Abstract:

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the hard-to-classify, unique industries, which does not properly belong strictly to the industrial group, nor can its products be considered as consumer items. Drugs are promoted to one group, the physicians, sold primarily to a second, the pharmacies, while in most countries the ultimate consumer, the public, pays for them even though they are not the object of promotional efforts and are usually unaware of the product's.name, the manufacturer, and even the action which the drug is meant to produce. As a result of this unique method of doing business, the market research required for decision-making has had to take a somewhat different approach than either strictly consumer or industrial areas.