MEDICINMAN · pin Ltd.) and Dr Swati Piramal (Vice Chairperson, Piramal Industries Ltd.) from the Indian Pharma industry who have shown true strength and hope for women. In one interview

MEDICINMANField Force excellence

February 2017| www.medicinman.net

Indian Pharma’s First Digital Magazine Since 2011

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A father and his son are in a car accident. The father is killed and the son is seriously in-jured. The son is taken to the hospital where

the surgeon says, “I cannot operate, because this boy is my son.” This popular brain teaser dates back many years, but remains relevant today; 40-75 percent of people still can’t figure it out. Those who do solve it usually take a few minutes to fathom that the boy’s mother could be a surgeon. Even when we have the best of intentions, when we hear “surgeon” or “boss,” the image that pops into our minds is mostly male. Gender-based stereotypes are ingrained in our per-ception.

Women are shockingly under-represented in the economy, where they earn 77 cents to a dollar earned by a man for doing the same work1. This means that for the same hours of work, a woman is paid 30 percent less, in some places and more than 40 percent less in others. In India, even with an en-viable GDP growth of 7 percent, there is very little representation of women in the workforce and a 27 percent pay gap.

As per the McKinsey report – The Power of Parity: No-vember 2015, the Gender Parity Score (“GPS”) of In-dia is a shocking 0.48 which is extremely low, some-what similar to the GPS of UAE and Egypt.

CLOSING THE

GENDER GAP IN INDIAN

PHARMA

GUEST EDITORIAL

Sharadha Iyer

“Guest Editorial | Closing the Gender Gap in Indian Pharma

2 | MedicinMan February 2017

Wait, there is more. Worldwide only 5 percent of women actually manage to reach the top manage-ment, C-level positions even though at entry level the percentage of men and women are almost at par1. In India, the statistics are worse at 2 percent.

In the Indian Pharmaceutical industry, women comprise only 15 percent of the total workforce and only 20 percent of the salesforce2

There are several deeply ingrained biases that ac-count for the above statistics, such as the belief that:

• women are not the sole income providers in the family, hence the pay gap is justified

• women drop out or take breaks at certain stag-es in life when the demands of marriage and raising kids makes work-life balance a chal-lenge

• if a woman is successful and powerful she must be arrogant (whereas the same attributes in men are seen as a sign of confidence)

A very interesting Harvard case study shared by Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook, where men and women were tested in job and appraisal in-terviews, found that men credit success to innate (internal) qualities/skills, and failure to external factors (it was unfair, they did a poor job). Women credit success to hard work, luck, the help of oth-ers (external factors) and failure to their lack of skill and ability (internal factors).

Despite these challenges and the inevitable glass ceiling, we have pioneers like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (CMD, Biocon Ltd.), Vinita Gupta (CEO, Lu-pin Ltd.) and Dr Swati Piramal (Vice Chairperson, Piramal Industries Ltd.) from the Indian Pharma industry who have shown true strength and hope for women. In one interview Kiran Mazumdar Shaw had stated “I faced a number of challenges whilst I built Biocon. I couldn’t get banks to fund me; I couldn’t recruit people to work for a woman boss. Even in the business where I had to procure raw materials, they didn’t want to deal with women.”

In the Indian Pharmaceutical industry, women comprise only 15 percent of the total workforce and only 20 percent of the salesforce



While all industries have to start working towards closing the gender gap, the Indian Healthcare in-dustry can create a benchmark by incorporating the following initiatives to improve gender parity and representation of women:

1. Create a perception-free grading system during job interviews and appraisals

2. Give equal pay and increments, irrespective of gender

3. Mandate a 40 percent minimum representa-tion of women in all functions and grades

4. Adopt women-friendly HR policies such as those initiated by Chanda Kocchar in ICICI bank like work-from-home for mothers, extended maternity leave, additional travel conveyance for pregnant employees, creche facilities for new mothers, etc.

5. In countries like Norway, Sweden and Finland which are ranked first in the world in terms of gender parity, paternity leave of 3 months and combined parental leave of 1 year was ini-tiated, which improved the representation of women in the workforce and created better work-life balance.

6. Create an environment where women can lead: start new initiatives for mentoring wom-en leaders for C-level positions.

Women also need to work on certain aspects to bridge the perception gap1:

1. Believe in yourself and be confident

2. Give it your all: don’t quit your job despite challenges and don’t quit from the race.

3. Lead to win: step forward when there is more responsibility or new a opportunity that comes your way and aspire to leadership

Adopt women-friendly HR policies such as those initiated by Chanda Kocchar in ICICI bank like work-from-home for mothers, extended maternity leave, additional travel conveyance for pregnant employees, creche facilities for new mothers, etc.


4. Ask for what you deserve: do ask for a raise, ask for a promotion and ask for equal pay during job interviews

5. Involve your life partner: have a 50-50 partner-ship in division of domestic responsibilities

6. You can balance work and family – just believe in your abilities

Says Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Facebook) “We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.”

The reality is that if we do nothing, the gender wage-gap and women under-representation will still be rampant for the next hundred years; if we start doing something we can bring positive change from within and create a significant impact. M

References1. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

2. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/women-part-indian-phar-ma-sales-workforce-shubhankar-mazumdar

The reality is that if we do nothing, the gender wage-gap and women under-representation will still be rampant for the next hundred years; if we start doing something we can bring positive change from within and create a significant impact.

Sharadha Iyer is a marketing professional working as a Senior Product manager in Lupin.

She is a strong supporter of gender parity at all levels in corporate and elsewhere.

Email id: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/sharadha-iyer-b6316718

CONTENTS

Our mission is the collective improvement of the

pharma sales and marketing ecosystem - leading

to better relationships with doctors and better out-

comes for patients.

MedicinMan Volume 7 Issue 2 | February 2017

Editor and Publisher

Anup Soans

Chief Mentor

K. Hariram

Editorial Board

Salil Kallianpur; Prof. Vivek Hattangadi; Shashin Bodawala; Hanno Wolfram; Renie McClay

Letters to the Editor: [email protected]

An imprint of MedicinMan Pvt. Ltd.

1. A Salesforce Retention Strategy for Indian Pharma ...............................................................6

A quantitative and qualitative approach to measuring and stemming the tide of attrition in pharma sales

K. Hariram

2. “I Am Waiting for the Day When Pharma Hires a CEO from a Tech Company” .................10

Salil Kallianpur - Executive Vice President - Primary Care at GSK shares his thoughts on Indian pharma in 2017 and beyond with MedicinMan

Interview with Salil Kallianpur

3. 1st World Pharma Brand Managers Day ....19

A report on the 1st World Pharma Brand Managers Day which began with a Pharma CEO Conclave

Prof. Suniel Deshpande and Vivek Hattangadi

4. Pharma L&D Beyond the Classroom ..........24

Real learning almost always takes place outside the classroom, but internalizing that in L&D requires a mindset change

Diksha Fouzdar


Connect with Anup on LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

Anup Soans is an L&D Facilitator, Author, Pharma Consultant.

Visit: anupsoans.com

Meet the editor

http://www.anupsoans.com

NOW AVAILABLE ON

(click on the books to purchase on flipkart)

SuperVision for the SuperWiser Front-line Manager is a tool to help pharma pro-fessionals transition from super salesmen to great front-line managers and leaders. The book will equip front-line managers to Manage, Coach, Motivate and Lead their teams to deliver outstanding performance. An engaging read, filled with examples and illustrations, SuperVision for the SuperWiser Front-line Manager has been used by thousands of managers across the industry.

HardKnocks for the GreenHorn is a specially crafted training manual to enable Medical Representatives to gain the Knowledge, Skills and Attitude needed to succeed in the competitive arena of pharma field sales. Medical Representatives joining the field are often not aware about the key success factors of their job and as a result they get discouraged when things don’t go as planned. HardKnocks for the GreenHorn is a powerful learning and motivational tool for field sales managers to build their sales teams.

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MedicinMan Publications - Fostering Field Force Excellence

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Time and again there has been a hue and cry about the status of sales force attrition in Indian Pharma organisations. Human

Resources is seized with the issue and is preoc-cupied in churning out statistical data about the reasons for the attrition, mostly based on exit interviews and with some observations. Exit in-terviews are invariably done over the phone by a junior HR personnel or by the line manager, due to geographical constraints.

When the reasons are presented to the CEO, the Sales Head hardly accepts the reasons cited by HR and puts the blame on ‘millennials’, HR, the image of pharma in the society, etc. With no definite understanding of the issues leading to attrition, HR and the Sales Head start working on the ‘urgent’ need of filling up vacancies. Thus the ‘important’ part of working for a long term sus-tainable solution is put on the back shelf.


K. Hariram

A quantitative and qualitative approach to measuring and stemming the tide of attrition in pharma sales

A SALESFORCE RETENTION STRATEGY FOR INDIAN PHARMA

As I was recently having a chat with the HR Head of an Indian Pharma firm with regard to sales force attrition, I recalled the Harvard Business Review article titled, “How to Make Sense of Sales Force Turnover” by Andris A. Zoltners, PK Sinha, and Sally E. Lorimer that appeared in June 2013. The tracked data revealed the following:

1. 32 percent of departing salespeople left primarily because of their relationship with their first line manager

2. 27 percent of departing salespeople left pri-marily because of inadequate pay

3. 21 percent of departing salespeople left primarily because of the lack of promotion opportunities.

4. The rest left for reasons other than the above.

Do organisations have such clarity in their data? How often do companies jump to some vague conclusion and get on with a ‘quick fix’ approach?

Maybe, in each company’s case there is a need to dig a bit deeper and try to understand who is leaving for what reason.

Could they reveal more than what meets the eye? The article further stated:

1. the ranking of the percentage of the peo-ple who left for reason #1 (relationship with manager) and reason #2 (pay)

2. the performance ranking of the percentage of people who left for reason #3 (promotion opportunities).

3. the fact that attrition or turnover statistics makes more meaning when they are linked to salespeople’s current performance and future potential.

4. the fact that quantitative performance is visible in most sales forces using data points such as assigned territory sales growth and target achievement. The qualitative aspect in terms of the future potential can be as-sessed by managers through the perfor-mance management and timely and peri-odic review

So, does the performance management system include periodic performance reviews? Are the findings used for performance improvement?


K. Hariram | A Sales Force Retention Strategy for Indian Pharma

One must also be open enough to assess and recognise the importance of other aspects, some of which are listed below:

1. Quality hiring

2. Proper on-boarding process

3. On-going learning & development pro-grams

4. Being well-connected with sales personnel through technology (digital)

5. Well trained Front line Managers (FLMs)

6. Emphasis on “on the job coaching” by FLMs

7. Demand creation and fulfilment-based sales culture

8. Encouraging organisational environment

9. Open and transparent culture

10. The leadership team ‘walking the talk’

11. Adequate autonomy, appreciation, pay, long-term incentives, etc.

12. Identifying potential future managerial can-didates and grooming them for higher re-sponsibilities.

FLMs are the first point of contact for the sales team on a day to day basis. Therefore, they should be trained to diagnose sales force attri-tion problems and empowered to implement solutions for reducing churn with the support of HR and their own reporting managers.

Companies should resist the urge to reduce in-vestment in their sales people for fear of wasting money on people who are likely to leave anyway.

Time and again studies have proved that invest-ment in a sales team’s development can com-pletely transform the rate of attrition and im-prove the retention.

Yes, it is nice to talk about REDUCING SALES FORCE ATTRITION. But it is the need of the day to talk about IMPROVING SALES FORCE RETEN-TION. M


K. Hariram | A Sales Force Retention Strategy for Indian Pharma

K. Hariram is the former MD (retd.) at Galderma India. He is Chief Mentor at MedicinMan and a regular contributor. [email protected]


M: Give us an assessment of how pharma in-dustry fared in 2016 - globally and in India?

SK: Let me start with the clichéd “2016 was a challenging year for pharma”. But then which year isn’t? In 2016, the industry was challenged on its already frail credibility thanks to the Dara-prim and Epipen issues amongst others. This didn’t work well given that the race to the White House was on. Politicians put on a rare show of bipartisanship and declared these price ris-es as ‘immoral’. They vowed in one voice to cap these prices in the US, putting untold pressure on pharma stocks. The good news however, is that the market is growing in both US and EU. Newer products especially in the biologics and I-O space are being launched, which provides tailwind support. In Japan there are opportuni-ties for generic players as the size of the generic market grew to 30% of the total market and is only expected to increase as the Japanese gov-ernment battles increasing health care costs to serve an aging population.

Salil Kallianpur - Executive Vice President - Primary Care at GSK shares his thoughts on Indian pharma in 2017 and beyond with MedicinMan.

Interview with Salil Kallianpur

“I AM WAITING FOR THE DAY WHEN PHARMA HIRES A CEO FROM A TECH COMPANY”


Back home, the NPPA swung the price cap net wid-er than before, bringing a larger section of the in-dustry under controlled prices. Diligent journalism continued to expose industry malpractices forcing calls for speedier execution of regulations and con-verting UCPMP into law. With the Singh brothers handed a heavy penalty in the Daiichi-Ranbaxy deal case, M&As seem to have lost favour tempo-rarily, although consolidation seems the way for-ward if stricter regulations drive up the cost of do-ing business in India.

M: What significant trends do you see for phar-ma in 2017?

SK: The two biggest possible game-changers for pharma in 2017 could be Brexit and Trump. While Brexit still gives jitters to the European markets, Trump could possibly mean the end of Obamacare. What his stand will be on the issue of drug pricing will have significant impact on the industry. How shaky the industry is on the issue was demonstrat-ed when pharma lost $25 billion in m-cap during a 15 minute press conference at which Trump spoke on the issue.

Pharma’s oft-made claim of ‘patient focus’ is better played out by medical technology players emerg-ing almost every day such as data aggregating websites with easy-to-read information (iodine.net ; flatiron.com) for patients and caregivers and apps that lead to user friendly diagnostic tools and disease information. Other technological advances like the use of augmented reality provides a great opportunity to engage all stakeholders in experi-ential marketing which should be a shot in the arm and a welcome diversion from our age-old and tired marketing practices.

M: How well has digital been adapted by phar-ma - globally and in India? Any examples that you would like to highlight?

Interview with Salil Kallianpur | “I Am Waiting for the Day When Pharma Hires a CEO from a Tech Company”

“The two biggest possible game-changers for pharma in 2017 could be Brexit and Trump. While Brexit still gives jitters to the European markets, Trump could possibly mean the end of Obamacare.


SK: Not much at the moment. There is too much entrenchment in the traditional style of opera-tions. We see human capital being built up within organizations but it is too focused on execution at the moment. There is limited play of digital natives within executive teams where decision making lies. That’s probably why we rarely see brand man-agers or business heads evolving their plans to wrap around the massive opportunities that digital creates. There is no ‘new-orbit’ thinking at the mo-ment and therefore we see pdfs of visual aids on iPads, aspirations to create mobile apps (with little understanding of what end that will achieve) and 2-hour long CMEs distributed over web streaming platforms, once or twice a year. This belies under-standing of either the medium or the consumer of such content. This is the typical “monologue” or “push” mode that pharma is so comfortable with.

Digital technology allows innumerable options to engage with doctors and patients. As you would know, customers engage most effectively with or-ganizations or products that solve a pain point or what we call as an ‘unmet need’. One of the larger ones in healthcare for quite some time is ‘informa-tion asymmetry’ or the lack of availability of infor-mation that can be easily understood for patients or care-givers. This prevents them from under-standing their choices and making informed deci-sions. Websites like iodine.com attempt to bridge that gap.

Some other pain points are when patients want to consult another doctor to take a second opinion. This is very different from ‘doctor shopping’. Again, there are websites that allow such discussions. To-day finding the right doctors, setting up appoint-ments, using mobile/digital prescribing and having medicines home-delivered through online orders reduces costs (makes it easier, sometimes cheap-er) for health care transactions. All this is possible through the use of digital technology.


“There is limited play of digital natives within executive teams where decision making lies. That’s probably why we rarely see brand managers or business heads evolving their plans to wrap around the massive opportunities that digital creates.


Pharma may not play in all those spaces. Yet, in its core area, pharma is making major changes to its operating model to wrap it around the possibilities that digital tech creates. Globally, there is a move to use big data to glean sharper and more relevant insights into patient and doctor thinking and be-havior. There is also a realization that the industry must move away from monologues or ‘pushing’ information to engaging in a conversation or cre-ating a ‘pull’ for information. This engagement of course will be required across all the possible chan-nels (omni-channel) and must occur almost in re-al-time. No customer will wait if he/she receives an auto-response saying: “Thank you for your email, you will receive a response from us in 7 working days”. Those days are long gone!

Considering the constrained environment that the industry operates in, it is little wonder that pharma is taking so long to institutionalize these changes. However, stellar examples in digital engagement can be found in companies such as Pfizer, BI, AZ, J&J, GSK and some more. These convince me that the industry is surely headed in the right direction. In the future, I think we will see more tie-ups and collaborations to create better and user-friendly products. That will make health care democratized (of the patient, for the patient and by the patient) in the true sense.

One could argue that reverse mentoring can help move understanding up the chain, but like most things that try to defy gravity, such initiatives rarely gain altitude. I am waiting for the day when phar-ma hires a CEO from a tech company. Someone who is told, “We are in the healthcare (not pharma) space and we need your help to do better in the new age economy.” That will be the day.


“Globally, there is a move to use big data to glean sharper and more relevant insights into patient and doctor thinking and behavior. There is also a realization that the industry must move away from monologues or ‘pushing’ information to engaging in a conversation or creating a “pull’ for information.


There are quite a few examples that are isolated (brilliant iPad campaigns or SM engagement etc.) but I want to focus on a couple of them. One of them is the “Don’t turn your back on it” campaign by AbbVie. This is for lower back pain and it is phe-nomenal in its omni-channel presence and the way it is being executed. I do not know the result of it, but I am sure it is good. Another such campaign in India is the “Knowledge Genie” project that Abbott rolled out in India a few years ago.

There are definitely many more such examples, but the reason I picked out these two campaigns are because of their distinct uses and I think there are lessons here for us. The AbbVie campaign is a glo-cal one – designed and created by the Global team but executed by individual markets. This shows a great alignment of the ‘go-digital’ spirit through the entire breadth of the organization. This is a brand-oriented campaign.

The Abbott India campaign is different in the sense that this is a doctor engagement campaign and not a product/brand-oriented one. Both are long-term engagements that require a tremendous amount of capabilities and alignment within the organiza-tion and are worthy of mention.

M: What important steps should Indian Pharma be taking in 2017 to remain competitive glob-ally?

SK: With global ambitions, I think India Pharma has done quite a few things to stay competitive. After the flurry of 483s raised in 2014-15, most of the concerns raised have been answered and large companies have done well to stay globally com-petitive. A bit of polishing is still required in the odd case which I am confident will be taken care of. In the global arena, Indian manufacturing of low cost, high quality generics is quite a formida-ble value proposition and this is quite sustainable. How it responds to global pandemics will deter-mine cementing its “pharmacy to the world” claim.


“To stay competitive, India pharma must make a concerted effort to adopt good practices in both manufacturing and marketing while evolving its commercial model to meet emerging trends.


Indian pharma has made significant progress on biosimilars as well. This could be an additional feather in its cap.

To stay competitive, Indian pharma must make a concerted effort to adopt good practices in both manufacturing and marketing while evolving its commercial model to meet emerging trends. Glob-ally, as governments worked to bring efficiency into healthcare expenditure, centrally procuring medicines either directly, or through private con-tractors working on their behalf, helped them to negotiate prices ruthlessly. This necessitates a key account management model and developing su-perior negotiating skills. Something India pharma should very seriously consider developing.

M: What are the significant challenges faced by MNC Pharma in India and how are they facing them?

SK: MNC executives in India have often compared themselves to boxers entering the ring with one hand and one leg tied and a blindfold on their eyes, to take on a heavyweight champion. While this is definitely an exaggeration, it attempts to under-score the feeling of competing in a market which is not perceived to be a level playing field. While they are entitled to their emotional outbursts, a more ra-tionale look reveals a slightly different reason to be upset, if at all with their parent companies.

Product – Are MNC portfolios truly aligned for the Indian patient? Or are they more aligned with their parent organizations?

Price – While MNC executives complain about having to price their products premium, they seldom com-plain about a lack of passion in their promotional campaigns, to explain that premium price to patients.


“What if all the pharma companies form a learning consortium and build a standard GMP, GLP or a compliance training module and issue certificate to its employees. These certificates will have validity across all pharma organizations and will save time/ cost of imparting such trainings to lateral hires.


And if patients, at the end of the day, consider every white pill the same, then should they be blamed? Of course, there is the odd value creating campaign which creates the odd blockbuster, but then this is more an exception than a norm.

Promotion – Complain about Indian company-driv-en “CRM” here as much as you will, but the fact is that it is only the rare MNC promotional program that really leaves a mark with HCPs and patients.

Place – The complex distribution system in India does mean that a lot of value stays locked in. The system stays complex because of the unionized nature of the people who control it. Despite their global clout and expertise in negotiating large purchase and supply companies in the developed world, MNCs do precious little to bring in that ex-pertise into India. Until the pharma lobby in India has different faces representing MNCs and domes-tic companies, one can expect precious little to change.

Overall, in more cases than in fewer, MNCs treat In-dia as a market and rarely place a premium on its development and progress. Older executives I have interacted with, speak wistfully about the 70s, 80s and even the 90s when they had “more freedom” to align portfolios and prices for the Indian patient. The question to answer then would be, is aligning with parent organizations – and the reduced lever-age that offers - a far larger challenge than what MNCs are willing to admit?

M: How are career prospects shaping up in In-dian Pharma, what particular skills will be in demand?

SK: There is no better time to join the industry than now. It is not just recession-proof but an industry growing consistently in double digits over sever-al years now. Of course, the ride isn’t smooth and requires the right skills and temperament. Like the saying goes, “this ain’t for the faint of heart”.


“The question to answer then would be, is aligning with parent organizations – and the reduced leverage that offers - a far larger challenge than what MNCs are willing to admit?


The usual skill sets of empathy, leadership, analyti-cal skills etc. are pre-requisites and I will not bother to elaborate. These have often been done to death by mentors, coaches, motivating bosses and peers. Interestingly, while reading and writing cannot be classified as skills, I notice an acute shortage of interest in these two basic traits that define a pro-fessional. Written and spoken skills are paramount to creating interest in and building a strong and professional image – both within and outside the company.

We work with highly educated customers and an inability to hold your own in a conversation with them does not encourage relationships of mutual respect to develop. While one need not necessarily wax eloquent on philosophy, sculpture or astrono-my, it is important to be decently aware of current affairs, the latest goings-on in the medical field and other areas of mutual interest such as politics and probably cinema. It builds a persona of being well-read and intelligent, which commands respect not just from customers but also from team-mates and senior colleagues. Being well aware coupled with an above average ability to articulate effectively often separates the men from the boys. Buy books, enroll into MOOCs that interest you, watch infor-mational programs and take interest in diverse things to broaden your horizon. Invest time in yourself. You are your greatest asset.

M: Your thoughts on delay in enacting UCPMP and the challenge of ethics in healthcare.

SK: As as a believer in free markets, I am dis-turbed when I hear of government interference in the sector or additional regulations getting added to an already over-regulated market.


“Interestingly, while reading and writing cannot be classified as skills, I notice an acute shortage of interest in these two basic traits that define a professional. Written and spoken skills are paramount to creating interest in and building a strong and professional image – both within and outside the company.


However, in this case, I believe the government has been fair in allowing a very reasonable lag time for the industry to self-regulate. As more and more instances of marketing ‘malpractices’ emerge, it seems like self-regulation is not taken seriously. The consequence of this could well be a draconian law that the government puts in place and the industry will have no one to blame but its ‘self-regulation’.

It is not clear on how seriously pharma chieftains take the matter of ethics in healthcare. At a re-cent CEO conclave on the subject organized by the Academy of Pharmaceutical Leadership, many senior industry executives espoused the need for ethics in everything we do. They recognized that ethical marketing has slipped from executive fo-cus in recent times and vowed to bring it back as a top most priority. This was especially encouraging since there were executives from both domestic and international companies present. M


“At a recent CEO conclave on the subject organized by the Academy of Pharmaceutical Leadership, many senior industry executives espoused the need for ethics in everything we do... This was especially encouraging since there were executives from both domestic and international companies present.

Salil Kallianpur works at the Classic & Established Products Centre of Excellence in GlaxoSmithKline. He writes for MedicinMan in a personal capacity. These are his personal

views and do not represent the views of his employers.


Prof. Chitta Mitra, the doyen of the Indian phar-maceutical industry breathed his last on the morning of 3rd January 2012. It was a great loss

to the Indian pharma industry. As a tribute to this legend, 3rd January of every year will be commemo-rated as World Pharma Brand Managers Day with the aim celebrating ethics and Good Marketing Practices (GMaP) in Pharma India.

A series of events have been planned by the Acade-my of Pharmaceutical Leadership and the first was the Pharma CEO Conclave that was held at Mumbai on 6th January 2017. CEOs of multinationals, Indian transna-tionals and emerging companies participated in this Conclave.

The illustrious son of the illustrious father - Dr. Sanjoy Mitra was the Chairman of the event. He gave a vivid description of some of his learning moments with his late father. He shared Prof. Chitta Mitra’s passion for market research – often giving more time to this than his family! He shared how this great man took upon himself the responsibility of bringing a paradigm shift in the mindsets of the Indian pharma marketers - from sales orientation to prescription generation.

1ST WORLD PHARMA BRAND MANAGERS DAY

Prof. Suniel Deshpande and Vivek Hattangadi

A report on the 1st World Pharma Brand Managers Day which began with a Pharma CEO Conclave.

The Chief Guest of the event was Dr. Arun Gadre, author of the book Dissenting Diagnosis. This book carries some deeply distressing and infuriating truths about the medical practice in India.

“Who is responsible for the degeneration of the healthcare system in India Dr. Arun Gadre asked the audience – doctors or the pharma industry?” He made a very strong statement, almost indicting the medical practitioners for the current unhealthy practices. “The medical practitioners alone have to be blamed. Corrupt practices cannot happen with-out the consent of the medical practitioners – so why blame the pharma industry?” He went on to add that, “The trust between doctors and patients is punctured and completely lost. As doctors, we have always known about this ‘rot’, but for a num-ber of reasons (many of them selfish), we as a com-munity (of doctors) have hardly opposed it. On the other hand, we have actively allowed this disap-pointing erosion of ethics in medical practice.”

The CEOs in the audience, however, were of the opinion that blame was to be equally shared. The pharma industry cannot absolve itself on this issue. And the CEOs are right! That is the only way to take the GMaP Movement forward.

Sanjiv Navangul expressed that “Every brand has an emotional component - with a brand promise. If this promise is broken, a brand is no longer a brand! We (in pharma marketing) are all working for someone who is not even involved in the de-cision making process for whom the treatment is being designed – the patient. So if a brand has to be built it has to have a patient centric strategy.


Prof. Suniel Deshpande and Vivek Hattangadi | 1st World Pharma Brand Managers Day

Dr. Arun Gadre (right) speaks

We need to fight battles ethically. And this is one way to get away from transactional marketing.”

Sunil Attavar made an impactful statement when he said: “It starts with our promotion. Pharma promotion has to be based on science and not just emotions. A quality control mechanism has to evolve for ethical and evidence-based medi-co-marketing promotion.”

Sundeep Bambolkar added: “There is very little difference between ambition and greed. We have taken a loan from society to build up the pharma industry and this loan can be repaid only if we look at patients first in our promotion. Transactional marketing can no more continue.”

Vivek Padgaonkar opined that: “OPPI, IDMA and IPA are still unorganized. The pharma trade associ-ations make the industry bow before them - with scant respect to the judgments and strictures of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). He said that OPPI has taken a very strong stand that UCPMP should be mandatory”. A good augury for GMaP!

S.P. Maitra mentioned that every CEO should re-solve that “I will not do anything unethical, yet I will be the brand leader.” That is the spirit!

Ashok Bhattacharya asserted that: “We still have the slavish mentality – a legacy from the British-ers who once ruled us. We still like to be ruled and led but not lead. This should change. Let the CEOs who have gathered here lead the change towards GMaP.”



Madhav Kulkarni also made a very valuable state-ment. He said that: “The most important issue for the pharma industry should be the end user – the patient. And if the patient is overlooked the pres-ent healthcare system will degenerate further. If a medical representative makes a false call he is punished but when a managing director gives a cheque to him to hand over to the doctor the medical representatives asks himself: “Why is my managing director not being punished for doing something wrong?’.”

Prashant Pathak was very vocal in saying that: “The culture of any industry is set by business leaders and CEOs and not by the tail-enders. It is ironical that while pharma captains deserve to take credit for the growth of the industry, they shy away from taking the credit for unhealthy practices like trans-actional marketing. Many promoters set unrealistic goals and if that goal is not achieved they adopt shortcuts for short-term gains, overlooking long term gains.”

That this Conclave was a grand success was ac-knowledged by Vikas Dandekar of Economic Times when he wrote: “Was a truly impressive event. Speakers in the room had a strong resolve to root out unethical practices. In particular, Dr. Gadre left a deep impact by standing firm on his principles. He may be a rare exception but it always starts with a tipping point. Hope the numbers go up multiple times. Suggest we have a day-long program next year.”



The signs are very encouraging. CEOs are very keen to re-establish ethics and Good Marketing Practices in pharmaceutical marketing. Deepak Naik concluded: “The Swacch Bharat Mission has commenced - but India cannot become another Singapore overnight. Similarly, the GMaP mission has commenced but do not expect ethical pharma marketing tomorrow!”

Two important and healthy issues have now emerged from this CEO Conclave: (a) CEOs are keen to implement GMaP and (b) they also feel that if the patients are kept at the center of marketing activi-ties transactional marketing can be weeded out. M



“Two important and healthy issues have now emerged from this CEO Conclave: (a) CEOs are keen to implement GMaP and (b) they also feel that if the patients are kept at the center of marketing activities transactional marketing can be weeded out.

Vivek Hattangadi is a Consultant in Pharma Brand Management and Sales Training at The En-ablers. He is also visiting faculty at CIPM Calcutta (Vidyasagar University) for their MBA course in

Pharmaceutical [email protected]


My previous article talked about the tradi-tional pharma learning and development landscape and how it can deliver real value

to employees. Continuing the same line of thought, today I will discuss 5 basic interventions which can be applied by leaders, L&D professionals and individuals to simplify and embrace learning outside of the class room.

In terms of the L&D spend per employee, the pharma industry is above the market average and more than half of it goes in creating classroom trainings, which form the base of the pyramid (coverage of all employ-ees under mandatory trainings). Typically, an employ-ee has to be trained on 30-40 work area related Stan-dard Operating Procedures (SOPs) along with generic and cross functional SOPs on an average. This number increases to 60-70 SOPs per employee if the linkage to relevant SOPs is done based on well-researched matrix and work area understanding.

The employees either train themselves through self study or attend classroom training followed by an evaluation. With volumes of SOPs to be covered and regulated work environment requiring continuous

PHARMA L&D BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Diksha Fouzdar

Real learning almost always takes place outside the classroom but internalizing fact requires a mindset change

monitoring and supervision, where employees do not have large attention span and time to give, do the above methods ensure effective transfer of learning? No, the employees take these trainings more under compulsion to remain complaint rath-er than to learn.

Thus, it becomes all the more important to revolu-tionize the way learning is imparted at the base of the pyramid comprising of compliance and proce-dural trainings.

1. Cultivate the right learning behaviors

Any habit is built when it is supported with the right behavior. So how does one build the learning habit? The first step is to encourage two sets of be-havior at work, observation and curiousness to ask questions. As one grows professionally, the ability to observe the work of others and your own, ab-sorbing and seeking clarification on the go and ap-plying the learnt behavior/concept within the work environment accelerates the learning curve more than the trainings do. The act of observing removes us from the doer role and many a times helps us in seeing a different perspective and throws up an in-sight. A 4-hour program or skimming through 20 SOPs in a day, will never ensure transfer of learning the way observation does.


Diksha Fouzdar | Pharma L&D Beyond the Classroom

“As one grows professionally, the ability to observe the work of others and your own, absorbing and seeking clarification on the go and applying the learnt behavior/concept within the work environment accelerates the learning curve more than the trainings do.

As a second step, managers/ leaders should demonstrate –

1. behaviors expected out of compliance trainings and

2. work/process knowledge explained in procedur-al trainings

– when in shop floor, labs, in field visits or new product launches.

Lastly, always encourage, appreciate and make an effort to address a work-related queries of subordi-nates, peers or seniors instead of penalizing, mock-ing or avoiding them.

2. Changing the perception towards your work

I think this is the most challenging part, but not impossible to do. Do not think of your work as a mechanical set of activities but think of it as an op-portunity to discover something new, value your work and find a challenge. For example, here are some ways to reframe your thinking about training events:

• Your team is not attending a SOP refresher training – they are visualizing their production process end to end, reviewing the machines’ modus operandi etc to identify process improve-ment points

• Your team is not attending a sales closure meeting - they’re gathering and brainstorming ideas to generate revenue for the next quarter/year and finding a solution to their on-the-field issues

• Your R&D team is not attending just another QBD training workshop – they’re experiencing an opportunity to practice new skills to capture quality in process

3. Integrate the learning into their daily work

As managers, focus on building on-the-job learning for your team. It is very essential that learning happens in real time and you learn as you perform your tasks.



“As managers, focus on building on the job learning for your team. It is very essential that learning happens in real time and you learn as you perform your tasks. The more you experiment, the more you learn in the process.

The more you experiment, the more you learn in the process. Process simulations and test simula-tions help in linking learning to work applications. Learning cannot happen outside of work and it will happen only when it finds application else it remains as a part of information stored.

4. Let the employees talk and connect to create learning interactions

It is basic human nature to learn from others, while we interact over a period of time, we pick infor-mation, behaviors consciously and unconsciously. Adopting this approach will make us look at every task, activity, event or interaction with someone in our jobs as an experience for peer-learning. In-teraction helps us ideate and encourages social learning. So there should be avenues where mem-bers within teams talk about their work (success and failures) and cross functional teams are given opportunities to interact with each other to break silos. Let the employees learn from each other.

5. Go visual and simplify learning

The best learning happens when you simplify the concept and it can be easily accessed/referred or explained. One way to do it is making flow diagrams of procedures and having them displayed through charts and story boards. Make notes of new con-cepts learnt and paste it on your work board for a week. Read it, share it and talk about it. M



Diksha Fouzdar is sea-soned HR professional with keen interest in Organization Design and Development. She has a rich experience of working in the phar-

maceutical sector and likes to write about her observations and experiences, studying the intricacies of organization and people behavior and how they get impacted with change in global practices, technology and new workplace trends.

THE FUTURE OF PHARMA SALES & MARKETING

PARTNER WITH [email protected]

JUNE

2017

A MedicinMan annual event

FFE + CEO ROUNDTABLE AND BRANDSTORM 2017

FFE + CEO ROUNDTABLE AND BRANDSTORM 2017

JUNE

Field Force Excellence conference + CEO Roundtable is targeted at senior industry professionals in all functions. The CEO Roundtable is the highlight of the event and fea-tures some of pharma’s most well-known leaders.

Past topics include:• Practical Issues in Sales Force Effectiveness (SFE) imple-

mentation• Role Clarity from Front-line Manager to National Sales

Manager• Role of Technology as a Field Force Multiplier• Social Learning for the Field Force• Data Analytics: Actionable Insights for Segmented Mar-

keting• Role of Marketing, Medical, HR and L&D in Building the

Rx Capabilities of the Field Force• Navigating UCPMP, MCI Guidelines and other regulato-

ry issues• Reinvention of Doctor-Field Force interaction through

Digital and Social

Past Speakers include:• Sanjiv Navangul – Managing Director, Janssen India• K. Shivkumar – Managing Director, Eisai• Sujay Shetty – Partner, PwC India• CT Renganathan – Managing Director, RPG LifeScienc-

es• YS Prabhakar – CEO, Sutures India• Ali Sleiman – General Manager India, Merck Serono• Darshan Patel – Partner, PwC• Vikas Dandekar – Editor Pharma, ET• Shakti Chakraborty – Group President, Lupin• Ganesh Nayak – (fmr) CEO and Executive Director,

Zydus Cadila• Bhaskar Iyer – Divn VP, India Commercial Operations,

Abbott• Narayan Gad – CEO, Panacea Biotec• Girdhar Balwani – Managing Director, Invida• K. Hariram - Managing Director (retd.) Galderma India

BrandStorm is targeted at Brand Managers. The event features thought leaders in pharma brand management addressing the hottest topics of the day.

Past topics include:• UCPMP & MCI Guidelines – Implication for Pharma

Marketing• Brand Building: Case Studies from the Indian Pharma

Market• Unleashing the Power of Digital Marketing – Case

Studies• From Brand Management to Therapy Shaping• Marketing to Hospitals• Case Study: Zifi-AZ• Field Force – Doctor Interaction through use of Digi-

tal and Social Media• How to Optimize Healthcare Communication Cre-

ative Agency Services

Past Speakers include:• PV Sankar Dass – CEO & Director, CURATIO• Darshan Patel – Partner, Pricewaterhouse Coopers• Daleep Manhas – General Manager & Associate Vice

President at McCann Health• Praful Akali – Founder-Director, Medulla Communi-

cations• Pankaj Dikholkar – General Manager, Abbott• Salil Kallianpur – Executive Vice President - Primary

Care, GSK• Deep Bhandari – Director-Marketing & Sales Excel-

lence, UCB• Shiva Natarajan – General Manager, GSK• Shashank Shanbag – Business Unit Director, MS• Nandish Kumar – DGM and Head – Marketing, FD

To partner at the event contact:[email protected] | +91-968-680-2244

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MEDICINMAN · pin Ltd.) and Dr Swati Piramal (Vice Chairperson, Piramal Industries Ltd.) from the Indian Pharma industry who have shown true strength and hope for women. In one interview