Closing the Marketing Strategy-Tactics Gap: An Institutional Theory Analysis of Pharmaceutical Value Chain - Innovation and Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry - page 692

are “essential” to facilitate communication, order interactions, and promote learning
among market actors (Denzau and North 1994 , pp. 4-5; March and Olsen 1998 ;
Scott 2001 ). In this sense, logics provide mental maps for constructing market
action (e.g., strategies) and interpreting it (e.g., by physicians), as well as guide
subsequent response (e.g., physicians' response toward pharmaceutical marketing).
Specifi cally, our conceptualization develops three interrelated ideas: (1) pharma-
ceutical marketing strategies are rooted largely in the logics of consequences , (2)
physicians' interactions with their patients are rooted largely in the logics of appro-
priateness , and (3) a value chain with members rooted in disparate logics of conse-
quences and appropriateness is inherently confl icted. Building on this
conceptualization, we examine the ebbs and fl ows of the confl icted logics in the
pharmaceutical value chain.
Third, using the empirical analyses as a foundation, we outline a conceptual
framework grounded in an open systems view for future research on pharmaceutical
marketing strategies. Our framework emphasizes an embedded analysis of pharma-
ceutical marketing, where studies of pharmaceutical marketing are incomplete and
likely misleading without consideration of value chain dynamics. Specifi cally, we
weave our framework around three key assertions: (1) systems (e.g., value chains)
with disparate logics are prone to entropy due to inherent confl icts in their dominant
logics, (2) managerial action focused on internal logics enhances value chain con-
fl ict and results in counterintuitive effects, and (3) a focus on organizational legiti-
macy can seed coordinated exchanges among value chain partners to potentially
overcome system confl ict. We show that our theorizing can explain current trends
that are particularly averse to pharmaceutical marketing despite increasing knowl-
edge of its effi ciency and effectiveness. We close by outlining an agenda for future
research on pharmaceutical marketing.

24.2 An Institutional Theory Analysis of Pharmaceutical

Value Chain

The institutional perspective provides an embedded view of market exchanges where
regulatory institutions, public and private fi rms, and consumers are linked through
market interactions (Oliver 1991 ; Dimaggio and Powell 1983 ; Scott 1987 ). Generally
viewed as one of the leading perspectives for analysis of market action and evolution,
institutional theory gives privileged status to the notion of logics and the institutions
that create, maintain, and disrupt them (Heugens and Lander 2009 ; Lawrence and
Suddaby 2006 ; DiMaggio and Powell 1991 ; Grewal and Dharwadkar 2002 ; McFarland
et al. 2008 ). Neo-institutional scholars construe logics as socially constructed mental
models that market actors hold as shared cognitions for socialized routines of action.
For instance, Scott ( 2001 , p. 57) defi nes logics as collective “frames” and navigational
guides for market decision making (Caronna 2004 ).
Collective frames for corporate decision making are conceptualized as a
“dominant logic” in the strategy literature (Prahalad and Bettis 1986 ; Porac et al.