Closing the Marketing Strategy-Tactics Gap: An Institutional Theory Analysis of Pharmaceutical Value Chain - Innovation and Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry - page 689

Chapter 24
Closing the Marketing Strategy-Tactics Gap:
An Institutional Theory Analysis
of Pharmaceutical Value Chain
Jagdip Singh and Rama K. Jayanti
Abstract This chapter identifi es a strategy-tactics gap in most previous studies of
pharmaceutical marketing, and addresses it by systematically analyzing the marketing
strategies used in practice with the help of a unique dataset of court discovery docu-
ments unsealed in a recent litigation. Adopting an institutional theory perspective, we
examine the dominant logic that underlies pharmaceutical marketing strategies, and
contrast it with the organizing logics of the value chain partners. Four distinct market-
ing strategies with carefully crafted interdependencies emerge from our analysis:
(1) market penetration strategy involving a focus on segmentation and penetration,
(2) evidence-based strategy involving production of science, (3) medical education
strategy involving development and dissemination of standards of care, and (4) sur-
rogate selling strategy involving leverage of peer-to-peer infl uence among target phy-
sicians. Together, the strategies uncovered in our analysis provide coherence to the
observed marketing tactics and show that they are largely consistent with the logic of
consequences which confl icts with the logic of appropriateness guiding the actions of
the value chain partners. The institutional theory analysis shows that: (1) pharmaceuti-
cal value chain is characterized by confl icted logics, (2) that are amplifi ed by pharma-
ceutical marketing strategies thereby, (3) inviting regulatory intervention to constrain
and restrict pharmaceutical marketing efforts. We propose an open systems frame-
work that elaborates on value chain interdependencies and compare it with the eco-
nomic framework that characterizes most current research. We close the chapter with
an agenda for future research into the theory and practice of pharmaceutical
marketing.
J. Singh ( * )
Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland , OH 44106 , USA
e-mail: [e-mail]; [e-mail]
R. K. Jayanti
Cleveland State University , Cleveland , OH 44114 , USA
e-mail: [e-mail]