent with the marketing concept. Firstly, we identify the needs of the customers within a submarket (segment) and then satisfy those needs.
By tailoring marketing programs to individual market segments, management can do a better marketing job and make more efficient use of marketing resources. A small firm with the limited resources might compete very effectively in one or two market segments, whereas the same firm would be buried if it aimed for the total market. By employing the strategy of the market segmentation, a company can design products that really match the market demands.
Ideally management's goal should be to segment its markets in such a way that each segment responds in a homogenous fashion to a given marketing program. Three conditions will help management move towards this goal.
> The basis for segmenting — that is, the characteristics used to categorize customers — must be measurable, and the data must be accessible.
> The market segment itself should be accessible through existing marketing institutions — middlemen, advertising media, company sales force, and so on — with a minimum of cost and waste.
> Each segment should be large enough to be profitable.
The commonly used bases for segmenting the consumers market may be grouped into the following four broad categories:
> Geographic.
> Demographic.
> Psychographic.
> Behavior towards product (product-related bases).
Geographic segmentation. Many organizations segment their market on some geographic basis such as census region, city size, urban-suburban-rural, or climate. Many companies market only in a limited geographic area.
Demographic segmentation. Probably the most widely used basis for segmenting consumer markets is some demographic factor such as age, sex, income, stage in the family life cycle, ethnic background, etc. Demographic factors can also serve as the bases for operational market segments, because they meet the conditions for the effective segmentation—measurable, accessible, and large enough.
Psychographic segmentation. Three common bases for the psycho- graphic segmentation of consumer markets are the social-class structure, personality characteristics, and life-styles.
Behavior towards product (product-related bases). Behavioral characteristics define that consumers expect from the goods as they use the goods, their attitude to the goods.
The target segment of the market is one or several segments selected for the marketing activity of the enterprise.
Market "window" is a segment of consumers, which needs manufacturers neglect. Needs are satisfied with other goods.
Market "niche" is a segment of the market, for which the optimal are the goods of the given firm.
Studying of the need for medical products
There are different types of calculation demands in medicines. One of them is based on the principle that medicines are divided into two groups according to the period of their use:
· long term;
· short term.
To the medicines of long term use belongs that are used for treatment of chronic patients (diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis and others.).
To the medicines of short term use belongs that are used for treatment of infectious and catarrhal diseases.
Demand in the medicines usage of which is equal during all year is calculated on the basis of average expenditures for one month or quarter and extrapolated on the future period.
Where W – demand in the medicines consumption of which is equal for the future period;
Si – amount of expenditures on the medicine for і - month (quarter);
Tn — period for which expenditures is analysed (number of monthes, quarters).
For the medicines, consumption of which is changed according to the period of the year, calculations are made concerning season factor:
W = Š • k,
Where W – demand for the month (quarter);
Š – average expenditures for the month (quarter) in the analysed period;
k – season factor, which is calculated according to the next formula:
Where Sf – actual expenditures for one month (quarter) for the previous period;
Smean – average expenditures for one month (quarter) for the previous period.
Methods of definition of the need for medical products are various depending on group of a medical product:
> Medicines of specific action.
> Medicines, which consumption is strictly normalized.
> Medical products of a wide spectrum of action.
Solving of the need for specific action medical products (effective concerning activators of separate diseases: for treating diabetes, influencing on the digestive system, etc.) and selectively working on separate functional systems of an organism (antituberculous, etc.). Calculations are carried out by the formula:
n = P x K x X,
where n is the general need for a specific medicine for one year;
P is expenses of a medicine for a therapy course for one patient;
K is the quantity of courses of treatment per a year, which are prescribed to one patient;
X is quantity of patients who need this medicines for treating diseases.
Solving of the need for medical products, the application of which is limited to the corresponding norms. Concern Narcotic, psychotropic and alcohol drugs belong to this group.
For solving of the need for medicines of the given group the norms of consumption per 1000 population one year in calculating by the substance, (cocaine g/c - 0,2, etc.) are used.
N is much possible size of the need for the given medical products a year, S is the specification of consumption for the given medical products per 1000 person a year, P is population.
Calculations of the need for medicines of a wide spectrum of action (antibiotics, febrifugal, somnolent, etc.). Calculation of the need for these medicines is based on the data on their actual use for last years.
Segment Strategy
After evaluating different segments, the company must now deeide which and how many segments to serve. This is the problem of target-market selection. A target market consists of a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve. Figure below shows that the firm can adopt one of three market-coverage strategies: undifferentiated marketing, differentiated marketing and concentrated marketing.
* Undifferentiated Marketing
Using an undifferentiated marketing strategy, a firm might decide to ignore market segment differences and go after the whole market with one offer. This can be because there are weak segment differences or through the belief that the product's appeal transcends segments.
The offer will focus on what is common in the needs of consumers rather than on what is different. The company designs a product and a marketing programme that appeal to the largest number of buyers. It relies on quality, mass distribution and mass advertising to give the product a superior image in people's minds. Advertising and promotions have to avoid alienating segments, and so are often based on product features, like 'Polo, the mint with the hole', or associated with a personality of broad appeal, like Esso's tiger.
Undifferendated marketing provides cost economies. The narrow product line keeps down production, inventory and transportation costs. The undifferentiated advertising programme keeps down advertising costs. The absence of segment marketing research and planning lowers the costs of market research and product management. Most modern marketers, however, have strong doubts about this strategy.
Difficulties arise in developing a product or brand that will satisfy all consumers. Finns using undiffereutiated marketing typically develop an offer aimed at the largest segments in the market. When several firms do this, there is heavy competition in the largest segments and neglected customers in the smaller ones. The result is that the larger segments may be less profitable because they attract heavy competition. Recognition of this problem has led to firms addressing smaller market segments. Another problem is erosion of the mass market as competitors develop new appeals or segments. For example, Polo mints have faced attacks from competitors aiming at different benefit segments: Extra Strong mints for people who want a strong taste and Clorets as breath fresheners. At the same time, Polo faces direct competition from similarly packaged Trobor Mints in Europe and Duplex in south-east Asia.
Differentiated Marketing
Using a differentiated marketing strategy, a firm decides to target several market segments and designs separate offers for each. General Motors tries to produce a car for every 'purse, purpose and personality'. By offering product and marketing variations, it hopes for higher sales and a stronger position within each market segment. GM hopes that a stronger position in several segments will strengthen consumers' overall identification of the company with the product category. It also hopes for greater repeat buying because the firm's offer better matches the customer's desire.
Concentrated Marketing
Third market-coverage strategy, concentrated marketing, is especially appealing when company resources are limited. Instead of going after a small share of a large market, the firm goes after a large share of one or a few submarkets. For example, Oshkosh Trucks is the world's largest producer of airport rescue trucks and front-loading concrete mixers. Recycled Paper Products concentrates on the market for alternative greeting cards, and Ecover concentrates on a narrow segment of environmentally friendly detergents. Concentrated marketing is an excellent way for small new businesses to get a foothold against larger competitors.
Through concentrated marketing, a firm can achieve a strong market position in the segments (or niches) it serves because of its greater knowledge of the segments and its special reputation, Tt also enjoys many operating economies because of specialization in production, distribution and promotion. A firm can earn a high rate of return on its investment from well-chosen segments. At the same time, concentrated marketing involves higher than normal risks.
A particular market segment can turn sour. For example, when the 1980s boom ended, people stopped buying expensive sports cars and Porsche's earnings went deeply into the red. Another risk is larger competitors entering the segment. High margins, the glamour and lack of competition in the sports car market has attracted Mazda, Toyota and Honda as powerful competitors in that market. Fashion changes can also damage the niche's credibility. The yuppies who made Porsche's fortunes in the 1980s are over the recession, but have grown up and now have kids and a different lifestyle. Big. chunky, luxuriously appointed 4 x 4 land cruisers are what they want now.
Mass marketing is a market coverage strategy in which a firm decides to ignore market segment differences and appeal the whole market with one offer or one strategy.[1] It is the type of marketing (or attempting to sell through persuasion) of a product to a wide audience. The idea is to broadcast a message that will reach the largest number of people possible. Traditionally mass marketing has focused on radio, television and newspapers as the medium used to reach this broad audience. By reaching the largest audience possible exposure to the product is maximized. In theory this would directly correlate with a larger number of sales or buy in to the product.
Mass marketing is the opposite to Niche marketing as it focuses on high sales and low prices. Mass Marketing aims to provide products and services that will appeal to the whole market. Niche marketing targets a very specific segment of market for example specialized services or goods with few or no competitors.[2]
Mass marketing or undifferentiated marketing has its origins in the 1920s with the inception of mass radio use. This gave corporations an opportunity to appeal to a wide variety of potential customers. Due to this, variety marketing had to be changed in order to persuade a wide audience with different needs into buying the same thing. It has developed over the years into a worldwide multi-billion dollar industry. Although sagging in the Great Depression it regained popularity and continued to expand through the 40s and 50s. It slowed during the anti-capitalist movements of the 60's and 70's before coming back stronger than before in the 80's, 90's and today. These trends are due to corresponding upswings in mass media, the parent of mass marketing. For most of the twentieth century, major consumer-products companies held fast to mass marketing- mass-producing, mass distributing and mass promoting about the same product in about the same way to all consumers. Mass marketing creates the largest potential market, which leads to lowered costs. It is also called overall marketing
The shotgun theory is an approach of mass marketing. It involves reaching as many people as you can through television, cable and radio. On the Web, it refers to a lot of advertising done through banners to text ads in as many websites as you can, in order to get enough eyeballs that will hopefully turn into sales. An example of shotgun marketing [3] would be to simply place an ad on primetime television, without focusing on any specific group of audience. A shotgun approach increases the odds of hitting a target when it is more difficult to focus. [4]
It is the technique of trying to spread our marketing message to anyone and everyone who are willing to listen. A truckload of general advertising is done to the mass market in the hope that some of them will hit a target. It enables us to reach a wide range of services to take any job that comes on our way; and ultimately we become a “jack of all trades and a master of none”.
Use and Products Sold
Mass marketing is used to effect attitude change to as wide an audience as possible. Often this would take the form of selling a product like toothpaste. Toothpaste isn't made specially for one consumer and it is sold in huge quantities. A company or individual who manufactures toothpaste wishes to get more people to buy their particular brand over another. The goal is when a consumer has the option to select a tube of toothpaste that the consumer would remember the product which was marketed. Mass marketing is the opposite of niche marketing, where a product is made specially for one person or a group of persons. Other products of mass marketing are furniture, artwork, automobiles, residential communities, fizzy drinks and personal computers. Typically, things which are perceived to be necessary/essential to the consumer are subject to mass marketing. Resources of mass marketing provide cost-effective marketing solutions for small and micro businesses, including start-ups.
Even "products" like politicians and services from professions such as law, chiropractic and medicine, are subject to mass marketing.
Questions of quality
To further increase profits, mass marketed products touted as "durable goods" are often made of substandard material, so that they deteriorate prematurely. This practice is called planned obsolescence. Not only does this lower production costs, but it ensures future sales opportunities by preventing the market from becoming saturated with high-quality, long-lasting goods. The forces of a free market tend to preclude the sale of substandard staples, while disposability, technological innovations, and a culture of collection all facilitate planned obsolescence.
Many mass marketed items are considered staples. These are items people are accustomed to buying new when their old ones wear out (or are used up). Cheaper versions of durable goods are often marketed as staples with the understanding that they will wear out sooner than more expensive goods, but they are so cheap that the cost of regular replacement is easily affordable.
John Watson was a leading psychologist in mass marketing with his experiments in advertising
Choosing a Market-Coverage Strategy
Many factors need considering when choosing a market-coverage strategy. The best strategy depends on company resources. Concentrated marketing makes sense for a firm with limited resources. The best strategy also depends on the degree of product variability. Undifferentiated marketing is suitable for uniform products such as grapefruit or steel. Products that can vary in design, such as cameras and cars, require differentiation or concentration. Consider the product's stage in the life cycle. When a firm introduces a new product, it is practical to launch only one version, and undifferentiated marketing or concentrated marketing therefore makes the most sense. In the mature stage of the product life cycle, however, differentiated marketing begins to make more sense. Another lactor is market variability. Undifferentiated marketing is appropriate when buyers have the same tastes, buy the same amounts and react in the same way to marketing efforts. Finally, competitors' marketing strategies are important.
When competitors use segmentation, imdifferentiated marketing can be suicidal. Conversely, when competitors use imdifferentiated marketing, a firm can gain by using differentiated or concentrated marketing.
Principles of marketing research of the pharmaceutical market. Studying behaviour of consumers of medical products in the pharmaceutical market
Marketing managers often commission formal marketing studies of specific problems and opportunities. They may request a market survey, a product-preference test, a sales forecast by region, or an advertising evaluation. We define marketing research as follows:
■ Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the company.
A company can obtain marketing research in a number of ways. Most large companies have their own marketing research departments.
Using the Internet: A company can collect considerable information at very little cost by examining competitors’ Web sites, monitoring chat rooms, and accessing published data.
■ Checking out rivals: Many small companies routinely visit their competitors.
Marketing research firms fall into three categories:
■ Syndicated-service research firms: These firms gather consumer and trade information, which they sell for a fee.
■ Custom marketing research firms: These firms are hired to carry out specific projects. They design the study and report the findings.
■ Specialty-line marketing research firms: These firms provide specialized research services. The best example is the field-service firm, which sells field interviewing services to other firms.
THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS
Effective marketing research involves the five steps:
· Gathering Information and Measuring
· Develop the research plan
· Collect the information
· Analyze the information
· Present the findings
Step 1: Define the Problem and Research Objectives
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan
The second stage of marketing research calls for developing the most efficient plan
for gathering the needed information. The marketing manager needs to know the cost
of the research plan before approving it. Designing a research plan calls for decisions on the data sources, research approaches, research instruments, sampling plan, and contact methods.
Data Sources. The researcher can gather secondary data, primary data, or both.
Secondary data are data that were collected for another purpose and already exist somewhere.
Primary data are data gathered for a specific purpose or for a specific research
project.
Researchers usually start their investigation by examining secondary data to see
whether their problem can be partly or wholly solved without collecting costly primary data. Secondary data provide a starting point for research and offer the advantages of low cost and ready availability.
When the needed data do not exist or are dated, inaccurate, incomplete, or unreliable, the researcher will have to collect primary data. Most marketing research projects involve some primary-data collection. The normal procedure is to interview some people individually or in groups to get a sense of how people feel about the topic in question and then develop a formal research instrument, debug it, and carry it into the field.
When stored and used properly, the data collected in the field can form the backbone of later marketing campaigns. Direct marketers such as record clubs, credit-card companies, and catalog houses have long understood the power of database marketing.
Research Approaches. Primary data can be collected in five ways: observation,
focus groups, surveys, behavioral data, and experiments.
· Observational research: Fresh data can be gathered by observing the relevant factors and settings.
· Focus-group research: A focus group is a gathering of six to ten people who are invited to spend a few hours with a skilled moderator to discuss a product, service, organization, or other marketing entity. The moderator needs to be objective, knowledgeable on the issue, and skilled in group dynamics. Participants are normally paid a small sum for attending. The meeting is typically held in pleasant surroundings and refreshments are served.
Focus-group research is a useful exploratory step. Consumer-goods companies
have been using focus groups for many years, and an increasing number of
newspapers, law firms, hospitals and public-service organizations are discovering.
· Survey research: Surveys are best suited for descriptive research. Companies
undertake surveys to learn about people’s knowledge, beliefs, preferences,
and satisfaction, and to measure these magnitudes in the general population.
· Behavioral data: Customers leave traces of their purchasing behavior in store
scanning data, catalog purchase records, and customer databases. Much can
be learned by analyzing this data. Customers’ actual purchases reflect revealed
preferences and often are more reliable than statements they offer to
market researchers. People often report preferences for popular brands, and
yet the data show them actually buying other brands.
· Experimental research: The most scientifically valid research is experimental
research. The purpose of experimental research is to capture cause-and-effect
relationships by eliminating competing explanations of the observed findings.
There is increased use of interviewing.
There are different types of questions that can be put forth to a large audience.
The following is a list of the different types of questions in questionnaire design:
1. Open Format Questions
Open format questions are those questions that give your audience an opportunity to express their opinions. In these types of questions, there are no predetermined set of responses and the person is free to answer however he/she chooses. By including open format questions in your questionnaire, you can get true, insightful and even unexpected suggestions. Qualitative questions fall under the category of open format questions. An ideal questionnaire would include an open format question at the end of the questionnaire that would ask the respondent about suggestions for changes or improvements.
2. Closed Format Questions
Closed format questions are questions that include multiple choice answers. Multiple choice questions fall under the category of closed format questions. These multiple choices could either be in even numbers or in odd numbers. By including closed format questions in your questionnaire design, you can easily calculate statistical data and percentages. Preliminary analysis can also be performed with ease. Closed format questions can be asked to different groups at different intervals. This can enable you to efficiently track opinion over time.
3. Leading Questions
Leading questions are questions that force your audience for a particular type of answer. In a leading question, all the answers would be equally likely. An example of a leading question would be a question that would have choices such as, fair, good, great, poor, superb, excellent etc. By asking a question and then giving answers such as these, you will be able to get an opinion from your audience.
4. Importance Questions
In importance questions, the respondents are usually asked to rate the importance of a particular issue, on a rating scale of 1-5. These questions can help you grasp what are the things that hold importance to your respondents. Importance questions can also help you make business critical decisions.
5. Likert Questions
Likert questions can help you ascertain how strongly your respondent agrees with a particular statement. Likert questions can also help you assess how your customers feel towards a certain issue, product or service.
6. Dichotomous Questions
Dichotomous questions are simple questions that ask respondents to just answer yes or no. One major drawback of a dichotomous question is that it cannot analyze any of the answers between yes and no.
7. Bipolar Questions
Bipolar questions are questions that have two extreme answers. The respondent is asked to mark his/her responses between the two opposite ends of the scale.
8. Rating Scale Questions
In rating scale questions, the respondent is asked to rate a particular issue on a scale that ranges from poor to good. Rating scale questions usually have an even number of choices, so that respondents are not given the choice of an middle option.
9. Buying Propensity Questions
Buying propensity questions are questions that try to assess the future intentions of customers. These questions ask respondents if they want to buy a particular product, what requirements they want to be addressed and whether they would buy such a product in the future.
Questions to be avoided in a questionnaire
The following is a list of questionnaires to be avoided when preparing a questionnaire.
1. Embarrassing Questions
Embarrassing questions are questions that ask respondents details about personal and private matters. Embarrassing questions are mostly avoided because you would lose the trust of your respondents. Your respondents might also feel uncomfortable to answer such questions and might refuse to answer your questionnaire.
2. Positive/ Negative Connotation Questions
Since most verbs, adjectives and nouns in the English language have either a positive or negative connotations, questions are bound to taken on a positive or negative question. While defining a question, strong negative or positive overtones must be avoided. Depending on the positive or negative connotation of your question, you will get different data. Ideal questions should have neutral or subtle overtones.
3. Hypothetical Questions
Hypothetical questions are questions that are based on speculation and fantasy. An example of a hypothetical question would be "If you were the CEO of ABC organization what would be the changes that you would bring?" Questions such as theses, forces the respondent to give his or her ideas on a particular subject. However, these kinds of questions will not give you consistent or clear data. Hypothetical questions are mostly avoided in questionnaires.
Physician decides on prescribing of medicament.
In deciding psychological factors of doctor have an important sense(meaning). To understand the motives of doctor it’s necessary to find out to which group for time perception drugs he or she belongs: Pioneer (Pioneer), followers (early adopters), early imitators (early majority), late imitators (most delayed), outsiders (lagging)ю
Pioneers are doctors who know as much about the new drug, as their counterparts, but due to the nature of innovator prescribe this drug early. Adherents are those, whose appointment of a new drug starts under the pressure of his own "I" after careful analysis of promotional and informational data and the results of drug using by doctor-pioneer.
Early imitators - doctors who prescribe drug after several years of persuading, and later imitators - physicians who begin to use drug only after successful perennial(багаторічного) using by counterparts. Outsiders are the physicians which are characterized stereotyped thinking and begin to prescribe drug after it becomes traditional.
ABC analysis
Most pharmacists and managers know that only a few drug items account for the greatest drug expenditure. Often 70-80% of the budget is spent on 10-20% of the medicines. ABC analysis is the analysis of annual medicine consumption and cost in order to determine which items account for the greatest proportion of the budget. ABC analysis can:
• Reveal high usage items for which there are lower-cost alternatives on the list or available in the market. This information can be used to:
- choose more cost-effective alternative medicines
- identify opportunities for therapeutic substitution
- negotiate lower prices with suppliers.
• Measure the degree to which actual drug consumption reflects public health needs and so identify irrational drug use, through comparing drug consumption to morbidity patterns.
• Identify purchases for items not on the hospital essential medicines list i.e. the use of non-formulary medicines.
ABC analysis can be applied to drug consumption data over a one-year period or shorter. It can also be applied to a particular tender or set of tenders. A summary of the steps is shown in box 6.1.
After an ABC analysis has been completed, individual drugs, particularly from category A, should be examined to identify duplication, use of non-formulary drugs and expensive drugs for which there are cheaper therapeutic equivalents. In some cases the ABC analysis may need to take into account varying price levels, brand products and medical devices, such as syringes. ABC analysis can also be used to analyse one therapeutic class, where all the medicines have equal or similar efficacy. In summary, the major advantage of ABC analysis is that it identifies those medicines on which most of the budget is spent; a major disadvantage is that it cannot provide information to compare medicines of differing efficacy.
SUMMARY OF STEPS OF ABC ANALYSIS
• List all the items consumed or purchased.
• For each item consumed or purchased, write down
- the unit cost of each item (using the prices for a fixed date if prices have varied over time)
- the quantity of each item consumed or purchased.
• Calculate the monetary value of consumption by multiplying the unit cost by the number of units consumed for each item. The total value of consumption is the sum of all items.
• Calculate the percentage of the total consumption value represented by each item by dividing the value of each item by the total consumption value.
• Rearrange the list by ranking the items, in descending order, by percentage value of total consumption.
• Calculate the cumulative percentage value of the total value for each item; beginning with the first (top) item, add its percentage to that of the item below it in the list.
• Categorize your items into:
- A, those few items accounting for 75-80% of total value
- B, those items which take up the next 15-20%
- C, the bulk of items which only account for the remaining 5-10% of value.
Typically, class A items constitute 10-20% of all items, with class B items constituting another 10-20% and the remaining 60-80% being in category C.
The results may be presented graphically by plotting the percentage of total cumulative value on the vertical or y axis and the number of items (accounting for this cumulative value) on the horizontal or x axis.
Sometimes there are insufficient funds to buy all the desired medicines. VEN analysis is a well-known method to help set up priorities for purchasing medicines and keeping stock. Drugs are divided, according to their health impact, into vital, essential and non-essential categories. VEN analysis allows medicines of differing efficacy and usefulness to be compared, unlike ABC and therapeutic category analyses, where only drugs of similar efficacy or action can be compared.
• vital drugs (V): potentially life-saving or crucial to providing basic health services
• essential drugs (E): effective against less severe but significant forms of disease, but not absolutely vital to providing basic health care
• non-essential drugs (N): used for minor or self-limited illnesses; these may or may not be formulary items and efficacious, but they are the least important items stocked.
Consumer Market сonsists of all the individuals and households who buy or acquire goods and services for personal consumption.
Before business can develop marketing strategies, they must understand what factors influence buyers behavior and how they make purchase decisions to satisfy their needs and wants. Buyers are moved by a complex set of deep and subtle emotions.
Their
behavior result from deeply held values and attitudes; their perception of the
world and their place in it, from
common sense, impulse or just plain whimsy.
There
are also several stages through which the consumer exhibit before deciding to purchase goods or services. These
includes 5 steps which are: problem or need recognition, information search,
alternative evaluation, purchase and post-purchase evaluation
Consumer behavior involves study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It blends the elements from psychology, sociology, sociopsychology, anthropology and economics.
It also tries to assess the influence on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups and society in general.
Consumer buying behavior is influenced by the major factors:
Personal
Psychological
Social
Cultural
Situational
Personal Factors
Age
Life-Cycle
Stage
Gender
Health
Status
Financial
Resources
Housing
Psychological Factors - These are internal to an individual and generate forces within that influence her/his purchase behavior. The major forces include motives, perception, learning, attitude and personality.
Motivation
is the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a
desired goal and elicits, controls, and sustains certain goal directed
behaviors. For instance: An individual has not eaten, he or she feels hungry,
and as a response he or she eats and diminishes feelings of hunger. There are
many approaches to motivation: physiological, behavioural, cognitive, and
social.
Perception - the process by which an
individual selects, organizes, and interprets inputs to create a meaningful
picture of the world.
Learning
- Changes
in an individual’s behavior arising form experience
Beliefs
- Descriptive
thoughts that a person holds about something
Attitudes
Enduring
favorable or unfavorable cognitive evaluations emotional feelings and action
tendencies
Social factors play an essential role in influencing the buying decisions of consumers.
We need people around to talk to and discuss various issues to reach to better solutions and ideas. We all live in a society and it is really important for individuals to adhere to the laws and regulations of society.
Social Factors influencing consumer buying decision can be classified as under:
Immediate
Family Members
Relatives
Role
in the Society
Status
in the society
Reference
Groups
Every individual has some people around who influence him/her in any way. Reference groups comprise of people that individuals compare themselves with. Every individual knows some people in the society who become their idols in due course of time.
Primary Group - consists of individuals one interacts with on a regular basis.
Primary groups include:
Friends
Family
Members
Relatives
Co
Workers
All the above influence the buying decisions of consumers due to following reasons:
They have used the product or brand earlier.
They know what the product is all about. They have complete knowledge about the features and specifications of the product.
Secondary Groups - Secondary groups share indirect relationship with the consumer. These groups are more formal and individuals do not interact with them on a regular basis, Example - Religious Associations, Political Parties, Clubs etc.
Role in the Society
Each individual plays a dual role in the society depending on the group he belongs to. An individual working as Chief Executive Officer with a reputed firm is also someone’s husband and father at home. The buying tendency of individuals depends on the role he plays in the society.
Social Status
An individual from an upper middle class would spend on luxurious items whereas an individual from middle to lower income group would buy items required for his/her survival.
Cultures - The accumulation of values, knowledge, beliefs, customs, objects, and concepts that a society uses to cope with its environment
Subcultures: Groups of individuals who have similar value and behavior patterns within the group but differ from those in other groups.
The factors of situational influence:
changes
in the macroenvironment, in particular the economic situation in the country,
the level of scientific and technological progress, change of ownership forms,
etc.;
changes
in consumer circumstances, in particular changes in its financial condition(
state), changes in the price of the product, arising of the necessity another
purchase;
atmosphere
at the pharmacy, the actions of other consumers who may stimulate the act of
buying and oppose its implementation.
In general, the factors which influence purchasing behavior of consumer can be divided into two groups: controlled and uncontrolled by the pharmaceutical company.
Psychological, personal, social and cultural factors and situational factors are not subjected to the control of the pharmaceutical companies.
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Marketing
mix аre referred to controlled
factors by the pharmaceutical company. Marketing mix is formed by product, pricing,
sales(distribution) and communication policies.
Consumer Buying Decision Process
1. Purchase decision making process begins when a buyer becomes aware of an unsatisfied need or problem. This is the vital stage in buying decision process, because without recognizing the need or want, an individual would not seek to buy goods or service.
There are several situations that can cause problem recognition, these include:
Depletion
of stock
Dissatisfaction
with goods in stock
Environmental
Changes
Change
in Financial Situation
Marketer
Initiated Activities
2. Informational search
After the consumer has recognized the need, he / she will trying to find the means to solve that need. First he will recall how he used to solve such kind of a problem in the past, this is called nominal decision making. Secondly, a consumer will try to solve the problem by asking a friend or goes to the market to seek advice for which product will best serve his need, this is called limited decision making.
Sources of information include:
Personal
sources
Commercial
Sources
Public
sources
Personal
experience
3. Alternatives evaluation
Consumers’
evaluates criteria refer to various dimension; features, characteristics and
benefits that a consumer desires to solve a certain problem.
Product
features and its benefit
is what influence consumer to prefer that particular product. The consumer will decide which product to buy from a
set of alternative products depending on each unique feature that the product offers and
the benefit he / she can get out of that feature
4. Purchase Action
This
stage involves selection of brand and the retail outlet to purchase such a
product.
Retail
outlet image and its location are important. Consumer usually prefers a nearby retail outlet for minor shopping and
they can willingly go to a far away store when they purchase items which are of higher
values and which involve higher sensitive purchase decision. After selecting where to
buy and what to buy, the consumer completes the final step of transaction by either cash or
credit
5. Post-purchase Actions
Consumer
favorable post-purchase evaluation leads to satisfaction. Satisfaction with the purchase is basically a function of
the initial performance level expectation and perceived performance relative to those
expectations. Consumer tends to evaluate their wisdom on the purchase of that particular
product. This can result to consumer experiencing post purchase dissatisfaction. If the consumer’s
perceived performance level is below expectation and fail to meet satisfaction this will
eventually cause dissatisfaction, and so the brand and/ or the outlet will not
be considered by the consumer in the future purchases. This might cause the
consumer to initiate complaint behavior and spread negative word-of-mouth concerning
that particular product.
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3. "shotgun marketing |". "Undifferentiated audience"
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5. Bennett, J. Alf (2001). Introduction to travel and tourism marketing. p. 62. ISBN 0702156361. Unknown parameter |unused_data= ignored (help)
6. L. Burrow, James; Bosiljevac, Jim (2005). Marketing. South Western Educational Publishing. p. 183. ISBN 0538446641.