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The main purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of promotional inputs presented to salespeople, such as continuing medical education (CME) sponsorship and drug samples, on adaptive selling and sales performance.

This study used a mixed-methods approach. First, depth interviews were done and this was followed by a survey on 247 pharmaceutical executives in India. Data analysis was done using AMOS, Process Macro and floodlight analysis.

Results showed that CME sponsorship and drug samples drove adaptive selling and sales performance positively. Additionally, results reveal that CME program sponsorship negatively moderated the adaptive selling–sales performance relationship; free drug samples too negatively moderated this relationship.

Firms may hire salespersons with high customer orientation and adaptive selling and train them hone these further. The present research also crucially suggests that pharma firms may allocate CME sponsorship and drug samples to salespeople low on adaptive selling.

This could be the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that uses promotional inputs (such as CME sponsorship and drug samples) as an antecedent to adaptive selling and sales performance. Moreover, this is the only research that has tested CME sponsorships and drug samples as moderators to customer orientation–adaptive selling and adaptive selling–sales performance.

The purpose of this paper is to objectively assess the best type of continuing medical education (CME) activity that makes the most impact on the physicians’ behavior in changing their practices and to derive future needs for planning effective CME activities.

This paper presents a survey. A questionnaire was designed, pilot‐tested and administered in a CME session to all the health physicians of a private medical university in Sind province of Pakistan. The questionnaire incorporated seven core items that assessed the impact of different types of CME activities on the physicians. The respondents rated the impact of CME based on their competence, performance, patient care processes and management on a five‐point Likert scale. Respondents’ responses in terms of type, committed time, usefulness, sponsorships and settings were also analyzed.

A total of 194 health physicians completed the questionnaire (response rate=100 per cent); 56 per cent of the responses were from female physicians. A majority of the respondents in their replies ranked local large‐group lectures, symposiums and workshops higher than journal clubs, conferences and on‐line CMEs. More than half of the respondents rated the impact of CMEs on a five‐point Likert scale as good or very good. This was in relevance to increase in their competence, performance, patient care processes and change in management style.

The data generated through the survey are subject to desirability bias and may over‐represent the responses. The other limitation was the single university setting.

The methodology can thus be adaptable by CME planners within the region to assess the impact of the current CME activities in improving physicians’ competence and professionalism, and in designing effective academic activities for the future.

There is no other study that demonstrates the impact of the types of CME on physicians in the Pakistani medical profession and hence this paper is of high interest.

We are in the midst of a broad societal change in which women’s sexual problems are becoming increasingly medicalized, characterized as treatable medical conditions and defined and understood as a largely physiologically based disease, called “female sexual dysfunction” (FSD). When a condition is medicalized, a medical framework is used to understand it, and medical interventions are used to treat it. As part of this process, then, over the last several years, researchers and pharmaceutical companies have turned attention to developing medical treatments for FSD. As this medicalization continues to unfold with potentially important impacts, it is crucial that we understand the forces working to shape it.

Describes the development in Australia of TeleQACE, a Web‐based learning environment, which allows clinicians to participate in interactive learning at times that suit them. The design addressed the balance between richness of content and bandwidth to reach geographically dispersed regions. The guiding philosophy was shared knowledge and interaction based around actual experience and cases developed by practicing academic general practitioners in consultation with specialists. A constructivist approach, focused on discussion to build a “basic case” into an “advanced case” over a learning cycle of 13‐16 weeks, was adopted. Knowledge gaps and suggestions from participants guided the development of a “basic” case into its “advanced” equivalent which was re‐presented to the participants, accompanied by relevant reference material, for reflection and interaction. The final outcome was a “model case”, archived for ongoing reference by the group. Participation rates appear to be consistent with other Internet‐based continuing medical education programs.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss innovative ways of addressing human resources for health (HRH) shortage in the Pacific, supported by a review of the literature and the Pacific Open Learning Health Network (POLHN), a programme created in response to the Pacific's HRH concern.

A systematic search was conducted of English literature between 1990 and 2012. A number of key words, singly and/or in combination, were used to search for articles on ProQuest and PubMed. Original articles were identified and reference lists scrutinised to obtain additional literature. Due to the paucity of information, only narrative review was conducted and themes emerging from the literature identified and critically reviewed.

There is a worldwide HRH shortage and a need to improve the skills of the health workforce to respond to changing population health needs. Continuing education (CE) through use of information technology (IT) is a means to strengthen HRH. POLHN is one example of an initiative to improve health worker skills and motivation. Technological change is increasingly common place in society. To make sense of these changes, practitioners can look for common themes in successful technological innovations of interactivity; information access, creation or sharing; communication; and simplicity. To ensure effective regulation of CE and IT there is a need to incorporate qualitative as well as quantitative measures, to prioritise the creation of quality, relevant, and appropriate resources and to facilitate access and active participation by health workers.

The paper highlights the complexity of HRH shortage as a global problem, which demands multiple initiatives to respond to the shortage in the pursuit of skilled, equitable and just delivery of health services and distribution of health service providers. One initiative that has worked elsewhere is professional development of health professionals through the provision of CE using IT. Online learning offers a pathway to address HRH shortage and overcomes challenges posed by distance, limited infrastructure and in small remote communities. POLHN contributes to improved skills and knowledge among health professionals who can, as a result, deliver better health services in a region as geographically dispersed and isolated as the Pacific.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of direct-to-physician promotion on physicians’ prescription behaviour. There were very few studies which have investigated to what extent the pharmaceutical promotion directed towards physicians influences physicians’ prescription behaviour in the Malaysian context.

A research framework has been developed based on the buyer behaviour stimulus-response model. A survey method has been used to collect data from 154 medical practitioners from private health-care facilities located at Klang valley in Malaysia. IBM SPSS and SmartPLS statistical programs have been used to analyse the data and validate the model.

This study found that personal selling is the most significant promotional tool for physicians’ prescription behaviour, whereas advertising is the least significant one. Sales promotion and public relations are the second and third most significant promotional tools. Direct marketing is found to be not significant.

This paper will help the pharmaceutical companies develop more effective plans to gain a competitive advantage for their business by having a guideline for pharmaceutical marketers as an input to the more efficient allocation of their promotional budgets.

This study has introduced a comprehensive understanding of all the factors in the pharmaceutical promotion that influence physicians’ prescription behaviour in Malaysia and how these factors are interrelated, influencing physicians’ prescribing medicines for patients.

Positioning analysis is based traditionally on customer perceptions. However, when a service depends on referrals to attract customers, positioning analysis should recognize the perceptions of the key buying influences who make referrals. Specialized or “tertiary care” hospitals depend on physician referrals to win patients. Focusses on the mapping of referring physicians′ perceptions of leading regional medical centers. Correspondence analysis is employed with data from a survey of more than 1,000 physicians to develop a positioning map from which various hospital positioning strategies and physician marketing implications are drawn.

Using the pharmaceutical sector as a microcosm of the health sector, we highlight the most prevalent structural and policy issues that make this sector susceptible to corruption and ways in which these vulnerabilities can be addressed. We conducted a literature review of publications from 2004 to 2015 that included books, peer-reviewed literature, as well as gray literature such as working papers, reports published by international organizations and donor agencies, and newspaper articles discussing this topic. We found that vulnerabilities to corruption in the pharmaceutical sector occur due to a lack of good governance, accountability, transparency, and proper oversight in each of the decision points of the pharmaceutical supply chain. What works best to limit corruption is context specific and linked to the complexity of the sector. At a global level, tackling corruption involves hard and soft international laws and the creation of international standards and guidelines for national governments and the pharmaceutical industry. At a national level, including civil society in decision-making and monitoring is also often cited as a positive mechanism against corruption. Anticorruption measures tend to be specific to the particular “site” of the pharmaceutical system and include improving institutional checks and balances like stronger and better implemented regulations and better oversight and protection for “whistle blowers,” financial incentives to refrain from engaging in corrupt behavior, and increasing the use of technology in processes to minimize human discretion. This chapter was adapted from a discussion piece published by Transparency International UK entitled Corruption in the Pharmaceutical Sector: Diagnosing the Challenges.

A key objective of the 5th Annual Pharmaceutical Congress “Marketing ROI for Pharma” conference was to illustrate how in the midst of a very turbulent environment, and with higher demand for pharmaceutical marketers to deliver bigger profits from increasingly smaller promotional budgets, there are a few critical decision areas that, if addressed appropriately, can help to deliver better return on investment (ROI). This commentary paper aims to provide a summary of what was discussed.

Given access to the conference presenters' original materials, the authors condensed the presentations into a summary article with reference to some recent academic work in the area.

The article summarises the presentations of a number of European pharmaceutical industry practitioners, healthcare professionals and government policy personnel in their assessments of the turbulent European pharmaceutical industry environment and the challenges associated with optimising ROI from promotional spending.

The entire paper summarises recent industry practice in Europe regarding how to optimise pharmaceutical ROI with respect to marketing activities and provides actual examples of how to do this.

Primarily targeting pharmaceutical industry practitioners, this paper provides a timely and thorough resource for those industry personnel charged with the mission of maximizing pharmaceutical marketing ROI.