CHAPTER-4

CRM STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES IN INDIA

BACKGROUND TO THE CONCEPT

OF PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING

Over the last few years the relationship between the physicians and pharmaceutical
companies has become a subject of great attention (Moynihan,2003). It is the doctor
who makes the decision on behalf of the patient. This is so because the doctors are
privileged with the right of recognizing the need of their patients and recommend
medications for the well-being of their patients(Campbell et al,2007) .Hence, the
relation between the physician and pharmaceutical companies may create a conflict
between the ethical professional interest of a doctor and his financial self-interest
(Narendran & Narendernathan, 2013). The Pharmaceutical firms resort to many
ways such as: giving away gifts, free lunches, sponsoring educational trips, seminars,
conferences etc. within the country or abroad. All these have been criticized as
inducements which compel a doctor to prescribe without scientific basis (Gonul et al
2001). In a study done in Canada it is found that the association with pharmaceutical
firms leads to less than appropriate prescribing behaviour by the doctor (Lexchin
1997). Many physicians, however, do not feel that their prescriptions are influenced
by gifts and other incentives provided by pharmaceutical firms. (Liu 1995)

Whether the acceptance of these SOPs (standard operating procedures) of Pharma

firms by the doctors is ethically acceptable or not? This has been a question of intense
study through out the world. While some studies reveal that large industry gifts such
as sponsorships & other luxury gifts are considered as inducements the small gifts
such as pens, paperweights and note pads etc. are considered acceptable by many
(Wazana ,2000). In India, Pharmaceutical firms spend a large amount of money on
marketing communications directed towards prescribers or doctors. A major aspect of
marketing/sales promotion strategy adopted by the Pharma firms in India, has been

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the Pharmaceutical representatives also known as medical representatives (MRs).
Their role is to directly promote the pharmaceutical drugs to the doctors. Typically
the expense of this sales force in any Pharma firm varies between 15-20% of the
annual product revenue (Kaur & Saluja, 2015). The methods used by MRs to
promote their products to the doctors were successful to a great extent for majority of
Pharma firms but since last few years particularly after the introduction of product
patent regime [The Indian Patents (Amendment) act 2005] market scenarios started
changing drastically. To add to the trouble of Pharma marketers, a development in
July 2012 which resulted from a joint meeting of IPA (Indian Pharmaceutical
Alliance), OPPI (organization of pharmaceutical producers of India), IDMA (Indian
drug manufacturers association), the Indian Pharma companies have agreed in
principle to enforce a code that will restrict them from offering gifts or other SOPS
(standard operating procedures) to doctors. Due to these changes the Indian
pharmaceutical industry is now experiencing a rapid change because the era of
blockbuster drugs is over, with product launches dropping and lot of patents expiring.

4.1 ORIGIN OF THE CONCEPT OF CRM

CRM is an acronym for ‘Customer Relationship Management’. Although the term is

now-a-days popularly used in the business circles especially in the field of marketing,
however still, defining it precisely is a challenging task because of the ambiguous and
widespread use of the CRM acronym. It means several things within various areas of
business (turban, et.al, 2002).

According to Narin (2002) the origin of CRM as a concept of marketing can be traced
back to the July issue of the 21st Volume of the Journal of marketing, where the term
‘segmentation’ was first of all mentioned in the year 1956. In simple marketing
language, CRM is a practice of marketing relationships differently within different
customer segments. Since the advent of information technology and advanced tools of
statistical consumer research methods segmenting the customer, identifying niches in
these segments has become easier. These tools are now accessible to almost every
firm, irrespective of its scale of operations. The research studies conducted by the
academicians & industry experts across the world have revealed that although all
industrial sectors assume that CRM is the only tool for acquiring & retaining the
customers yet the CRM technology implementation failures have resulted in no or

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negligible returns on investment (ROI) because of improper understanding ,
insufficient training and inefficient implementation of the CRM strategy by the
managers and the other departments associated with it. CRM is based on three central
assumptions: a) that customers want to establish a relationship with the
marketer/manufacture of the products or services b) the CRM is a
process/activity/practice that all organizations whether big or small, carry out on
almost daily basis c) the good service increases customer satisfaction which in turn
increases the level of emotional bond/loyalty between the customer & marketer (Troy,
2008).

In simple terms CRM consists of the methods that companies use to interact with
customers. CRM methodology includes employee training and special purpose CRM
software that is used for product promotions and to conduct surveys to gauge the level
of customer satisfaction. CRM is a process that shapes the interactions between a
company and its customers with the objective of getting maximum returns on current
and lifetime value of customers. This is beneficial for the company because it helps
the firm in maximizing, satisfaction for its customers. CRM is hence a complex set of
activities that eventually forms the base for a sustainable and incomparable
competitive advantage due to designing of vital customer-focused strategies.

Pharmaceutical firms spend a large amount of money on marketing communication

directed towards physicians. Traditionally, salespeople or MRs in the pharmaceutical
industry have been held accountable for short-term revenue generation to achieve
higher sales volumes. In a traditional relationship building method of pharmaceutical
promotion, a sales/medical representative prepare a customer list (of doctors) in his or
her sales territory and prepare their call plans for the day/week/month in accordance
with this customer list. These representatives often do not enlist into the call plan,
those doctors who do not prescribe their products, and devote extra time and effort on
doctors who are most responsive to their products. If armed with the right
information, a representative can call on doctors according to their likelihood of
responding to specific brands, and can carry out detailing and sampling of specific
brands resulting in higher customer profitability. Pharmaceutical companies are
gradually realizing that they can no longer afford to be only product or market
focused. Hence they have to focus now on customer relationship management (CRM)

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and gain a complete understanding of their current and potential customers.
Companies, which implement CRM, not only increase the efficiency of their sales
and marketing efforts, but also enhance their customer’s experience and loyalty
towards the pharmaceutical company.

There is a higher demand for pharmaceutical marketers to deliver bigger profits from
increasingly smaller promotional budgets. These are a few critical decision areas,
which, if addressed appropriately can help deliver better ROI. Therefore, many
leading pharmaceutical companies are now looking for thorough access to customers
data, which could enable them to improve the segmentation, targeting and positioning
of specific brands. (Kaur&Saluja,2016)

Fig. 4.1, Pharma CRM : A move from offline based CRM to online; Doctor, Patient and Payer
centric CRM (source: Oswal & Deshmukh, 2012)

4.2 CRM -THE STRATEGIC POINT OF VIEW

CRM is a business strategy to select and manage valuable customer relationships. It

requires a customer-centric business philosophy and culture to support effective
marketing, sales and service processes. CRM application can enable effective CRM
provided that an enterprise has right leadership strategy and culture (Thompson,2005).
In terms of strategic management, CRM is not just a strategic concept, rather it a
concept that is built upon a clear cut understanding of the processes and information
systems underlying these concepts. The central activity in CRM strategy is exploiting
customer insight and information to create profitable customer relationships.
According to Buttle (2003), ‘Marketing is no longer about developing, selling and
delivering products. It is progressively more concerned about the development and
maintenance of mutually satisfying long-term relationships with customer’.
According to him enduring relationships with customers cannot be duplicated by
competitors and therefore provide for a unique and sustained competitive advantage.

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This view is further supported and augmented by Tzokas & Saran. According to
them, these relationships developed with the customers eventually become the core-
competencies of the organization which are non-imitable by other firms. A major
aspect of promotional strategy adopted by the Pharma firms in India, has been,
personal selling through medical representatives (MRs). However from last few years
particularly after the introduction of product patent regime in 2005, market scenarios
started changing drastically. To add to the trouble of Pharma marketers, in a
development in July 2012 the Indian Pharma companies agreed in principle to enforce
a code that will restrict them from offering gifts or other SOPS to doctors. This has
resulted in changes in the level, intensity and parameters of competition. MRs who
earlier acted as the backbone for the Indian Pharma sector, are finding it very hard to
compete, and to make every interaction with doctors, count. Today the Pharma
companies that leverage technology solutions such as ERP, CRM, mobility solutions,
only have the scope of survival in future. Pharmaceutical companies are gradually
realizing that they can no longer afford to be only product or market focused. They
have to focus now on relationship marketing or customer relationship management
(CRM) in order to gain a complete understanding of their current and potential
customers. By implementing CRM, not only the efficiency of sales and marketing
efforts increase, but also customer’s experience and loyalty towards the
pharmaceutical company is enhanced.

4.3 CRM IN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY - THE

CONTEMPORARY VIEW

Foundation of CRM in the pharmaceutical industry is based on the prescribers (i.e.

doctor) and sales force relationship. Pharmaceutical firms spend a large amount of
money on marketing communication directed towards physicians. For example, the a
pharma firm spent $ 8.5 billion on marketing communication (Padhy & Patnaik,
2008) directed at physicians (Wittink, 2002, Neslin, 2001) in the year 2000. Out of the
above expenditure, the major head was under the detailing budget that included
personal sales calls on physicians. Since detailing is a personal interaction between a
physician and the firms representatives, the budget allocated are spent at the
individual physician level for generating Long-term prescriptions for patients
(Morelli and Konigsberg, 1992). The literature in the field of prescription behaviour

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of doctors reveals that there are various motives behind dispensing of free samples to
the patients, by the physicians. Such motives could emanate from factors such as:

(1) financial savings; (2) convenience; (3) immediate initiation of therapy

(4) demonstrating appropriate use of drugs; (5) adjustment of doses; (6) evaluating
effectiveness of adverse effects of drugs (Chew, et al., 2000; Duffy and Clark, 2003)
Researchers pointed that the in-congruent effects of detailing are mainly due to the
marketing expenditure made by the firms across different brands.

For years now industry as well as academia has been propagating the concept of
customer centricity as the guiding principle for a company. However the ironic fact is
that majority of companies still focus on product centricity and customer orientation
is restricted only to provide support for customers in form of sales and after sales
services through customer interactive channels such as sales & marketing.
Pharmaceutical industry is no exception to this rule (Thomas & Rainer, 2001).
However the role , applications, benefits and tactics of applying CRM strategies in
this Industrial sector is quiet different from those of FMCG sector because of the
following reasons:

1) Pharma CRM is focused on getting the precise information about doctor’s

prescription habits and exposure to detailing and product sampling done by
the MR whereas FMCG CRM is focused on the product usage pattern and exposure
of advertising message to the end user or consumer.

2) The information generated from Pharma CRM can be precise up to the point
how many prescription a doctor wrote in a particular day where as this much
precise information about usage of a brand by a particular customer can not be
tracked by FMCG CRM.

3) While FMCG CRM is more focused on non-personal communication through

advertisements, Pharma CRM on the other hand is largely based on
personalized communication through MRs, directed only towards doctors,
except for some cases wherein communication can be made directly to the
patients or the end user.

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4.3.1 Evolution Of CRM Approach

In ancient times, the two systems of medicine that were popular in India were,
Ayurvedic & Arabian system of medicine. As such there was a need based approach
instead of a true marketing approach.

Fig. 4.2, Evolution of CRM based Marketing approach in Indian Pharmaceutical Industry (IPL)

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But after invasion by British the Indian medicine system took a turn towards
Allopathic system of treatment, sometime during 19th century. The foundation stone
of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry was formally laid in 1901 when India’s first
pharmaceutical company called, Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical works, was
established. This is considered to be the beginning of pharmaceutical industry in
India. The focus was production oriented for indigenous production and consumption
because still a large chunk of the domestic consumption was being fulfilled by the
imported drugs and because of this, IPL had a very small production base, having an
estimated value of production of Rs. 10 crores in 1947.

The period between 1945 to 1970s saw a major breakthrough in Pharmaceutical

industry, at global level, there was a shift in the approach of giving drug therapy to
the patients, earlier the focus of the drug therapy was to treat the symptoms,, this was
shifted to, treat the disease itself and hence the marketing approach changed from
production oriented to market and customer oriented. Government of India in its
Industrial Policy statement of 1948 decided to take a liberal attitude towards MNCs
and allowed them to set up manufacturing facilities without the hurdles of licensing
agreements there by making competitive standards high for the pharmaceutical
market. However, the government amended the patent act of 1970 under the WTO
compulsion to recognize product patent from 2005 onward and this again brought
customer centric marketing into the focus of pharmaceutical firms.

4.4 NEED OF CRM IN PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR

Understanding the needs of the customer is the basic premise of any marketing model
and CRM is no exception. CRM model of the customer understanding & relationship
building not only helps to identify and understand the needs of the customer (doctors)
better, but also helps a Pharma firm to capture the intelligence trapped in silos and
based on it identify, segregate, segment and target customers according to the firms
objectives and abilities to fulfill their needs. Pharmaceuticals being a highly
competitive as well as a dynamic market, requires better and smarter channel
management. Identifying the factors that influence the prescription behaviour of
doctors is the basic requirement of many Pharma marketers. The emergence of self-

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help online websites and portals have forced the pharmaceutical companies to
reevaluate their current sales strategies and develop strategies such as CRM
applications and other IT based implementations in order to better leverage their
relationships with customers. From gaining a real time market intelligence that aids
strategy to build strong relationships with customers (doctors), CRM plays a major
role in shaping the Pharmaceutical business in India (Sharma 2010).

For decades MRs have acted as the backbone for the Indian Pharma sector. But due to
intensifying of competition not only between branded but also between branded and
generic products, these sales generators are facing many problems. Lack of
standardization process is just one of them that needs immediate attention. Apart from
this generation of sales leads and prospecting needs an intelligence tool, CRM can
provide a one stop solution to all these problems faced by the sales force.

4.5 BENEFITS OF CRM IN PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR

Unlike other industries, the pharmaceutical industry has started taking small steps
towards adopting CRM and other information technology to improve relationships
with customers. The key component to a successful CRM implementation is to
understand the customer to develop a process flow and system architecture that will
meet the needs of the business and its customer base.

As is discussed earlier, today also majority of firms pay attention to doctors and other
health care professionals that have an impact on prescription generation and
repurchases. Doctors and key stakeholders unwillingness to adopt technology and
change from what has been historically a business to Doctor model, has led to
increased cost of finding, developing, marketing and promoting new products and
therefore it is high time that pharmaceutical companies must embrace new initiatives
so as to develop and profit from new innovative products(Thompson, 2001).

The most important objective of CRM is to know the customer better than anyone
else, whether the customer is a person or business. The achievement of this objective
helps to maximize the business relationship with the customer. The most important
asset for a company is the information. For the success of any company, information
about its internal & external partners is vital to the success of the company. The data

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warehouse is the foundation or starting point because it serves as a repository
whereby all information that is gathered on customers is simply dumped, stored or
maintained where it can be later retrieved for future use (Muntean, 2004). This data
warehouse provides a complete view of the customers, including customer,
transactional, interaction and behavioural data. Data mining from the data warehouse
and subsequent application of CRM strategy can help pharma firms identify, convince
and retain their customers in a manner better than that of the competitor and therefore
stay ahead of the game. Prescription monitoring through data mining and CRM can
help a Pharma firm in monitoring which health care provider prescribes a certain
pharmaceutical molecule, this equips a firm to easily segment & target the doctors
according to their prescription habits & prescription behaviour.

The concept of sales & Marketing automation has put behind the age old approach to
selling & marketing of pharmaceutical products. Re engineering of the sales
processes through specialized software like sales force CRM and the help of cloud
computing model has reduced the burden on sales leaders & managers who were
facing mounting pressure to improve sales, win new deals and yet remain competitive
enough to keep the arch rivals at bay. In this entire Eco system, CRM plays a vital
role to accelerate production, drug innovation and hence pharmaceutical operations.
As discussed earlier MRs play the most important role in the sales cycle and the
future decision making is highly dependent upon tracking their day to day
performance & field activities.

Data related to the number of doctor calls made, detailing notes, in-call discussions,
personal order booked (POB), sampling stocks etc. needs to be updated on daily
basis. Earlier MRs used to generate hand written reports on prescribed formats and
were posted on weekly or monthly basis to the head office. These reports were
received, filed and analyzed by the head office staff. The whole process was not only
very time consuming, tedious and elaborate but also human errors often led to
delayed response to MRs product related queries and the managers could keep no
control over the disbursal of samples and gifts to the doctors.

The introduction of CRM concept, especially the e-CRM through mobility solutions
have made this whole reporting and updating process easier for the MRs as well their
managers. Now MRs carry a mobile version of CRM software, that helps them to

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maintain data integrity, updating data while in calls or waiting for them. Keeping a
track of all detailing notes, data of samples/gifts given to the doctors etc. The cloud
model of CRM helps to unify the sales data generated on daily basis by the entire
sales team across the countries & continents and hence track end to end sales for a
better sales funnel analysis.

The CRM platform not only have achieved re-engineering of sales process
automation but have also redefined the way customers are tracked on social platforms
through Analytics and collaboration within and outside an enterprise through
integration with several applications. This helps the firm achieve its CRM objectives
in a highly tactical manner.

4.6 CRM MODEL ADOPTED BY PHARMACEUTICAL FIRMS

IN INDIA

Fig. 4.3, IDIC Model (source: https://ninjatreach.com/crm-models/)

Although academicians have developed & proposed many models of CRM but the
most popular and best fit model, to the Pharma industry is that of IDIC model
proposed by Peepers & Rogers in 2004. The main aspect of this model and the major
reason for its appropriate applicability to the Pharmaceutical industry is that this
model helps build a closer one to one relationships with customers(which is the exact
requirement of Pharma marketing), by following the step by step approach

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 Fig. 4.4, IDIC model of CRM applied to the Pharma Marketing

I- Identify-This is the first step of the model and it requires identifying who is the
actual customer. In Pharmaceutical industry this job can be accomplished by the MRs
who can identify the current & prospective prescribers (doctors) for their products by
conducting a regular retail (chemist) survey in their sales/geographic territory. After
these customers have been identified, an MR can study his/her prescription at the
retail counter or by interacting with the doctors or through his/her associates such as
nurses, ward boys, attendants etc. An in-depth analysis of the prescribing
behaviour/pattern gives an idea to the MR as to which molecule/brand the doctor
prefers to prescribe in which ailment, this lays the foundation for the next step in the
model.

D- Differentiate- this means differentiating/segregating /segmenting the customers

into various categories/segments depending upon the level of value to a company and
the variety of needs they have. Accordingly the customers (doctors) are segmented
into high priority, medium priority & low priority categories based upon their
prescription habits, brand preference, number of patients attended, profile of patients
catered to, etc. This provides an idea about the value of each such customer to the
company. From here originates a differentiated approach for each customer. Unlike a
typical sales person an MR does not give a canned sales presentation (same for all).
Each call made by the MR is pre-planned and the detailing notes for each call are
recorded in the CRM software.

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I- Interaction- this stage represents effective interaction between MR and the doctor.
The call plan prepared in the previous stage, comes handy at this point of time. An
MR can make an effective detailing presentation about the selected brands chosen by
him on the basis of customer analysis done earlier. This helps him/her to make a
better rapport with the customer (doctor) during first few calls which eventually leads
to better relationship in future calls. Once a rapport based relationship is developed
between an MR and doctor than prescription generation becomes easier.

C- Customization- as discussed in the earlier stage, each doctor in the MR’s master
customer list, presents a different challenge to him/her. Therefore customized
detailing, sampling, sales presentation & order booking tactics during each call is the
art of selling in Pharma markets. The companies that train their field force and equip
their sales team with requisite tools and techniques, are able to generate brand loyalty
for their product brands as well as the corporate brand. As is seen in the case of top
ten Pharmaceutical companies selected for the purpose of this research study.

4.7 EMERGENCE OF ONLINE CRM (E-CRM) IN INDIAN

PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET

The need of the hour in Pharmaceutical marketing is to increase the profit potential
through a strong customer relationship that can be achieved through a superior and
improved customer service, improved customer retention rates, reduction of time to
market new product offerings, increased market share and revenue through increased
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), improved productivity of sales force, reduction of
time & cost of communication between the company and its loyal customers (Padhy
& Patnaik, 2008). Use of contemporary methods of building relationships through
internet based tools and methods such as online CRM software, provides a Pharma
firm with the required benefits such as :

i) Ability to provide faster response to customer queries.

ii) Have a deeper knowledge about the customers.

iii) Reduced cost of sales promotions and increased productivity of MRs.

iv) Regular and quality feedback from the doctors & patients that leads to
development of new & improved products.

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v) The major benefit is that of direct, personalized and one-to-one marketing.

vi) It helps a Pharma firm in being competitive, proactive and technologically

updated in the market.

vii) Provide timely, accurate and requisite information to the decision makers.

viii) With the help of the information gathered the Pharma firm can have the first
mover advantage by researching, developing & offering products and/or
services to suit the dynamics of demographics and market conditions with
assured availability and continuity of products & services.

ix) All this helps a Pharma firm to sell and service better with precise details of
customer input and customer relevance (Oswal & Deshmukh, 2012).

In a nutshell CRM is all about identifying, satisfying, retaining and maximizing the
value of a company’s best customers. A typical CRM methodology includes
imparting training to the employees and briefing them with the use of a special
purpose CRM software. An important aspect of CRM in this case is to handle
incoming calls and emails. The information collected through CRM software is used
for promotion and surveys such as conducting ‘customer satisfaction’ surveys.
However despite of getting best CRM software installed, Pharma companies still face
the challenge of maintaining good customer contacts because often the employees are
equipped with gadgets having software and technology but what they lack is ,
sufficient understanding of the context and importance of CRM. Therefore tools of
CRM should be implemented only after a well designed strategy and supporting
operational plan are put in place.

4.8 TYPES OF PHARMACEUTICAL E-CRM AND ITS

DIGITAL DESIGN

The different variations/ types of CRMs presently being applied in Indian Pharma
sector are:

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 Table 4.1 Application of different variations of online CRM in the sales &
marketing and their expected benefits.
Type/ Functional Areas Anticipated Outcomes/benefits
Variation of where Applied
CRM
Operational Provides support to i) Operational CRM plays a pivotal role in
CRM front office processes that involve direct interactions with
business processes customers. With the help of operational CRM
such as marketing, software, a medical rep can easily store his/her
sales and services. interactions with the customers (doctors), in
customer contact history and anyone
throughout the organization, who wishes to
retrieve customer information can do so
anytime from anywhere.
ii) Operational CRM processes customer data
for managing campaigns, enterprise marketing
automation, sales force automation, sales
management systems etc.

Analytical This type of CRM It helps in:

CRM is particularly
i) Designing and executing targeted marketing
suited to the needs campaigns such as those designed for
of marketing and specific/selected products or those designed
product for doctors in a particular geographic/ sales
management team territory.
or Brand managers
in a Pharma firm. ii) Designing and executing special purpose
campaigns such as customer acquisition
(adding new doctors to the doctor list of the
company) , cross-selling (promoting new
products to the doctors who are already
prescribing some other product of the
company), up- selling (on the basis of
customer profile seen by the doctor,
upgrading the type or number of products on
promotion to that particular doctor), add-on
selling etc.
iii) Analyzing customer (doctor’s) prescribing
behavior in order to make decisions relating to
products and services. For example: type of
pharmaceutical formulations to be developed,

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 probable pricing of the medicines etc. is done
on the basis of information drawn from the
data provided by analytical CRM.
iv) The information available to the
management decision makers is available
through management information systems
(MIS) which in turn are supported by this type
of CRM.

Sales Similar to analytical The most important feature of this particular

Intelligence CRM but is type of CRM software is that it sends message
CRM intended to be a alerts to sales staff regarding opportunities
more direct sales related to cross-selling/up-selling/switch-
tool and therefore is selling etc., messages related to sales
majorly used in performance, customer trends, customer
sales. margins, customer alignment etc. This tool is
really very useful to MRs because often they
get engrossed in their day-to -day sales
activities to such an extent that they forget to
maintain, update and work upon their customer
(doctor) list. With the help of this tool they can
easily manage and update their customer list
on regular basis and can also make necessary
amendments in it, as per the requirement. The
updates given by this tool also help MRs in
planning their sales calls and handling
customers according to the current updates
about their prescription trends and potential
prescription profile, given by this CRM
software.

Campaign This type of CRM MRs often carry out special or specific
Management combines the campaigns for giving a short term boost, to
CRM elements of Sales of selected products in their sales
operational and territories. The campaign management
analytical CRM. functions offered by this CRM include:
This type of CRM i) Forming target groups according to
is also particularly selected client base. The criteria used for
useful in Pharma delineating these groups is based on the
sales activities geographic location/ prescription profile/
suggestions from the MR covering those

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 territories/ specialty of the doctor etc. At
times even retailers (chemist) are also
included in this sales promotion drive. The
chemists are selected on the basis of the
number of customers attended i.e. Patient
footfall in a day/week or on the basis of their
geographical location.
ii) Sending campaign related promotional
material to the selected recipients
(doctors/chemists)-through e-mails/telephone/
SMS/post etc. This not only reduces the work
pressure on sales team but also assists and
reinforces their in -call efforts and helps
increase their efficiency and ultimately
improves their sales output in their individual
territories.
iii) This CRM keeps a track, stores and also
analyzes the campaign statistics. It also
analyzes trends and tracks responses. This
regular monitoring of the campaign results,
help the MRs and sales team members to
continue or discontinue the running campaign
or focus more on areas or avenues/customers
from whom response is good. This also helps
in streamlining campaign activities and brings
in the concurrent changes if required. This
reduces chances of failure of campaigns and
gets desired output from them.

Collaborative This type of In Pharma sales it is very useful because

CRM CRM covers the although the front line sales is handled by the
aspects related to MRs or the sales team of the Pharma company
company’s but the back end support to this department is
dealings with the given either by the brand/product managers
customer. Since who are a part of marketing department and
customers are technical issues particularly those related to
mode of action of the drug/side
handled by
effects/indications/ contra- indications of the
departments such
as sales, technical drug etc. are resolved by the technical support
support and department. The main objective of this CRM
marketing is to utilize the information that has been

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 therefore this type collected from all departments and use the
of CRM plays a same to improve the quality of services
crucial role in provided by the sales campaigns. This
integrating the particular CRM help the staff members from
activities different departments to share information
performed by these collected by them when interacting with
departments. customers.

Mobility Mobile phones have Mobile technology enables the efficient use
solutions their application in of smart phones, tablet PCs and cloud
almost every aspect technology. The concept of BYOD ‘Bring
(use of mobile
of Pharma Your Own Device’ has transformed the way
phones as a
marketing. MRs work in the field. Now MRs can
CRM tool)
efficiently spend their dead time by performing
Mobility solutions
work related activities on mobiles. Mobility
help in generating
quick information solutions seamlessly support both online and
offline synchronization with the organization’s
Updates even
ERP. Safety & security of data is ensured.
during in-clinic
Mobile aids the MR to plan, prepare & deliver
presentations.
effective sales presentations within the
Giving regular restrictive time given by the doctors.
brand reminders
Mobility solutions also help the sales team in
through SMS,
GPS based planning, effective calls
Whats-up & other
management, sample management, travel
forms of messaging.
requests management and report generation.
Sales Call and
customer
Information can be
updated
immediately after
the call.

E- CRM IN DIGITAL DESIGN- In order to understand how an MR fills in the data

in e-CRM platform, some sample pictures were taken from one of the MR selected as
a sample for this research study. Following are the details of the same:

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 Fig. 4.5a, Depicting the SJP (term coined by this firm for its CRM) for the month of July

Fig. 4.5b, Depicting the POB (personal order booking done by the MR from a specific customer) on
a specific day.

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Indian pharmaceutical market is at a crossroads. While on one side it is faced with
several challenges coming from internal and external competition, on the other hand
it has to face a new set of challenges coming from the ever changing political
regulations & policies. Pharmaceutical companies are now accepting that it is not
possible for them to survive with only a product or market focused approach, rather
they need to shift their focus on being customer centric. As a result they now, have to
re-work on the concept of customer relationship management (CRM) so as to gain a
thorough understanding of their existing as well as potential customers. Companies,
which implement CRM, not only increase the efficiency of their sales and marketing
efforts, but also enhance their customers experience and loyalty to the pharmaceutical
company.

4.9 THE ROAD AHEAD FOR THE INDIAN

PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR

The drugs and pharmaceuticals sector attracted cumulative FDI inflows worth
US$ 13.85 billion between April 2000 and March 2016, according to data released by
the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). The Addendum 2015 of
the Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) 2014, published by the Indian Pharmacopoeia
Commission (IPC) on behalf of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, is expected
to play a significant role in enhancing the quality of medicines that would in turn
promote public health and accelerate the growth and development of pharmaceutical
sector. The Government of India unveiled ‘Pharma Vision 2020’ aimed at making
India a global leader in end-to-end drug manufacture. The Indian pharmaceutical
market size is expected to grow to US$ 100 billion by 2025, driven by increasing
consumer spending, rapid urbanization, and raising health care insurance among
others. Going forward, better growth in domestic sales would also depend on the
ability of companies to align their product portfolio towards chronic therapies for
diseases such as such as cardiovascular, anti-diabetes, anti-depressants and anti-
cancers that are on the rise. In order to take the full advantage of the opportunities
offered by the changing scenario of Pharma market, companies need to gear up there
marketing and competitive strategies. The Indian Pharmaceutical industry is now
experiencing a rapid change because the era of blockbuster drugs is over, with
product launches dropping and lot of patents expiring. The competition has become

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very intense and Pharma sales persons i.e. MRs who act as the backbone for the
Indian Pharma sector, are finding it very hard to compete, due to the limited time
they get in interacting with the prescribers (doctors), so as to make every interaction
count , they have to leverage technology solutions such as ERP, CRM, SCM,
mobility solutions etc. can survive in this highly competitive market. Technology
adaptation is no longer a matter of choice anymore; in fact it has become a
compulsion.

4.10 CRM STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE SELECTED TOP

TEN PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES IN INDIA

The ranking of the Pharma firms changes every year. However for the purpose of this
research study the top10 Pharma companies during the financial year 2012-13 (the
time frame of submission of the synopsis for this research study) have been taken.
The given ranking has been based on their total sales revenue for the above
mentioned financial year. The top ten Pharma companies selected for the purpose of
this research, that have adopted online mode of promotion or relationship building in
order to enhance the offline CRM methods adopted by the sales force of the company
are:
1) RANBAXY PHARMACEUTICALS

2) Dr. REDDY’S LAB

3) SUN PHARMACEUTICALS

4) LUPIN INDUSTRIES

5) CIPLA

6) AUROBINDO PHARMA

7) GLAXO SMITHKLIME BEECHAM

8) WOCKHARDT INDUSTRIES

9) CADILA HEALTH CARE

10) AVENTIS PHARMA

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1. RANBAXY LABORATORIES LTD.: popularly known as Ranbaxy
Pharma, it is an Indian Multi National incorporated in 1961, it remained the
No.1 Pharmaceutical company in India and in 2008, Japanese pharmaceutical
company Daiichi Sankyo acquired a controlling share, however in 2014, Sun
Pharmaceuticals acquired the entire 63.4% share of Ranbaxy. Thereby making this
conglomerate fifth largest specialty generic Pharma company, in the world and the
largest Pharmaceutical company in India. Since at the time of synopsis preparation,
Ranbaxy was with Diachii Sankyo, an independent Identity from Sun
Pharmaceutical(which is also one of the companies selected for this research)
therefore the data collection has been done separately for these two firms. Another
reason for doing so is that the sales force for both the companies is still different (at
the time data collection for this study was taking place). Although the management of
both the companies is same yet the sales team for the products/brands of each
company was separate initially. Sun Pharma had retained the original sales force of
Ranbaxy till the time data for this research study was collected, however the
company had already started the integration of the sales force of these two companies
and by the time this thesis was completed and submitted the two independent firms
had become one organization i.e. Sun Pharma. The financial position of this
Conglomerate has been discussed under the heading of Sun Pharma. Ranbaxy was
known for its wide range of antibiotics.

CRM strategies adopted by Ranbaxy: although the offline CRM strategies

of almost all the firms involved in Pharmaceutical marketing are more or less
the same. So is the case of Ranbaxy, the traditional method of calling upon the
doctors and detailing the products to them, distributing free samples of the
products, distributing gifts and other value added items. Organizing
conferences, CMEs, panel discussions with experts etc. Both through online
and offline mode are the common CRM strategies adopted by Ranbaxy, for its
target market customers (specialties of doctors to whom the company
promotes its products). Since its inception Ranbaxy has been actively
involved in patient awareness campaigns and health promotion activities that
has helped the firm in acquiring a strong and positive positioning in the minds
of Indian Public as a whole. This is one of the major reasons why Sun
Pharma bought stakes in Ranbaxy. These activities have helped the firm in

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 building strong brand image in the minds of not only the target market
customers but also the Indian population as a whole. Health awareness camps,
free check-ups, anti-malaria campaigns, anti-HIV campaigns etc. have been a
regular aspect of Ranbaxy’s CRM activities. In order to keep itself updated
with the technology revolution Ranbaxy has recently adopted Cirrius Pharma
CRM digital platform on Microsoft Azure. The digital Platform has
transformed the way the company engages itself with the customers. The
productivity of the MRs has increased and their sales performance has become
more effective. Coverage of doctors has gone up to more than 90%. In clinic
effectiveness of the sales team is significantly higher due to enrichment of the
content being detailed to the doctor. Interaction and involvement of the
doctors is at an all time high with 60% of the doctors in an MRs master list
engaging themselves with this interactive platform. It also equips the decision
makers with the capability based on Analytics coming from various products
on the platform which leads to quick and well informed decisions.

2. DOCTOR REDDY’S LABORATORIES (DRL): Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories

is an Indian Multi National corporation that manufactures and markets a wide
range of Pharmaceuticals in India and overseas markets. It was founded in
1984 and in the last financial year it had a total revenue of Rs. 15,697.80
crore. Its headquarters are located in Andhra Pradesh, India. The company
produces and sells pharmaceuticals in the form of over 190 medications and
60 APIs in India and overseas. DRL offers a wide range of products including
anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic, cardiovascular and anti-diabetic drugs. In
2014, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories was listed among 1200 of India’s most trusted
brands, according to the report on ‘Brand Trust’ published by a brand
Analytics company, Trust Research advisory.

CRM strategies adopted by DRL: one of the most active firm, in building
and sustaining customer relationships. DRL is one of the most proactive firms
in adopting technology and implementing it to its sales force up gradation and
also for enhancing its customer coverage, market intelligence and customer
satisfaction. Although the offline CRM strategies adopted by DRL is more or
less similar but the firm strongly focuses on giving regular medical updates,

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 frequent CMEs & seminars especially Webinars. Apart from these, presently
the online CRM strategies are the major focus of the firm. DRL has
implemented Sales Force CRM software with the help of IT consulting firm
Bodhtree. The company has used its data integration engine ‘Midas’ to
integrate the software with the existing mail, calender and SAP systems. The
sales team is now equipped with a mobile App that requires the MR to go
online just for 3-5 minutes in order to sync their mobile devices and in case
the mobile application fails completely, there is a back up with a web portal.
This application has helped the MRs to upload customer details, tour plans,
expense claims etc. through their smart phones, on regular basis. Another
advantage is that while the MR is waiting to meet the doctor, he/she can
access information about past interactions with the doctor and any other
relevant information from the company’s ERP, there by enabling them to have
a greater impact during the sales call. This mobile application has increased
MR productivity by 6-8% and company expects to increase its revenue by
more than 30 percent.

3. SUN PHARMACEUTICALS: at present, this is the number 1

pharmaceutical firm. It was established in 1983, its total revenue Rs 26,628
crore in the financial year 2015-2016. Over 72% of Sun Pharmaceutical’s
sales are from markets outside India. About 50% of company’s turnover
comes from US which is the single largest market for the company. The
merger with Ranbaxy which was initiated in 2014, was completed by 2015. It
was a land mark transaction in the Indian Pharmaceutical industry. It has
strengthened company’s position as the undisputed leader in the Indian
Pharmaceutical market with as high as 9% market share and the No.1
prescription ranking with 13 different doctor categories. The sales teams of
both Ranbaxy & Sun have been integrated in such a way that both maintain
their entities and yet grow together to realize the full potential of this merger.
Sun Pharma is well known for its anti-diabetic and cardiovascular range of
products.

CRM strategies adopted by Sun Pharma: Sun Pharma has adopted SFA i.e.
Sales force automation. Since in Pharma marketing, product attributes largely

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 depend upon customer preferences and therefore, it is important to ensure that
critical information collected by the field staff is quickly passed on to the
system. In order to achieve this objective, sun Pharma has automated its entire
sales force, in order to maintain a long -term relationship with its primary
customers, i.e. doctors. As discussed earlier in order to maintain its number 1
position in different doctor categories (specialties), Sun Pharma initiated this
move in wake of stiff competition coming from other firms in this sector.
After acquiring Ranbaxy, the same strategy was implemented to its sales team
also. The company has opted for mobility solutions as done by many other
companies in the Pharmaceutical sector. The MRs have been given mobiles in
which they download automation application and various data like doctor List,
samples, gifts etc. from the central server. From time to time this information
is updated in the central server and accordingly the MRs keep on updating
their mobile apps, wherein they fill in the desired details and send it back to
the central server on daily basis. This has helped the company get quick
reports and reduced paper work. The software gives alarms about events such
as doctor’s birthday, anniversary etc. And accordingly MRs and other other
members of sales team can further strengthen their relationships by giving
greetings to doctors on their special days. This also helps the company to do
performance analysis by knowing which all doctors have not been met by the
MR, in a particular month.

4. LUPIN LTD.: Lupin is a transnational pharmaceutical company based in

Mumbai. Globally Lupin is the seventh largest company by market
capitalization and 3rd largest Indian Pharma company by revenue. It was
established in 1968 and its total revenue in FY 2014-15 was USD 2.06 billion.
Lupin is one of the world’s largest manufacturer of tuberculosis drugs. Lupin
has adopted world class systems and processes. The objective of the firm is to
seamlessly connect the crucial components of Lupin’s value-chain. The best
software offerings in ERP,CRM, SCM and collaboration software have been
adopted by the firm. As a result the lead-time taken to reach by half and
throughput has increased. This effectively helped the firm to take its remedies
closer to where consumers could buy them and ensured that its products were
always available.

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 CRM Strategies of Lupin Ltd: Lupin known as the largest producer and
exporter of anti-tuberculosis drugs, worldwide, has taken a step by step
approach to digitalize its marketing and sales promotion efforts. In the first
phase the company implemented all the modules of SAP. Followed by setting
up of a comprehensive SCM solutions in the second phase. Finally in the third
phase CRM solutions were implemented. This phased implementation has
equipped the management to have an integrated view of the enterprise, leading
to a significant reduction in the inventory levels and smooth tracking of the
raw material and finished products. Further, the data warehousing tools have
enabled the organization to adopt a proactive rather than a reactive approach
to the market trends. The CRM solutions implemented by Lupin has enabled
SFA (Sales Force Automation) of its field sales force. The company has
armed its MRs with the latest information by providing them PDAs that have
information and applications detailing Lupin’s various products. This
increases the ability of the MR to convince the doctor to prescribe Lupin
products. He/ she is also able to key in the sales data at the end of the day into
the PDA that is directly sent into the main database, there by reducing the
time for collating information.

5. CIPLA LIMITED: is an Indian Pharma MNC and biotechnology company

that was founded way back in 1935. The company had an annual turnover of
USD 2 Billion in 2016. As per IMS data, Cipla’s prescription business grew
by 16% compared to the Industry growth rate of 14%. Cipla has the largest
product portfolio in India and its product range is vast and varied. Cipla is
well known for its strong distribution channel management and its products
are easily available at the chemist (retail) stores (many companies actually
struggle hard to make their products available at the retail counter). This
indicates that Cipla focuses a lot on relationship building with retailers, who
in Indian Pharma market, exercise the power of brand substitution, if required,
at the time of honouring the prescription at the retail counter. Cipla is well
known for its respiratory ailments related products and now the firm is
venturing into gynecology related products.

CRM Strategies of Cipla: as in the case of other Pharmaceutical firms, even

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 Cipla has a strong focus on personal promotion through offline CRM methods
such as frequent visits to doctors (their MR visit frequency per doctor is
highest among all the firms selected for this study). Cipla has a large field
force and the number of doctors in each MR’s Doctor list is comparatively
lesser than that of other firms. MRs provide updated medical information,
arrange health care camps. Recently the company started ‘No touch breast
analysis’ tests for detecting breast cancer in females, awareness campaign
with leading gynaecologists of the country. Providing medical literature to
doctors that aids their prescription choice and patient awareness literature to
the patients for providing them information on health related issues.
Distribution of clinical instruments, stationary like prescription pads etc.,
sponsoring conferences, seminars, expert talk etc. are the regular ways of
offline CRM tactics. As far as online CRM strategies are concerned, Cipla has
also opted for SFA & CRM software. In 2015 Cipla adopted Cirrus Pharma
CRM platform on Microsoft Azure, in order to streamline medical
engagements with doctors. This has helped the firm in enabling channel
digitization of medical engagements. The platform is based on 3 components:
the base CRM platform, closed Loop marketing and the Phyzii engagement
platform. The last component that is the USP of Cipla’s CRM, helps in
fueling effective interactions between the company, its network of MRs,
physicians, patients and the supply chain.

6. AUROBINDO PHARMA: Aurbindo Pharma Limited is a Pharmaceutical

manufacturing company, having its head quarter in Hyderabad, India. The
company started with its operations in 1988-89. The consolidated revenue of
the firm was Rs. 138,960.8 million in FY 2015-16. Aurbindo Pharma is well
known for its Neurology, anti-allergic and gastroentrology product range and
is world renowned for production of semi-synthetic penicillin.

CRM Strategies of Aurobindo Pharma: apart from MRs meeting the

doctors as per the regular promotion methods, the company also conducts
various medical & health care camps. The company is actively involved in
preventive health care and sanitation activities. Arranging CMEs, Seminars
and conference sponsorship etc. are the common methods of relationship

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 building at the doctor level. Company also arranges retailer meets and retail
promotion campaigns/schemes to establish good relations with the
retailers/chemists. Online CRM is also an important aspect of Aurobindo’s
CRM activities. In 2011 company adopted Cegedim Relation management
award winning Mobile intelligence for iPad, software as a service (SaaS)
solution in order to enhance interactions of Primary Care professionals
(doctors) and head office teams. In order to have a real-time and centralized
access to disparate customer data and insights to build lasting relationships,
the company implemented this award winning CRM tool that has enabled its
commercial teams to maximize their interactions with the stakeholders
through its intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI), advanced location based
service and the ability to present vivid multimedia presentations. This
application has reduced the administrative work and maximized the sales
force productivity there by enabling them to focus on building lasting
relationships with doctors. Another advantage of this technology is the
unparalleled hierarchical architecture model that enables the company to
achieve various commercial strategies from one centralized platform.

7. GLAXO SMITHKLIME BEECHAM (GSK): is an Indian subsidiary of

Glaxo Smithklime plc, one of the world’s leading research based
pharmaceutical & health care companies. It was founded in 1924. Its turnover
for 2015-16 was Rs 2729 Cr. being one of the Pioneer firms in digitization of
the sales force, GSK has provided its sales team with I-Pads for instant
detailing and real time reporting. The company has launched CRM & SFA
tools with integration of the HCP(Health Care Professional) engagement
platform. According to the annual report of the firm for FY 2015-16, the
company was able to achieve 4,00,000 digital HCP interaction minutes by
leveraging peer to peer networking (internationally).

CRM Strategies of GSK: GSK has a very dynamic and vigilant sales force
that adopts an aggressive offline as well as online promotion strategies. Apart
from making regular calls to the doctors and conducting CMEs, Seminars,
Medical updates, conferences, Health awareness campaigns, GSK also
provides its customers for various types of networking platforms through

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 offline as well as online C-2-C interactions. For its online CRM (e-CRM)
activities it uses cloud-based platform named ‘Digital Marketing Platform’,
designed to allow users to manage the entire online Marketing process. The
Indian IT firm InfoSys has created a shared services known as Global Digital
Services (GDS) that has enabled GSK to collect and understand the
information passing across digital channels globally through an ‘Analytics’
tool on the system. This helps the firm to provide globally standardized
processes, scalable assets and advanced Analytics to support better and more
efficient engagements with the external audiences such as doctors, patients,
chemists etc., along with the internal audiences such as MRs, sales managers,
product/brand management teams etc. Prior to this application, GSK had
already started implementing Astute Solution’s ‘Power Center’ system to
manage customer interactions. This e-CRM platform was implemented in
2001. ‘Power Center’ is used by the company to handle issues and questions
for more than 20 product lines. The interdepartmental online communications
are managed through four dimensions Viz.

Consumer communications, medical affairs, medical marketing and quality.

‘Power Center’ manages consumer information, identifies and reports issues
and trends and manages e-mail, fulfillment, correspondence and quality
feedback. It also integrates inquires from multiple communication channels
into one consumer information system.

8. WOCKHARDT LTD.: this is a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company

with its head quarter in Mumbai. It was founded in 1960. today Wockhardt is
recognized as the only Pharmaceutical company in the world to have 5 of its
new drugs under development accorded the coveted Qualified Infectious
Disease Product (QIDP) status from USFDA. The consolidated revenue of the
firm for FY2015-16 was Rs. 4,461 Cr. Key therapeutic segments in which
Wockhardt has a good name includes cardiovascular, gyanecology,
respiratory.

CRM Strategies of Wockhardt: Just like other Pharma firms Wockhardt also
relied heavily on the offline or traditional mode of promoting products and
establishing relationships with the key customers. However in order to

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 improve its visibility in the market, establish a single integrated enterprise
resource planning and standardize business processes across the organization
Wockhardt implemented ERP solution followed by SAP solution within a
time frame of 8 months. The company also adopted SAP CRM software for
better management of relationships with its customers. The company has
benefited a lot from the software. A single unified data platform and
standardized business processes have eliminated data entry redundancy and
saved valuable data in real-time, which enables them to execute these tasks
more efficiently. The centralized system ensures that information across the
business is available to the management professionals in form of detailed
reports and not just as a raw data. Decision making has become easier and
quicker and this has increased the company’s visibility with distribution
channel members and HCPs.

9. CADILA PHARMACEUTICALS LTD.: an Indian MNC with its head

quarters in Gujarat. The company was established in 1951 and Cadila is the
first Indian company to get investigational New Drug (IND) approval by
USFDA for clinical trials to be conducted in India. The company registered a
total revenue of rs. 54.7 billion in FY 2015-16. It is ranked among the top three
players in the market in the gyanecology, cardiology and pain management therapy
areas.

CRM Strategies of Cadila Pharma: In February 2000, Cadila

Pharmaceuticals Ltd. implemented ERP from SAP, Germany at the cost of Rs.
100 Cr. This implementation has helped the firm in integrating all data and
processes of the organization, thereby reducing information silos in various
departments. ERP has facilitated the flow of information within as well as
outside the organization wherein channel partners such as distributors,
stockists & chemists, all are integrated with each other in form of a single
channel of communication. The company has also integrated SFA software
with its ERP solutions, so as to include the sales team & CRM system into the
integration. The result is an integrated view of the stock inventory at each
level in the distribution chain, stocks liquidated at each level, stocks kept on
hold due to some reason and a complete overview of the prescription pattern
from the selected target market doctors. The decision makers at each level of

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 the organizational hierarchy can take requisite decisions related to matters
such as primary and secondary sales, designing special purpose campaigns for
specific or selected specialties of doctors or geographical areas from where
the response is weak or give loyalty rewards to the loyal customers (doctors)
who regularly prescribe company’s brands. Monitoring of MR’s performance
also becomes easier for his/her superiors. The managers make their tour
programs according to the information provided by these software. This saves
time, money as well as efforts of all the people involved in the process and
increases efficiency as well as productivity of the sales team.

10. AVENTIS PHARMA: Aventis Pharma Ltd. is a part of Sanofi- Aventis

group. Sanofi- Aventis and its wholly owned subsidiary Hoecht AG, are the
major shareholders of Aventis Pharma Ltd. The company was established in
1956 and its main office in India is in Mumbai. Basically Sanofi is a french
MNC with its Head quarter in Gentily, France. In 2004 the company was
renamed as Sanofi-Aventis after its merger with Aventis Pharma Ltd. Its total
revenue in the FY 2015-16 was Euro 33.821 Billion. The key therapeutic
segments of Aventis Pharma are: Oncology, Neurology , Anti-Diabetic and
Cardiovascular.

CRM Strategies of Aventis Pharma: Aventis has a strong offline as well as

online CRM strategy. The company designed and implemented successful
sales promotion campaigns through its sales teams. One of the most popular
among them was the ‘Connection Cards’ campaign for its brand ‘Taxotere’
which is the market leader in its segment. It is a breast cancer drug. In order to
overcome the new Pharmaceutical marketing pharmacopoeia and to gain
higher recall among oncologists, breast care patients and to overcome the stiff
competition , the company designed this strategy. The strategy helped the firm
to establish long term relationships with doctors as well the patients. The
company promoted “Connection Cards” in form of gift packages to be given
to the patients undergoing breast cancer treatment, by their respective doctors.
The gift package included note cards and envelopes, 30 min prepaid calling
cards, reference card, brochure, taxi coupons for chemotherapy, coupons for
medical wigs. (this case was brought to light by a leading gynecologist during

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 the survey interview for this PhD research work), as far as online CRM is
concerned, the company has implemented ETMS (electronic territory
management system) in its CRM application. This initiative has enabled the
company to manage its sales territories, key accounts and marketing
campaigns, along with flexible reporting and analysis, extensive data
sharing capabilities and the ability to deploy ETMS on mobile platforms
such as notebooks, PDAs and tablets along with the smart phones.

4.11 CHAPTER SUMMARY

The relationship between the physicians and pharmaceutical companies has
become a subject of great attention because the doctors are privileged with
the right of recognizing the need of their patients and recommend
medications for the well-being of their patients. CRM is a practice of
marketing relationships differently within different customer segments. It is
a complex set of activities that together form the basis for a sustainable and
hard-to-imitate competitive advantage because it involves vital customer-
focused strategies. MRs who earlier acted as the backbone for the Indian
Pharma sector ,are finding it very hard to compete, and to make every
interaction with doctors, count. Today the Pharma companies that leverage
technology solutions such as ERP, CRM, mobility solutions, only have the
scope of survival in future. The introduction of CRM concept, especially
the e-CRM through mobility solutions have made the whole planning,
presenting, reporting and updating process easier for the MRs as well their
managers. The most popular and best fit model of CRM, to the Pharma
industry is that of IDIC model proposed by Peepers & Rogers in 2004. The
types of CRM Variations: Operational CRM, Analytical CRM, Sales
Intelligence CRM, Campaign Management CRM, Collaborative &
Mobility solutions. Each of the selected company has almost similar
strategy as far as offline CRM is concerned. Regular visits by MRs,
conducting CMEs, Seminars, expert panel discussions, distributing samples
and gifts, giving sponsorships for Medical conferences etc. Are the
common tactics still prevalent with almost all the firms. Online CRM has
also find in roads into the CRM strategy of every firm selected for this
research. All the selected firms are using SFA, CRM & ERP software from

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some national or international vendor. Almost every company has opted for
the mobile version of these CRM solutions and each one of them have seen
their sales team’s efficiency, effectiveness and productivity improve after
the implementation of e-CRM

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