Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - (Page 9) Strategy In addition, the explosive growth of generics has left branded products with less than one-third of the US prescription market. Intensified scrutiny and criticism of the industry. No other US industry has as many stakeholders as pharma — patients, healthcare professionals, regulatory agencies, policy makers, and payers. These and numerous other stakeholders have forced pharmaceutical companies to spend enormous amounts of time, money, and other resources in responding to their demands, resulting in reduced efficiencies, sales, and profitability. Intense competition for market share. The lack of new products compels companies to rely almost exclusively on existing markets and products. Regulatory restrictions have made it increasingly difficult to expand markets. Payers limit pharma’s ability to raise prices, while patent challenges and generic products have reduced the duration of product exclusivity. Consequently, companies are left with only one real option to generate sales: grabbing market share from competitors. Competitive success factors How should companies respond to this pharma-versus-pharma environment? Here are 10 competitive success factors for surviving and thriving in the competitive stage: 1. Competitive culture. Companies in competitive stage industries must focus on competition and respond aggressively simply to survive. Pharma needs to instill a much more competitive mindset in all levels of the organisation. 2. Organisational competitiveness. Most pharma brand teams assign a single product manager, market researcher, or competitive intelligence professional to be “in charge of” competition. More progressive companies, however, use multi-disciplinary groups, such as competitive Centers of Excellence, or full-time competitive teams to handle such responsibilities. 3. Competitive planning. Most pharmaceutical product teams create only portions of competitive plans; relatively few brand teams conduct integrated, comprehensive competitive plans that synthesize findings and identify specific action steps based on company and product profiles, competitive intelligence, customer, stakeholder and market analyses, and corporate profile relative to competitors. It is not enough just to prepare these plans: They need to be implemented, reviewed, revised, and regularly revisited. 4. Launch/counter-launch. The paucity of new products creates even greater pressure for a successful launch. Conversely, because of stagnating markets, competitors cannot afford to have a powerful new player penetrate their limited market space. Consequently, competitors will increasingly use counter-launch plans to pre-empt new competitors—particularly during the pre-launch phase when the new product is most vulnerable. 5. Competitive simulations. Traditionally, pharma marketers have conducted business “war gaming” only when launching a product. In today’s market, these exercises should be conducted at least annually. companies should conduct a new version of war games called “competitive simulations.” Unlike traditional war games, competitive simulations are customized to test important strategic and tactical issues for a particular product and market. Simulations may be used to test the overall marketing plan or individual plan sections, such as payer strategies or communication plans. Figure 1: The US pharmaceutical industry’s four lifecycle stages. Commencement Commercialisation Competition Commoditisation Industry sales 1938 1962 Time 1997 ? 11 JACKY LAW Awaiting Pfizer’s next move? 13 CALENDAR Upcoming pharma industry events 2 NEWS Teva and Lonza join forces 3 FROM THE EDITOR Crises of confidence
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 Contents News From the Editor 2009 Forecast Strategy Jacky Law Calendar Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - Contents (Page 1) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - News (Page 2) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - From the Editor (Page 3) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - From the Editor (Page 4) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - 2009 Forecast (Page 5) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - 2009 Forecast (Page 6) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - 2009 Forecast (Page 7) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - Strategy (Page 8) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - Strategy (Page 9) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - Strategy (Page 10) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - Jacky Law (Page 11) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - Jacky Law (Page 12) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - January 28, 2009 - Calendar (Page 13)
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