An empirical investigation of the application of promotional mix elements within multinational pharmaceutical companies in Kenya
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Date
2001-10Author
Ole Naikuni, James K
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The study reported here analyzed the application of promotional mix elements within
multinational pharmaceutical companies in Kenya. These promotional mix elements
are personal selling, sales promotion, direct marketing, advertising and public
relations and publicity as applied in various proportions while marketing their
medicinal products. The study also looked at the factors that determine the choice of
which promotional tool to apply. These factors are those that impact both positively
and negatively on which tool to use and those, which hinder on desirable tools to
apply. The basic premise of study was to look at how the widely used promotional
tools -in FMCGI industry- are applied in the specialized industry of pharmaceuticals.
The study was a survey of a judgmental sample compnsmg of multinational
pharmaceutical firms with scientific offices in Nairobi. The data was collected using
self-administered questionnaires. This contained open-ended as well as closed-ended
type of questions. The primary data was collected using the drop and pick method.
The data collected was analyzed using frequency tables, and percentages to compare
the distribution of the variables in the study.
The findings from these analyses came up with the following conclusions;
• The most commonly used promotional mix element used by multinational
pharmaceutical firms is personal selling and sales promotions. These two are the
key elements of promoting medicinal products used by most of the multinational
pharmaceutical firms. Publicity and public relations together with advertising are
the least used promotional tools. The most widely used promotional tools in
personal selling are sales presentations and sales meetings while exhibitions are
commonly applied iotH;alespromotion.
Fast Moving Consumer Goods
• The important factor, which determines the tool to use by multinational
pharmaceutical firms, is type of product and profitability. The type of customer
and market competition are equally important as factors in the determination of
promotional tools to apply.
• The factors that impact negatively on promotional activities of multinational
pharmaceutical firms are lack of focus, ethical considerations, and regulatory
and financial constraints.
Publisher
School of Business, University of Nairobi
Description
Master of Business and Administration (MBA)