Reimagining Communication in the Pharmaceutical Industry in the Next Normal

Reimagining Communication in the Pharmaceutical Industry in the Next Normal

Amílcar Barreto (Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Portugal)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-7353-5.ch011
OnDemand:
(Individual Chapters)
Available
$37.50
No Current Special Offers
TOTAL SAVINGS: $37.50

Abstract

The crisis of COVID-19 has resulted in pharmaceutical organizations moving towards new communication strategies with some launching new business models to survive and reach their target audience that in turn were layered onto, and dramatically accelerated, long-standing trends such as digitization and sustainability. In many ways, the changes in healthcare professionals and patient behavior are an acceleration of digital trends that were in motion before the pandemic hit. Pharma companies are experiencing a wave of innovations in the way they engage with their target audiences from new treatment modalities (home based) to smart machines, advanced analytics, and digital connectivity. The latest technologies and digital can make communication better, faster, more agile, more reliable, more compliant, and more efficient. Pharma companies can transform the way they communicate to deliver more efficient and efficacious communication in a cost-efficient way. The strategy is changing from a tell-and-sell model to a partner-and-solve model.
Chapter Preview
Top

Remote Work And Hybrid Work Organizations

The importance of work from a broader organisational and socio-economic perspective is the central theme of many studies addressing some economic, political, environmental, and social challenges. Thus, Kastelan Mrak and Sokolic, (2017) define organizations based on four dimensions, organizations are characterized and described by physical and material spaces built and, experiencing social processes. They are also classified as sources of new ideas, innovation, and creativity (innovation dimension), are inserted in a cultural, economic, social, and political context as a human dimension and are defined as hierarchical places of power and control (hierarchical dimension) (Kastelan Mrak and Sokolic, 2017).

It should be noted that technological development has enabled and continues to allow the introduction of new forms of work, leading to a need to rethink the meaning of some dimensions and elements of the organization. In this sense, the development of information and communication technologies (ICT), accompanied by digitization, allowed a physical distance work practice from the company's site, which is referred to as telework (Delbridge and Sallaz, 2015). This phenomenon includes remote work.

As all dimensions of the organization are interrelated, changes in a certain dimension lead to the change of other dimensions, although telework has been practiced in some organizations since the beginning of the 21st century, initially only as an occasional alternative form of work beyond the standard workplace. With the development of information and ICT, it became more present in the organizational context.

Progress in the field of information technology and the wide availability of devices as well as communications links have affected many areas of life including education. Many studies have been devoted to technological solutions and the possibilities of their application, as well as changes in teaching methods, didactics, organization, or the evolution of the role of information sources in the modern world (Laurillard, 2013; Venkatesh et al., 2016).

Consumer culture represents a process offered to the world, imposed by technological, economic, political, and cultural oppressions, lifestyles and geographies. Consumer culture is a cultural process that is mirrored through the mass media today, whether on radio, television, and the internet, such as advertisements and social networks that hypnotize people to consume their effects related to the subconscious. In this sense, the process is global and popular in constant change, transformation, and innovation (McDonald, 2015).

In this respect, Adam Smith referred that “consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production and the welfare of the producer to be attended to, only so far as is necessary to promote that of the consumer” (Smith, 1930, p. 625). Consumer sovereignty assumes that all economic production is driven by consumer preferences, and the shift in demand has been stimulated by marketing efforts.

Considering the importance of rapid transaction development, digital marketing as a concept highlights a set of profiles and processes that span all digital channels to promote a product or service or to build a digital brand.

From economic practice, digital, marketing originally developed around the Web demonstrates a robustness of redirected traffic to the advertising industry, bidding. According to Mark Sceats, digital marketing is feasible over the internet as a work and display environment (Kalyanam & MacIntyre, 2002).

The constant and uncontrollable changes in business in the contemporary environment require permanent adaptations and adjustments in products and production and management procedures, and those who seek to adapt to new environmental conditions will face difficulties to grow and survive (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2008).

Complete Chapter List

Search this Book:
Reset