Analysis of Pharmaceutical Companies Activities That Are Directed To Physicians in Egypt
Analysis of Pharmaceutical Companies Activities That Are Directed To Physicians in Egypt
Analysis of Pharmaceutical Companies Activities That Are Directed To Physicians in Egypt
03(620)
DOI 10.20538/1682-0363-2016-1-512
Introduction
Pharmaceutical market is one of the largest world
markets that has its own conditions. In Middle East,
Egypt is a major pharmaceutical emerging market with
geographical, historical and political effective leading position among Arab countries. Accordingly, this market
has a great economic value. There is a valuable need to
investigate promotional tools thereof. This should be
done in real market situation and life context.
Promotional tools have a highly recognized significance. Marketing promotion (or marketing communications) is generally divided into two groups: mass
communications and personal communications.
1. Mass Communications
Mass communications include public relations, advertising and sales promotions. However, there is an
*Bahlol Mohammed Mostafa Hossni Abdelaziz, e-mail: Ph_hossni@
yahoo.com.
increase, on the one hand, in using personal communications, because of internet technology revolution in
addition to other electronic communication factors. On
the other hand, mass communications have a high effect
on promotion, e.g., companies resources and brands.
2. Personal Communications
Personal communications have two forms, i.e., direct marketing and personal selling. Sale to customers
depends on not only working hard, but also working
smart. It is a two-way interaction between company
and customer. The basic idea is not only how pharmaceutical company can reach customer, but also how
it can enable customers reach it and its product. As a
result of technological development, people are moving
from traditional media (e.g., newspapers) to advanced
media (e.g., smart mobile phones). By the time, pharmaceutical companies move to more advanced communications media, because of cost effectiveness and
ability of better targeted communications. Personal
Literature Review
Most pharmaceutical companies depend on sales
force and a lot of customers consider that the salesperson is the company. He is the link between the company and customer and is important in international
business. They use professional sales force to locate
prospects, develop them into customers and expand
business. Pharmaceutical foreign companies can focus
on large cities. Sales force enables them to reach other
small cities [2, 3].
Although sales force is important, it requires high
cost due to salaries, travel expenses, commissions and
bonuses. Companies try because of high costs to increase their sales force productivity. They focus to
achieve high productivity on better selection, motivation, supervision and training.
Sales representatives have different six forms depending on the task [4, 5]:
1 Deliverer: Product delivery to customer;
2 Order taker: There are two types of order taker,
i.e., inside order taker who works inside the company
behind its counter; and outside order taker who calls
on customers;
3 Missionary: His task is to educate and build goodwill with potential customers, i.e., pharmaceutical industrys medical representatives try to build goodwill
and educate physicians and/or patients;
4 Technician: He supports his client with technical
knowledge;
5 Demand creator: He uses creative methods for
selling tangibles or intangibles;
6 Solution vendor: He solves customers problem,
e.g., concerning communication systems.
The company should manage sales force with high
professionalism. It should employ effective salespersons, train them to enhance their skills, pharmaceutical product knowledge and supervise them to ensure
achieving the companys strategic and financial goals.
An international salesperson should have high qualifications and emotional stability, enjoy travel allowance,
flexibility, cultural empathy and working context to
ensure his effectiveness [68].
In pharmaceutical field, a medical representative is
- Eliminating
- Increasing of - Focusing on Unprofitable
Segments
Penetration of existing
- Awareness
- Focus on Critical
customers
- Fast Uptake of Exciting
Customers
(efficiently
Segment
Products
Relationships
serving and
- Developing
- Emphasizing
retaining
New
Efficiency
them)
Segments
Role of Medical
Sales Force and
Selling Partners
++++
++
+++
Size of Medical
Sales Force
+++
++++
++
++++
Degree of
Specialization
++++
+++
++
Medical Sales
Force Resource
Allocation
++++
++++
Introduction
Growth
Maturity
Decline
Research Methods
This research aims to studying pharmaceutical
companies activities that employ personal selling to
promote drugs to physicians in Egypt. When we need
a broad and representative overview of situation in research, survey is the appropriate approach [18]. Accordingly, for data gathering in this research we used
the survey, where we resorted to personal interviews.
Sampling
In this research, we used simple random probability sampling, where physicians were asked to answer
questionnaires in Egypt. We collected 1068 questioners
from physicians at clinics and hospitals who answered
questionnaires.
Data Collection
In this research, we focused on Pharmaceutical
Companies activities with physicians in Egypt. Our
information sources were secondary and primary data.
Firstly, we reviewed literatures of personal sales and
promotions in pharmaceutical field. Then, the next
step was represented in establishing structured questionnaire for data collection from physicians.
We used both questioners and interviews with physicians for information collection. We applied the Sta8
EIPICO
Pharco
Amoun
GlaxoSmithKline
Novartis
Medical Union Pharma
SEDICO
Eva
Pfizer
Egyphar
Delta
Sanofi Aventis
Abbott
Top-z
Sandoz
Global NAPI
Al Ameria
Multiapex
Adwia
Sigma
Andalous
CID
M.S.D
Hikma
Nile
Servier
Minapharm
AstraZeneca
Minapharm
Merck Serono
MEPACO
Atoz
Liptis
October Pahrma
Egyptian Europian
Pyramids office
Memphis
Alkan
Leo
Advocure
Hi pharma
Ema
Acapi
Rameda
Orchidia
Janssen-Cilag
Nerhadou
Tabuk
Devert lab
IBSA
Bio pharma
Pharma cure
Utopia
Kahira
Nycomed
Eli lily
Al esraa
Debiky
Alcon
Novonordisk
Bayer
Jamjoom
Julphar
Borg
Table2
Pharmaceutical companies which medical representatives
visit doctors most often
Percentage of respondents who mentioned
this pharmaceutical company, %
Company Name
EIPICO
Pharco
Amoun
GlaxoSmithKline
Novartis
Medical Union
Pharma
SEDICO
Eva
Pfizer
Egyphar
Delta
Sanofi Aventis
Abbott
Top-z
Sandoz
Global NAPI
Al Ameria
Multiapex
Adwia
Sigma
Andalous
CID
M.S.D
Hikma
Nile
Servier
Minapharm
AstraZeneca
Minapharm
Merck Serono
MEPACO
Atoz
Liptis
October
Pahrma
Egyptian
European
Pyramids office
Memphis
Alkan
Leo
Advocure
Hi pharma
Ema
Acapi
Rameda
Orchidia
Janssen-Cilag
Nerhadou
Tabuk
Devert lab
IBSA
1-3 times
per year
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
2223
2223
2425
2425
26
2730
2730
2730
2730
31
3234
3234
3234
35
3641
3641
3641
3641
3641
3641
4245
4245
4245
4245
4653
4653
4653
4653
4653
4653
4653
4653
5464
5464
5464
5464
5464
5464
5464
5464
5464
5464
5464
Percentage of respondents
who called on this firm, %
46.4
25.4
22.1
21.7
18.4
10.4
9
8.9
8.2
7.4
7.2
6.4
5.9
5.4
4.6
4.5
4.4
3.5
3.2
3
2.1
2.1
1.9
1.3
1.3
1.1
1
1
1
1
0.7
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
46 times
per year
Company Name
7-11 times
per year
Rank
However, if we consider frequency of medical representatives of the same pharmaceutical companies visits, the results are different: in this case, superiority
belongs to other pharmaceutical companies (table 2).
1 time per
month
Table 1
Pharmaceutical companies which are most actively employing
medical representatives activity to work with physicians
for promoting their drugs
1 time per
two weeks
73.4
63.6
54.7
49.6
48.8
25.5
28.3
34.8
38.8
36.1
1
6
6.5
9.5
9.8
0.2
0.7
3.6
21
2
---1.4
0.4
56.9
25
15.5
1.7
0.9
60
63.6
34.1
75.9
61.3
40.8
47
98.3
43.1
60
77.6
59
44.4
66.7
78.3
60.9
33.3
64.3
53.3
66.7
54.5
54.5
54.5
27.3
87.5
42.9
28.6
28
27.3
38.5
18.1
28.8
46.5
36.4
---29.4
30
18.4
20.5
38.9
30.3
8.7
17.4
47.6
35.7
13.3
16.7
36.4
27.3
36.4
63.6
1
2
5.5
1.2
2.5
1.4
1.5
42.9
57.1
9
7.1
17.6
4.8
7.5
5.6
10.6
---13.7
10
4.1
12.8
13.9
---13
21.7
9.5
---20
8.3
---18.2
------12.5
14.3
14.3
9.1
-------------
2
---4.4
------5.6
4.5
1.7
5.9
------------1.3
------------6.7
8.3
---------9.1
----------
42.9
42.9
14.3
----
----
16.7
50
33.3
----
----
80
75
25
40
40
40
33.3
33.3
66.7
33.3
50
100
50
100
100
20
25
25
---40
60
66.7
33.3
33.3
66.7
50
---50
-------
------25
40
20
-------------------------------
---------20
---------33.3
----------------------
------25
-------------------------------------
7.8
------7.7
2.8
---------9.5
---6.7
---9.1
3.4
7-11 times
per year
46 times
per year
1-3 times
per year
Bio pharma
Pharma cure
Utopia
Kahira
Nycomed
Eli lily
Al esraa
Debiky
Alcon
Novonordisk
Bayer
Jamjoom
Julphar
Borg
1 time per
month
Company Name
1 time per
two weeks
Table2
Percentage of respondents who mentioned
this pharmaceutical company, %
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
---100
100
---100
100
------------------------100
----------------
---------------------------------100
-------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Table 4
Name of pharmaceutical companies which visits of medical
representative were most remembered by physicians
Percentage of respondents
Rank
Company Name
who mentioned this
pharmaceutical company, %
1
EIPICO
57.9
2
GLAXOSMITHKLINE
5.8
3
PHARCO
5.1
4
NOVARTIS
4.4
5
AMOUN
4.2
6
PFIZER
2.2
7-8
EVA PHARMA
2
7-8
MEDICAL.UNION.
2
9
TOP Z Pharma
1.9
10
SANOFI AVENTIS
1.6
11
SEDICO
1.4
12
DELTA
1.2
13-15
Abbott
0.9
13-15
Multiapex
0.9
13-15
EGYPHAR
0.9
16
SANDOZ
0.8
17-18
AL AMERIA
0.6
17-18
M.S.D
0.6
19-21
ADWIA
0.5
19-21
ALCON
0.5
19-21
HIKMA
0.5
22-26
ANDALOUS
0.3
22-26
GLOBAL NAPI
0.3
22-26
MEPACO
0.3
22-26
MINAPHARM
0.3
22-26
SERVIER
0.3
27-41
ADVOCURE
0.2
27-41
ASTRAZENECA
0.2
27-41
BIOMED
0.2
27-41
DEBEIKY
0.2
27-41
DEVERT LAB
0.2
27-41 EGYPTIANEUROPIAN
0.2
27-41
JULPHAR
0.2
27-41
LEO
0.2
27-41
LIPTIS
0.2
27-41
NERHADOU
0.2
27-41
OCTOBER PHARMA
0.2
27-41
RAMEDA
0.2
27-41
SEKEM
0.2
27-41
SIGMA
0.2
27-41
UTOPIA
0.2
Table 6
Spending of pharmaceutical companies on a physician
per year (according to physicians opinion)
Percentage of respondents who chose
Sum in $
this answer %
0
25.5
Less than 10
10.2
1020
10.9
20100
16.2
100500
20.5
5001000
9
More than 1000
7.7
Free samples
Technical
equipment
Financial
incentives,..
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Invitations
to parties
The low
valuable gifts
About half of physicians, i.e., 47.3%, said that pharmaceutical companies medical representatives offer
information about promoted drug which content is related to advertising materials as same as educational
materials; more than third of physicians, i.e., 36.7% said
that pharmaceutical companies medical representatives
offer information about promoted drug which content
is related to advertising materials and only 15.9% of
physicians said that pharmaceutical companies medical
representatives offer information about promoted drug
which content is related to educational materials. In
conclusion, according to physicians opinion, medical
representatives offer educational task but they pre-all
seek to induce them to prescribe drugs to patients.
Spending of Pharmaceutical Companies
In this study, we investigated how much the pharmaceutical company is spending for promoting their
products through medical representatives work. We
were interested in knowing physicians opinion on pharmaceutical companies expenses for promoting their
products to a physician (per year). Quarter of physicians, i.e., 25.5% said that pharmaceutical companies do
not spend money; half approximately of physicians said
that pharmaceutical companies spend less than $100;
30% approximately of them mentioned that expenses
were from $100 to $1000; and only less than 10% of
physicians said that pharmaceutical companies spend
more than $1000 on a physician per year (table 6).
Specialized
literature
Conclusion
By studying pharmaceutical companies activities
directed to physicians, we found on the one hand that
the most active pharmaceutical companies are the following: EIPICO, Pharco, Amoun, GSK and Novartis.
On the other hand, pharmaceutical companies order
will be different, if it depends on frequency of medical representatives visits to physicians. We can explain
that by differentiating tactics chosen by pharmaceutical companies, i.e., intensive or extensive tactics of
promotion, ten visits per month is the medical representatives average number of visits to physicians.
Physicians have less trust in advertising than medical representatives. This can be explained by conversational mode of communication and two-way communication in case of personal selling. Information
provided by medical representatives is related to either
advertising and/or educational materials. So, 47.3% of
physicians mentioned that provided information is both
advertising and educational, 36.7% of physician related
information to advertising materials and 15.9% related
them to educational materials.
According to physicians opinion about spending on
a physician by pharmaceutical companies, 25.5% mentioned that pharmaceutical companies do not spend
any money; 50% approximately stated that they spend
less than $100; 30% approximately pointed out that
they spend from $100 to $1000; and less than 10%
mentioned that they spend more than $1000.
Pharmaceutical companies most widely-applied
promotion techniques are: distribution of specialized
literature; inexpensive gifts granted in medicine; invitations to parties organized by pharmaceutical companies; offering free medicines for charity events; financial
incentives, gifts and souvenirs; financial participation
in organizing trips to symposia, workshops and congresses; sponsorship of scientific papers; and helping
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21.12.2015 .
20.01.2016 .
Bahlol Mohammed Mostafa Hossni Abdelaziz (*), PhD, Department of management and economics of pharmacy Peoples
Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Lagutkina Tatiana Petrovna, doctor of pharmaceutical scinces, professor of the Department of management and economics
of pharmacy Peoples Friendship University of Russia, (Moscow, Russian Federation).
*Bahlol Mohammed Mostafa Hossni Abdelaziz, e-mail: [email protected].
Peoples Friendship University of Russia, 117198, Moscow, St. Mikluho-Maklaja, h. 21, buiding 1.
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