Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, Vol 9, No 1 (2013)

Abstract

The Indian Pharma market is highly fragmented & intensively competitive. Pharma companies promote their brands (drugs) directly to the doctors with an objective to influence Doctors’ decision to prescribe their brands. But in modern times, influencing doctors’ prescription decision has become very complex as there is little systematic knowledge about factors affecting Doctors’ prescription behavior and weight of individual factor. This study aims at demystifying this complex prescription behavior of doctors, through examining the various marketing related factors which influence prescription generation from the Doctors. For this, a focus group study followed by quantitative study using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach was conducted. Availability of brand & relationship marketing were found to be most influencing factors. Doctors’ length of practice & patient volume were also found to be significantly affecting prescription behavior. At last study made some important implications for marketers especially related to product availability & developing medical representative.