Citation
Mukherjee, A. and Limbu, Y. (2013), "Editorial", International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, Vol. 7 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPHM-09-2013-0053
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, Volume 7, Issue 4
The second part of this special issue contains five more interesting articles that expand the boundary of our understanding and knowledge on pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA). It is interesting to see that DTCA is now a mature research topic in the US, with more than 15 years of solid empirical evidence. However, this research might also be of great relevance in many other countries as they evaluate whether to allow DTCA in the near future.
We start this second part of the special issue with a research paper by Kathleen M. Iacocca, Yao Zhao, and Adam J. Fein on a study of brand drug distribution. Titled “Resell versus direct models in brand drug distribution, this article compares the effectiveness of the Buy-and-Hold (BNH), Fee-for-Service (FFS), and Direct-to-pharmacy (DTP) agreements for the US pharmaceutical industry and its individual participants. There have been mixed responses to these agreements and the industry is currently under debate as to which contract would be best for the industry and its individual participants. The authors answer this question by comparing the agreements and settling the industry debate regarding the impact of these distribution agreements. The study model features multi-period production-inventory planning with time varying parameters in a decentralized setting. Under each distribution agreement, the authors formulate mathematical programming models to determine the profit maximizing production, inventory, and ordering decisions for the manufacturer and the wholesaler in a finite time horizon. They demonstrate the applicability of the model in the US pharmaceutical industry using real-world data. The results of the study show that the DTP agreement always outperforms the BNH and FFS agreements. Furthermore, the DTP agreement is flexible because it allows the manufacturer and the wholesaler to split the additional profit in an arbitrary way. The study findings reveal that the DTP agreement can improve total profit by about 0.08 - 1 percent (relative to FFS) and 5 percent (relative to BNH). Considering the size of the pharmaceutical industry, efficient distribution agreements are imperative. Unfortunately, the existing literature provides insufficient guidance to help managers make this important decision. The authors of this article address this knowledge gap in literature and provide important insight for practitioners on what agreement is most beneficial for this industry.
The next two articles deal with older consumers and their perspectives on and interactions with DTCA. The second article is a research paper by Ty Abernathy, Carolyn Adams-Price, and Tracy B. Henley titled “Prescription drug advertisements and older adults: a case for implicit memory. Prescription drug advertisements are commonly seen in magazines and on television. Many drug ads are targeted toward older adults, who tend to use more medications and suffer from more chronic conditions. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of such advertising remains uncertain. This research compares implicit and explicit memory for drug ads in older and younger adults. Older adults typically perform more poorly than young adults on explicit memory tasks, but not on implicit memory tasks. The authors measure implicit memory with an incidental ratings exercise and an indirect test of preference; explicit memory is also measured with intentional studying and a direct test of recognition. The study is a 2 x 2 mixed experimental design with one between-participants variable and one within-participants variable. The between-participants variable is age group (older vs younger adults) and the within-participants variable is implicit and explicit memory. The memory test measures are the outcome variables of the study. The results of the study show no age difference for implicit memory for drug ads, but an age difference is found for explicit memory for the ads – thus, the hypothesis is supported. The implicit memory manipulation succeeds in demonstrating that drug ads are persuasive, suggesting that a complete assessment of advertising effectiveness should include a test of implicit memory. The study is of theoretical significance because it contributes to cognitive aging research and examines memory within an everyday context. The study is of practical significance because pharmaceutical companies spend vast amounts of money on prescription drug advertisements that may or may not be effective with older adults. The component of this study that may be most important is that the results extend everyday memory research to another applied context using an implicit memory measure, and the indirect test of memory demonstrates that the prescription drug advertising is effective.
The third article titled “Marketing pharmaceutical and cosmetic products to the mature market is a research paper authored by George Moschis and Leah Bovell. As the growth in the elderly population becomes a worldwide phenomenon, it is essential for businesses to develop an understanding of the older consumer market. Older consumers are especially important to companies operating in the pharmaceutical industry since they spend more on medical supplies and drugs than any other age group. The study reported in this paper examines older consumers preferences for sources of information and methods of purchasing prescription drugs and cosmetics, as well as the reasons for their choice of specific drug stores and specific brands of drugs and health aids. The research results show major differences in the way older consumers respond to various marketing offerings. The responses of older Americans do not only differ from those of their younger counterparts; they also vary widely by psychographic characteristics that are based on aging, life-changing events and circumstances older consumers have experienced. The results provide the bases for recommended strategies to most effectively appeal to older consumers in general, as well as to members of specific segments. Unlike previous studies that examine choices of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products by older consumers as a homogeneous group, this study treats these consumers as a heterogeneous market and examines their motives for their choices.
The fourth article of this issue is titled “DTC drug advertising ethics: laboratory for medical marketing. Authored by Michael Mackert, Marie Guadagno, Amanda Mabry, and Lindsay Chilek, the study aims to call for an increased focus on the ethics of DTC prescription drug advertising. This is important not only to improve DTC prescription drug advertising, but also to inform DTC advertising of future medical advances. This conceptual paper discusses two examples of medical advances – personal genetic testing services and surgically implanted medical devices – to explain how investigating the research of DTC prescription drug advertising can set the stage for more ethical advertising of future medical advances. Specific issues related to health literacy, at-risk populations impacted by health disparities, and medicalization of issues common to aging relate to the DTC advertising of prescription drugs and other medical advances. Creative approaches to investigating these issues in the context of prescription drug advertising can not only enrich the debate about drug advertising, but also prepare researchers, policymakers, and consumers for future advertising of new medical developments. The value of this paper is its call for increased focus on the ethics of DTC prescription drug advertising, to improve the current marketing environment and lay the foundation for other healthcare marketing in the future.
The final article of this special issue is a research paper by Kai N. Bergner, Tomas Falk, Daniel Heinrich, and Jörg Hölzing with the title “The effects of DTCA on patient compliance: exploring the impact of endorser selection and message tonality on patients with diabetes. In this article, the authors examine how direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) in terms of endorser selection and message tonality affects patients self-efficacy, response efficacy, and compliance. The study employs a 3 (Endorser: physician, patient, or celebrity) x 2 (Tonality: supportive vs threatening) experimental design. Subjects include 1,211 people with diabetes from Germany. First, the study shows that the interaction between message sender and tonality significantly affect all dependent variables such as self-efficacy, response efficacy, and patient compliance. Second, physicians as endorsers work best when they use unfavorable, threatening arguments. The results are significant for all dependent variables such as self-efficacy, response efficacy, and patient compliance. Most surprisingly, patients exhibit significantly higher attitude if physicians use threatening instead of supportive argumentation. Third, tonality does not play a dominant role for patients as person-based testimonials. Fourth, a celebrity performs best by using a supportive message. With regard to stimulating health outcome (self-efficacy, response efficacy, and patient compliance) the celebrity has a significant impact in the supportive rather than in the threatening condition. This is the first empirical study that examines the effects of DTCA in terms of endorser selection and message tonality on patients self-efficacy, response efficacy, and compliance.
As Editor and Guest Editor, we have been delighted to see the overwhelming response from healthcare scholars around the world for this special issue. We hope this special issue will present several research opportunities and challenges on DTC advertising and will guide future research in this area.
We acknowledge, with special thanks, selected IJPHM reviewers who have reviewed papers for the journal during 2007-2013:
Jayesh P. Aagja, Nirma University, India.
*Ty Abernathy, Mississippi State University, USA.
*Carolyn Adams-Price, Mississippi State University, USA.
Mona Al-Amin, Suffolk University, USA.
*Fadi M. Alkhateeb, University of Charleston School of Pharmacy, USA.
Syed Saad Andaleeb, Pennsylvania State University, USA.
Reinhard Angelmar, INSEAD University, France.
Bander A. Al Aqeel, University of Scranton, USA.
*Helena Alves, University of Beira Interior, Portugal.
Nicholas Ashill, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Muhammad Usman Awan, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
Daniela Azêdo, University Hospitals of Coimbra, Portugal.
Jennifer Ball, University of Minnesota, USA.
Subir Bandyopadhyay, Indiana University Northwest, USA.
Adam Barak, United BioSource Corporation, UK.
*Rian Beise-Zee, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.
John Bentley, The University of Mississippi, USA.
*JP Benya, Columbia University, USA.
*Nilesh Bhutada, California Northstate College of Pharmacy, USA.
Sonja Bidmon, Alpen-Adria University of Klagenfurt, Austria.
Davide Bolchini, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, USA.
Flávio Brambilla, The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Roger Calantone, Michigan State University, USA.
Nuno Camacho, Erasmus School of Economics, The Netherlands.
Norman V. Carroll, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA.
Janet Carruthers, Victoria University, New Zealand.
Franklin Carter, Penn State University, USA.
Ella Cartier, Howard University, USA.
Erin Cavusgil, University of Michigan, USA.
Ashish Chandra, University of Houston – Clear Lake, USA.
Hardeep Chahal, University of Jammu, India.
*Enchi Chang, Perfect Translation & Compunet, UK.
Patrali Chatterjee, Montclair State University, USA.
Junsong Chen, China Europe International Business School, China.
Andrew Ching, University of Toronto, Canada.
*Christina Chung, Ramapo College of New Jersey, USA.
Christopher Clark, Macquarie University, Australia.
Gerry Cleaves, Fairleigh Dickinson University, USA.
Lanier D. Clinton, University of St. Thomas, USA.
Julie Coe, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA.
Alberto Coustasse, Marshall University, USA.
Marlon Dalmoro, The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Denise E. DeLorme, University of Central Florida, USA.
Asoke Dey, The University of Akron, USA.
Roger Durand, University of Houston - Clear Lake, USA.
Ike Ekeledo, Montclair State University, USA.
Christine Ennew, Nottingham University, UK.
Burcu Toker Ersöz, Girne American University, North Cyprus.
*Beth Ann Fiedler, University of Central Florida, USA.
*Zach Finney, University of South Alabama, USA.
Neil Foshay, St Francis Xavier University, Canada.
Marianna Fotaki, Manchester Business School, UK.
Zach Frank, Washburn University, USA.
*Scott Friend, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA.
Daniel Friesner, North Dakota State University, USA.
Liz Gill, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Mario Giraldo, Universidad del Norte, Colombia.
Ronald Goldsmith, Florida State University, USA.
*Fusun Gonul, Slippery Rock University, USA.
Stephen J. Gould, Baruch College, CUNY, USA.
Margaret J. Greene, Ramapo College of New Jersey, USA.
Deborah Gritzmacher, Clayton State University, USA.
Muhiuddin Haider, University of Maryland, USA.
John Hamilton, James Cook University, Australia.
Mahmud Hassan, Rutgers University, USA.
Angela Hausman, Xavier University, USA.
John Haza, Victoria University, UK.
Peter Hilsenrath, University of the Pacific, USA.
*Anurag Hingorani, UTS, Sydney, Australia.
Gillian Hogg, Strathclyde Business School, UK.
David Holdford, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA.
*Karen Hood, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, USA.
Bashir Huassain, North South University, Bangladesh.
*Jisu Huh, University of Minnesota, USA.
*Bruce A. Huhmann, New Mexico State University, USA.
Mehdi Hussain, University of New South Wales, Australia.
Kathleen Iacocca, University of Scranton, USA.
Sharan Jagpal, Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey, USA.
Abhinandan Jain, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India.
Anand Jaiswal, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India.
*Thani Jambulingam, St. Josephs University, USA.
C. Jayachandran, Montclair State University, USA.
Robert Jecklin, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, USA.
Per Jenster, China Europe International Business School, China.
Jill Jesson, Aston Business School, UK.
Joby John, Bentley College, USA.
*G. K. Kalyanaram, GK Associates, New York, USA.
Gregory Katz-Benichou, ESSEC, France.
Mark J. Kay, Montclair State University, USA.
*Hyojin Kim, University of Florida, USA.
*E.M. Mick Kolassa, Medical Marketing Economics (MME), LLC., USA.
Dennis Kopf, University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, USA.
*Archana Kumar, Montclair State University, USA.
Wagner Junior Ladeira, The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Clinton Lanier, University of St. Thomas, USA.
Chunsik Lee, University of Florida, USA.
Yun Jung Lee, Aldelphi University, USA.
Ana Lenggana, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia.
*Yam Limbu, Montclair State University, USA.
Joerg Lindenmeier, University of Freiburg, Germany.
Sooyeon Nikki Lee- Wingate, Fairfield University, USA.
Amanda Mabry, The University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Alisson Eduardo Maehler, The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Mary K Madsen, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, USA.
Neeru Malhotra, Aston Business School, UK.
Kimball P. Marshall, Alcorn State University, USA.
Maysoun Dimachkie Masri, University of Central Florida, USA.
*John McGinnis, Montclair State University, USA.
Yahia Zare Mehrjerdi, Yazd University, Iran.
Ram Misra, Montclair State University, USA.
Santanu Mitra, Montclair State University, USA.
*Mariko Morimoto, Emerson College, USA.
Rahul Mukherjee, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India.
Hiroshi Nakamura, Keio Business School, Japan.
Sushmita A. Narayana, Indian Institute of Management, India.
Vivek Natarajan, Lamar University, USA.
Prithwiraj Nath, University of East Anglia, UK.
Anthony Ndiege, Montclair State University, USA.
Jack Newhouse, Saint Josephs University, USA.
Prathap Oburai, IIM Ahmedabad, India.
Ahmet “Ozzie Ozturk, Marshall Univ. School of Medicine, USA.
David P. Paul III, Monmouth University, USA.
*Vivek Pande, University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, USA.
Jason Perepelkin, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
*Mary Beth Pinto, Pennsylvania State University, USA.
Manuel Pontes, Rowan University, USA.
Luis San Vicente Portes, Montclair State University, USA.
Vandana Prajapati, Maharshi Dayanand University, India.
C.V. Priporas, University Macedonia, Greece.
Samuel Rabino, Northeastern University, USA.
P.S. Raju, University of Louisville, USA.
P.M. Rao, Long Island University, USA.
Bill Roach, Washburn University, USA.
Michel Rod, Carleton University, Canada.
R. Rohini, Institute of Clinical Research, India.
*Brent Rollins, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, USA.
Warren Salmon, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
Marydol Santarriaga, University of Colima, Mexico.
Shamindra N. Sanyal, Institute of Engineering & Management, India.
Nilgun Sarp, Ankara University, Turkey.
Paul Scipione, State University of New York, Geneseo, USA.
Dennis J. Scotti, Fairleigh Dickinson University, USA.
*Kabir C. Sen, Lamar University, USA.
G. Shainesh, IIM Bangalore, India.
Mansour Sharifzadeh, Cal Poly Pomona, USA.
*Kim Bartel Sheehan, The University of Oregon, USA.
George P. Sillup, Saint Josephs University, Philadelphia, USA.
*Julie Z. Sneath, University of South Alabama, USA.
Daniel Simonet, American University of Sharjah, UAE.
Ramendra Singh, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India.
Hermann Sintim, Montclair State University, USA.
*Eugene Sivadas, University of Washington, Tacoma, USA.
Mickey Skiba, Monmouth University, USA.
Sinem Somunoglu, Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Turkey.
Surasak Soonthorn, Sirindhorn College of Public Health, Thailand.
*Deborah Spake, University of South Alabama, USA.
Leigh Sparks, University of Stirling, UK.
Han Srinivasan, University of Connecticut, USA.
George Stone, North Carolina A&T State University, USA.
Michael Stros, Aston University, UK.
Bill Stroube, University of Evansville, USA.
Elnora Stuart, University of South Carolina Upstate, USA.
Dilaver Tengilimoglu, Gazi University, Turkey.
*Ralf Terlutter, Alpen-Adria University of Klagenfurt, Austria.
Norman Tessell, Norman Tessell and Associates, LLC, Pennsylvania, USA.
Omer Topaloglu, Texas Tech University, USA.
Bill Trombetta, Saint Josephs University, USA.
Demetrios Vakratsa, McGill University, Canada.
*Isaac Wanasika, University of Northern Colorado, USA.
*Alex Wang, University of Connecticut-Stamford, USA.
*Yawei Wang, Montclair State University, USA.
Hong Wei He, University of East Anglia, UK.
Daniel West, University of Scranton, USA.
Sue Weston, Montclair State University, USA.
Anthony White, KSU, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Jennifer A Whitty, Griffith University, Australia.
Ying Xie, Washington University in St Louis, USA.
*Bing Xu, California State University Dominguez Hills, USA.
Yajiong Xue, East Carolina University, USA.
Venkata Yanamandram, University of Wollongong, Australia.
Yanli Zhang, Montclair State University, USA.
Willi Zimmermann, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.
Judy Zolkiewski, Manchester Business School, UK.
Nashat Zuraikat, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Corresponding author
Avinandan Mukherjee can be contacted at: mailto:editorijphm@gmail.com
Avinandan Mukherjee, Yam Limbu
Montclair State University, New Jersey, USA