Relationships between medical sales representatives and physicians : an exploratory study

The Australian pharmaceutical industry is an important and vibrant part of the National economy and has features that distinguish it from other industries such as advertising restrictions, government subsidies, stringent government and industry regulations and the decision maker not necessarily being the end-user. Traditionally pharmaceutical companies rely on medical sales representatives and incentives to influence physician's behaviour in prescribing appropriate medicines. These relationships and incentives have been criticized in the media for their negative impact on society. This paper assesses academic literature and industry practice to describe the phenomenon and a research agenda is proposed to evaluate this relationship thus inform marketing managers on their choices in strategy. Findings suggest that research in this arena is in its infancy and future investigation is required to understand the phenomena.