| dc.description.abstract | This study was conducted with the objective of finding out the state of strategic
marketingpractices of Pharmaceutical manufacturers' in Kenya. The focus of the
study was on all the firms engaged in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical
products. ,As at August 2000, twenty-five such firms were identified after
consulting'KenyaPharmaceuticalManufacturers Association.One of the identified
firms no longer produce pharmaceuticals as they had changed to' the
manufacturing and import of medical equipment. Therefore, there were only
twenty-four firms producing pharmaceutical and related products. Economic
reforms.introduced in Kenya and other African countries in mid 1980s brought a
lot of changes in the business environment. The most significant outcome of
lib~ralization for pharmaceutical sector was the tremendous increase in
competition from imported drugs.
Thestudy had two objectives:
(a)To investigate the current strategic marketing practices of Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers in Kenya.
(b)To establish the strategic responses of firms to the changes affecting the
PharmaceuticalIndustry.
To achieve these objectives, a survey was conducted and primary data was
collected, The data was collected through personally administered
questionnaires. This had both structured and unstructured questions. The
respondents were the directors or the marketing/sales managers of the firms.
Although all the firms were contacted personally, only eighteen firms were
successfullyinterviewed.
The data was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. The study found that
with increased environmental turbulence, firms in this sector made some
adjustments in their marketing mix components in order to remain competitive.
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Changes in complexities led pharmaceutical manufacturers to adopt more market
driv~en strategy approaches. There was a vast difference amongst the firms in ,
this sector with respect to their size, resources and product mix. Many
companies follow niche market and market segmentation approach. The' firms
were also doing marketing planning. Although firms made changes in their
marketing mix components, yet on promotion of their products they relied mainly
on sales promotion and personal selling. Firms used less of other media and
means of product promotion. In order to cope with environmental challenges,
the firms in this sector paid attention to the activities of their competitors. The
firms were quite aware of the changes taking place within the industry and their
markets.
It may not be possible to draw general conclusions due to the enormous
variation in the size and product mix of these companies as well as due to some
other limitation of the study. Nevertheless the study provided some insight into
strategic marketing practices of the pharmaceutical manufacturers in Kenya | en |
