March, 2011 SMM-076
Beyond KOL management: Communities of practice as a new perspective on pharmaceutical market penetration
Pharmaceutical marketers have traditionally relied heavily on the diffusion of innovation model and the associated idea of the key opinion leader. However, these ideas are strongly rooted in consumer markets and have little empirical support in the complex, professional decision making process typical of pharmaceutical markets. This article, co-authored with senior staff from Cegedim, considers as an alternative the concept of communities of practice model and discusses the implications of this for future research and the practice of pharmaceutical marketing.