DISSERTATION

On

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS SAFETY ISSUES IN USING HEALTH CARE

PRODUCTS: AN EMPERICAL STUDY

Submitted to the Uttaranchal University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of the Degree of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Submitted by

Suraj Nainwal
(Enrollment No.: _____________________)

Under the Guidance of

Mrs. Ambica Prakash Mani (Asst. Professor)

(Batch:__________)

UTTARANCHAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN

Uttaranchal Institute of Management

Uttaranchal University
Dehradun
 CANDIDATES DECLARATION

I, Suraj Nainwal hereby declare that the Dissertation, entitled Consumer behaviour
towards issues in using Healthcare Products : AN EMPERICAL STUDY, submitted to
the Uttaranchal University, Dehradun in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of the Degree of Master of Business Administration is a record of original research
work undergone by me under the supervision and guidance of Mrs. Ambica Prakash Mani
(Asst. Professor), Uttaranchal Institute of Management, Uttaranchal University, and it has not
formed the basis for the award of any Degree/Fellowship or other similar title to any candidate
of any University/Institution.

Date: Signature of the Student

This is to certify that the statement made by the candidate is true to the best of my knowledge
and belief.

Signature of Guide
Date: Mrs. Ambica Prakash Mani (Asst. Professor)

Countersigned

Dean
 CERTIFICATE OF ORGINALITY

This is to declare that I have carried out this project work myself in part fulfillment of
the Requirement for the MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.

The work is original, has not been copied from anywhere else and has not been submitted to any
other University/Institute for an award of any degree/diploma.

Date:

Place: Dehradun

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to extend my gratitude to my Project guide and mentor, Mrs. Ambica Prakash Mani
(Asst. Professor) for his appreciable support and valuable time and guidance with providence of
resources in terms of knowledge, theoretical gains and practical experience.
A successful project can never be prepared by the singular effort of the person to whom project is
assigned, but it also demands the help and guardianship of some conversant persons who
undersigned actively or passively in the completion of a successful project. I would like to extend
my thankfulness to him for providing me with excellent guidance and co-operation, which has been
of immense help for the successful completion of this project. I would also thanks to all staff
members of Century Pulp and Paper Mill for guidance and co-operation.

OUTLINE OF THE DISSERTATION

 TITLE PAGE NO.
Title Page --
Certificate of Originality (Duly Signed) --
Preface (i)
Acknowledgement (ii)
Table of Contents (iii)
List of Tables (iv)
List of Figures (v)
List of Abbreviations (vi)
Chapter 1:
 Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Annexure:
(a) Questionnaire (if any)
(b) Any other relevant Information/Documents

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS SAFETY ISSUES IN

USING HEALTH CARE PRODUCTS: AN EMPERICAL STUDY

Introduction to the project

The project is based on the aspect of consumer behavior towards issues in using health care
products in India. The project revolves around the consumers behavior when it comes to
purchasing any health care product. The factors that influence the consumer to make his
decision while purchasing a product are also discussed. As this is a research project, a research
was conducted by survey method. A small survey was conducted which involved retailer of
health care products, who shared their experience and idea of serving in this particular area. This
project tries to understand how much of the theory of consumer behavior is applied in practice
and how marketing can make a difference.
A detail study on consumer behavior has been done by many theorists, which is discussed in the
project along with different methods of motivating consumers to buy. Detail information on
health care products is also mentioned in the project report. Many organizations have come
forward with different products in the health sector. Today in India itself we have more than
1500 companies which provide healthcare products. Many have emerged to become huge
brands. Apart from that many foreign companies are also serving the Indian market with their
products which are becoming popular with each day, and are becoming a threat for the local
companies.
The health care industry still needs to evolve a lot in India. We cannot be sure how the local
companies compete with the foreign technology in the ever changing world. Consumers are
becoming more precise about the features they want in a product and when they do not find
them in a local product they tend to go towards the foreign products.

Defining consumer behaviour

Consumer behavior -Kotler 1994

Consumer behavior is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy
products. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It
attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It
studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioral variables
in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer
from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.
Customer behavior study is based on consumer buying behavior, with the customer playing the
three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Relationship marketing is an influential asset for
customer behavior analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning of
marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A greater
importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management,
personalization, customization and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized
into social choice and welfare functions.

Kotler and Keller (2011) highlight the importance of understanding consumer buying
behaviour and the ways how the customers choose their products and services can be extremely
important for manufacturers as well as service providers as this provides them with competitive
advantage over its competitors in several aspects. For example, they may use the knowledge
obtained through studying the consumer buying behaviour to set their strategies towards
offering the right products and services to the right audience of customers reflecting their needs
and wants effectively.
Each method for vote counting is assumed as a social function but if Arrows possibility
theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function is achieved. Some specifications of
the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, monotonocity, unanimity,
homogeneity and weak and strong Pareto optimality. No social choice function meets these
requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously. The most important characteristic of a social
function is identification of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation
with the ranks. Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind, the
productive system is considered from its beginning at the production level, to the end of the
cycle, the consumer.

Belch and Belch define consumer behavior as 'the process and activities people engage in when
searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services so
as to satisfy their needs and desires.
Walters (1974) provides such a definition of consumer by stating that "A consumer is an
individual who purchases, has the capacity to purchase, goods and services offered for sale by
marketing institutions in order to satisfy personal or household needs, wants, or desires."
Consumer behaviour as: the process whereby individuals decide whether, what, when, where,
how, and from whom to purchase goods and services."

Mowen (1993) provides a different definition by explaining consumer behaviour as: "... the
study of the buying units and the exchange processes involved in acquiring, consuming, and
disposing of goods, services, experiences, and ideas". This definition focuses on buying units in
an attempt to include not only the individual but also groups that purchase products or services.

Consumer Behaviour by Hawkins, Best, Coney and Mokherjee: The authors of the book
discussed various factors affecting consumer behaviour for buying such as demographic and
social influences (family and household), group influence, impact of advertising and internal
influences (learning, perception, attitude etc.). The book elucidated the topics such as types of
consumer decisions, purchase involvement and product involvement. The book also emphasized
on information search process and various ways for providing relevant information to the
consumers are recommended in this study. The book also emphasized on individual judgment
and proposed that the ability of an individual to distinguish between similar stimuli is called
sensory discrimination which could involve many variables related to individual preferences.

Factors influencing consumer behavior

Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by these four factors.
1. Cultural Factor
2. Social Factor
3. Personal Factor
4. Psychological Factor.

01. Cultural Factor:-Cultural factor divided into three sub factors

(i) Culture (ii) Sub Culture (iii) Social Class

Culture:-The set of basic values perceptions, wants, and behaviors learned by a member of
society from family and other important institutions. Culture is the most basic cause of a
persons wants and behavior. Every group or society has a culture, and cultural influences on
buying behavior may vary greatly from country to country.

Sub Culture:-A group of people with shared value systems based on common life
experiences and situations.

Each culture contains smaller sub cultures a group of people with shared value system based
on common life experiences and situations. Sub culture includes nationalities, religions,
racial group and geographic regions. Many sub culture make up important market segments
and marketers often design products.

Social Class:-Almost every society has some form of social structure; social classes are
societys relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose members share similar values,
interests and behavior.
02. Social Factors: - A consumers behavior is also influenced by social factors, such as the
(i) Groups (ii) Family (iii) Roles and status

Groups:-Two or more people who interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals. A persons
behavior is influenced by many small groups. Groups that have a direct influence and to which a
person belongs are called membership groups. Some are primary groups; includes family,
friends, neighbors and co-workers. Some are secondary groups, which are more formal and have
less regular interaction. These include organizations like religious groups, professional
association and trade unions.

Family:-Family members can strongly influence buyer behavior. The family is the most
important consumer buying organization society and it has been researched extensively.
Marketers are interested in the roles, and influence of the husband, wife and children on the
purchase of different products and services.

Roles and Status:-

A person belongs to many groups, family, clubs, and organizations.

The persons position in each group can be defined in terms of both role and status.

For example. Mr. X plays the role of father; in his family he plays the role of husband, in his
company, he plays the role of manager, etc. A Role consists of the activities people are
expected to perform according to the persons around them.

03. Personal Factors:- It includes: (i) Age and life cycle stage (ii) Occupation (iii) Economic
situation (iv) Life- Style (v) Personality and self concept.

Age and Life cycle Stage:-People change the goods and services they buy over their lifetimes.
Tastes in food, clothes, furniture, and recreation are often age related. Buying is also shaped by
the stage of the family life cycle.

Occupation:-A persons occupation affects the goods and services bought. Blue collar workers
tend to buy more rugged work clothes, whereas white-collar workers buy more business suits. A
Co. can even specialize in making products needed by a given occupational group. Thus,
computer software companies will design different products for brand managers, accountants,
engineers, lawyers, and doctors.

Economic situation:-A persons economic situation will affect product choice.

Life Style:-Life Style is a persons Pattern of living, understanding these forces involves
measuring consumers major AIO dimensions. i.e. activities (Work, hobbies, shopping, support
etc) interest (Food, fashion, family recreation) and opinions (about themselves, Business,
Products)

Personality and Self concept:-Each persons distinct personality influences his or her buying
behavior. Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively
consistent and lasting responses to ones own environment.
04. Psychological Factors:- It includes: (i) Motivation (ii) Perception (iii) Learning (iv) Beliefs
and attitudes

Motivation: - Motive (drive) a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek
satisfaction of the need

Perception: - The process by which people select, Organize, and interpret information to for a
meaningful picture of the world.

Learning:- Changes in an individuals behavior arising from experience.

Beliefs and attitudes: - Belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something.
Attitude, a Persons consistently favorable or unfavorable evaluations, feelings, and tendencies
towards an object or idea.

Psychological processes involved in consumer behavior

The starting point for understanding consumer behavior is the stimulus-response model.
Marketing and environmental stimuli enter the consumers consciousness, and a set of
psychological processes combine with certain consumer characteristics to result in decision
processes and purchase decisions. The marketers task is to understand what happens in the
consumers consciousness between the arrival of the outside marketing stimuli and the ultimate
purchase decisions. Four key psychological processes (i) Motivation, (ii) Perception, (iii)
Learning and (iv) Memory - fundamentally influence consumer responses.

1) Motivation:
We all have many needs at any given time. Some needs are biogenic; they arise from
physiological states of tension such as hunger, thirst or discomfort. Other needs are
psychogenic; they arise from psychological states of tension such as the need for recognition,
esteem, or belonging. A need becomes a motive when it is aroused to a sufficient level of
intensity to drive us to act. Motivation has both direction we select one goal over another
and intensity the vigor with which we pursue the goal.

2) Perception:
A motivated person is ready to act. How he or she acts is influenced by his or her view of the
situation. In marketing, perceptions are more important than the reality, because its perceptions
that the affect consumers actual behavior. Perception is the process by which we select,
organize, and interpret information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. The key
point is that it depends not only on the physical stimuli, but also on the stimulis relationship to
the surrounding field and on condition within each of us. One person might perceive a fast-
talking salesperson as aggressive and in sincere; another, as intelligent and helpful. Each will
respond differently to the salesperson.
In marketing, perceptions are more important than the reality, as it is perceptions that will affect
consumers actual behavior. People can emerge with different perceptions of the same object
because of three perceptual processes: selective attention, selective distortion and selective
retention.
3) Learning:
When we act we learn. Learning includes changes in our behavior arising from experience.
Most human behavior is learned, although much learning is incidental. Learning theorists
believe that learning is produced through the interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses, and
reinforcement. Two popular approaches to learning are classical conditioning and operant
conditioning.
A drive is strong internal stimulus impelling action. Cues are minor stimuli that determine when,
where and how a person responds. Suppose you buy an HP computer. If your experience is
rewarding, your response to computers and HP will be positively reinforced. Later on, when you
want to buy a printer, you may assume that because HP makes good computers, HP also makes
good printers. In other words, you generalize your response to similar stimuli. A
countertendency to generalization is discrimination. Discrimination means we have learned to
recognize differences in sets of similar stimuli and can adjust our responses accordingly.
Learning theory teaches marketers that they can build demand for a product by associating it
with strong drives, using motivating cues, and providing positive reinforcement. A new
company can enter the market by appealing to the same drives that competitors use and by
providing similar cues, because buyers are more likely to transfer loyalty to similar brands or
the company might design its brand to appeal to different set of drives and offer strong cue
inducements to switch.

4) Memory
All the information and experiences we encounter as we go through life can end up in our long
term memory. Cognitive psychologists distinguish between short- term memory (STM)
temporary and limited repository of information and long term memory (LTM) a more
permanent, essentially unlimited repository.
Most widely accepted views of long term memory structure assume we form some kind of
associative model. For example, the associative network memory model views LTM as a set of
nodes and links. Nodes are stored information connected by links that vary in strength. Any type
of information can be stored in the memory network, including verbal, visual, abstract, and
contextual. A spreading activation process from node to node determines how much we retrieve
and what information we can actually recall in any given situation. When a node becomes
activated because were encoding external information or retrieving internal information from
LTM, other nodes are also activated if theyre strongly enough associated with that node.
In this model, we think of consumer brand knowledge as a node in memory with a variety of
linked associations. The strength and organization of these associations will be important
determinants of the information we can recall about the brand. Brand associations consist of all
brand-related thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on
that become linked to the brand node.
We can think of marketing as a way of making sure consumers have the right types of product
and services experiences to create the right brand knowledge structures and maintain them in
memory. Companies such as Procter & Gamble like to create mental maps of consumers that
depict their knowledge of a particular brand in terms of the key associations that are likely to be
triggered in marketing setting, and their relative strength, favorability, and uniqueness to
consumers.

The buying decision process: The five stage model

Buyer decision processes are the decision making processes undertaken by consumers in regard
to a potential market transaction before, during, and after the purchase of a product or service.
More generally, decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from
among multiple alternatives. Common examples include shopping and deciding what to eat.
Decision making is said to be a psychological construct. This means that although we can never
"see" a decision, we can infer from observable behavior that a decision has been made.
Therefore we conclude that a psychological event that we call "decision making" has occurred.
It is a construction that imputes commitment to action. That is, based on observable actions, we
assume that people have made a commitment to effect the action.
In general there are three ways of analyzing consumer buying decisions. They are:
Economic models - These models are largely quantitative and are based on the assumptions of
rationality and near perfect knowledge. The consumer is seen to maximize their utility.
Psychological models - These models concentrate on psychological and cognitive processes
such as motivation and need recognition. They are qualitative rather than quantitative and build
on sociological factors like cultural influences and family influences.
Consumer behavior models - These are practical models used by marketers. They typically
blend both economic and psychological models.
Marketing scholars have developed a stage model of the buying decision process.

The consumer passes through five stages: problem recognition, information search, evaluation
of alternatives, purchase decision, and post purchase behavior. Clearly, the buying process starts
long before the actual purchase and has consequences long afterwards.
Consumers dont always pass through all five stages in buying a product. They may skip or
reserve some. When you buy your regular brand of toothpaste, you go directly from the need for
toothpaste to the purchase decision, skipping information search and evaluation.

1) Problem recognition
The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem of need triggered by internal or
external stimuli. With an internal stimulus, one of the persons normal needs hunger, thirst, sex
rises to a threshold level and becomes a drive; or a need can be aroused by an external
stimulus. A person may admire a neighbors new car or see television ad for a Hawaiian
vacation, which triggers thoughts about the possibility of making a purchase.
Marketers need to identify the circumstances that trigger a particular need by gathering
information from a number of consumers. They can then develop marketing strategies that
trigger consumer interest. Particularly for discretion purchases such as luxury goods, vacation
packages, and entertainment options, marketers may need to increase consumer motivation so a
potential purchase gets serious consideration.

2) Information Search
Surprisingly, consumers often search for limited amounts of information. Surveys have shown
that for durables, half of all consumers look at only one store, and only 30% look at more than
one brand of appliances. We can distinguish between two levels of involvement with search.
The milder search state is called heightened attention. At the next level, the person may enter an
active information search: looking for reading material, phoning friends, going online, and
visiting stores to learn about the product.

3) Evaluation of Alternatives
How does the consumer process competitive brand information and make a final value
judgment? No single process is used by all consumers, or by any one consumer in all buying
situations. There are several processes, and the most current models see the consumer forming
judgments largely on a conscious and rational basis.
Some basic concepts will help us understand consumer evaluation processes: First, the
consumer is trying to satisfy a need. Second, the consumer is looking for certain benefits from
the product solution. Third, the consumer sees each product as a bundle of attributes with
varying abilities for delivering the benefits sought to satisfy this need. The attributes of interests
to buyers vary by product.
Consumers will pay the most attention to attributes that deliver the sought after benefits. We
can often segment the market for a product according to attributes important to different
consumer groups.

4) Purchase Decision
In the evaluation stage, the consumer forms preferences among the brands in the choice set.
The consumer may also form an intention to buy the most preferred brand. In executing a
purchase intention, the consumer may make up to five sub-decisions: brand, dealer, quantity,
timing, and payment method.

5) Post purchase behavior

After the purchase, the consumer might experience dissonance that stems from noticing certain
disquieting features of hearing favorable things about other brands and will be alert to
information that supports his or her decision. Marketing communications should supply beliefs
and evaluations that reinforce the consumers choice and help him feel good about the brand.
The marketers job therefore does not end with the purchase. Marketers must monitor post
purchase satisfaction, post purchase actions, and post purchase product uses.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MARKETING CONCEPT AND THE DISCIPLINE OF

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The field of consumer behaviour is rooted in the marketing concept, a business orientation that
evolved in the 1950s through several alternative approaches toward doing business referred to
respectively: -

1) The Production Concept.

2) The Product Concept.

3) The Selling Concept.

4) The Marketing Concept.

5) The Societal Marketing Concept.

1) THE PRODUCTION CONCEPT: The production concept assumes that consumers are
mostly interested in product availability at low prices; its implicit marketing objectives are
cheap, efficient product and intensive distribution. It makes sense when consumer are more
interested in buying whats available rather than wait for what they really want. The main
objective is to expand the market.
2) THE PRODUCT CONCEPT: The product concept assumes that consumers will buy the
product that offers them the highest quality, the best performance, and the most features. It
ensures the company to improve the quality of its product and add new features.The product
concept often leads to marketing myopia that is focusing on the product rather than the
customer needs.

3) THE SELLING CONCEPT: The assumption of the selling concept is that consumers are
unlikely to buy the product unless they are aggressively persuaded to do so mostly through
hard sell approach. The problem in this concept is that it fails to satisfy a customer. Promotion
can be done through advertisement, sales promotion and public relation. Today the selling
concept is utilize be marketers of unsought products that is which people are not willing to
buy it (such as life insurance).

4) THE MARKETING CONCEPT: It started in 1950s when some marketers realized we can
sell more products by determining what consumer would buy. Consumer need and wants
became the firms primary focus. The marketers should made product what t can sell, instead of
what it has made.

5) THE SOCIETAL MARKETING CONCEPT: Developing that product which benefits the
society. Doing marketing in such a way that it helps you in increasing your production & also
giving benefits to society. The organization should determine the needs, wants and interest of
target markets and deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently then do
competitors in a way that maintains or improves the customers and societys well being

Health care
The world health organization (WHO), the key United Nations (UNs) agency concerned with
global health matters defined health as, a state of complete physical, mental and social well-
being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity (WHO, 1947). Conceptually, to be
healthy means more than not having disease or infirmity, but to be harmony with oneself and
environment.
The WHO Centre for Health Development is a research arm of the World Health Organization
based in Kobe, Japan, and has a global mandate to conduct research into the health
consequences of social, economic, environmental and technological change and their
implications for health policies. The maintenance and improvement of physical and mental
health, especially through the provision of medical services. Health care, or healthcare, is the
treatment and management of illness, and the preservation of health through services offered by
the medical, dental, complementary and alternative medicine, pharmaceutical, clinical sciences
(in vitro diagnostics), nursing, and allied health professions. Health care embraces all the goods
and services designed to promote health, including preventive, curative and palliative
interventions, whether directed to individuals or to populations. The definition of health care is
continuously evolving and varies significantly between different cultures.
The term natural health product is used in Canada to describe substances such as vitamins and
minerals, herbal medicines, homeopathic preparations, energy drinks, probiotics, and many
alternative and traditional medicines.

Primary Health Care

 Primary Health Care (PHC) is a conceptual model which refers to both processes and beliefs
about the ways in which health care is structured. PHC encompasses primary care, disease
prevention, health promotion, population health, and community development within a holistic
framework, with the aim of providing essential community-focused health care (Shoultz &
Hatcher, 1997; World Health Organization [WHO], 1978). The cornerstones of PHC are access,
equity, essentiality, appropriate technology, multispectral collaboration, and community
participation and empowerment (WHO).

Secondary Health care

Secondary care includes acute care: necessary treatment for a short period
of time for a brief but serious illness, injury or other health condition, such
as in a hospital emergency department. It also includes skilled attendance
during childbirth, intensive care, and medical imaging services. The term
"secondary care" is sometimes used synonymously with "hospital care".
However, many secondary care providers do not necessarily work in
hospitals, such as psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, occupational
therapists, most dental specialties or physiotherapists (physiotherapists are
also primary care providers, and a referral is not required to see a
physiotherapist), and some primary care services are delivered within
hospitals

Tertiary Health care

Tertiary care is specialized consultative health care, usually for inpatients and on referral from a
primary or secondary health professional, in a facility that has personnel and facilities for
advanced medical investigation and treatment, such as a tertiary referral hospital.

HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS
Health care providers (hospitals, HMOs, physicians, and others) are constantly searching for
better products and better means for delivering them. The health care product is often loosely
defined as a service. The authors develop a more precise definition of the health care product,
product line, and product mix. A bundle-of-elements concept is presented for the health care
product. These conceptualizations help to address how health care providers can segment their
market and position, promote, and price their products.

Healthcare product development

Healthcare product development (that is, the development of a drug, biologic or medical device)
is a long and complex process. It is critical to know the general product development lifecycle
from the proof-of-concept (POC) stage to the licensing stage so that your development process
can follow the correct path. Knowing which pitfalls to avoid will speed your time to market.
The healthcare product development process involves 10 key steps, as shown in Figure 1.
Further details and links to related in-depth articles are below.

Step 1: Properly classify your healthcare product (that is, as a drug, a biologic, a medical
device or a combination product) so that you know which regulatory path to take. If in doubt,
contact the appropriate regulatory body to confirm the product type and how your product is
regulated.

Step 2: Identify the claim of your healthcare product so that you know what types of studies
to conduct to support the claim and your product label. For instance, changing your claim may
change the medical device classification which can lead to different regulatory oversight
requirements (for example, class II versus class III devicemeaning a 510(k) submission
versus a Premarket Approval [PMA] submission in the US).

Step 3: Determine your healthcare market. This will guide you to the requirements that are
specific to each jurisdiction. It is important to identify jurisdiction-specific requirements upfront
so that they can be included early in the product development plan.

Step 4: Develop your regulatory strategy by identifying the specific regulatory requirements
as well as the possible pathway(s) to take. A thorough understanding of these requirements will
guide the development of your regulatory strategy.
Step 5: Establish a healthcare product development plan so that the product requirements
can be translated into actionsthat is, who does what and by when and for how much. Such
plan should be established collaboratively with input from different functional groups. It should
include key milestones, critical paths and periodic reviews for go and no-go decisions and be
updated periodically.

Step 6: Execute the product development plan. It is subject-matter experts who possess
knowledge of the investigational product who must carry out (and be responsible for) the
corresponding manufacturing, quality, regulatory, non-clinical and clinical programs, as well as
any coordination with third parties.

Step 7: Execute the clinical plan. If a clinical program is required in support of the licensing
application, these studies should be conducted according to good clinical practices (GCP) and
country-specific requirements, such as ethics approvals and/or necessary regulatory approvals
for conducting the clinical trial(s). Often, it helps to have a pre-submission meeting with the
regulatory agency prior to submitting a clinical trial application in order to address specific
issues (for example, the design of the clinical trial and the study end point.

Step 8: Collect your data for regulatory submission. Once the data from the product design
and the manufacturing, quality, non-clinical and clinical programs are available, these data and
reports should be collected for inclusion in the regulatory submission.

Step 9: Collate your regulatory submission according to applicable regulatory requirements

specific to your type of submission. Ensure the completeness of the submission and anticipate
the resources needed to address questions from the agency during the submission review. For an
innovative healthcare product, it is often recommended to have a pre-submission meeting with
your agency prior to submitting the licensing application.
 Step 10: Ensure post-marketing compliance. Make sure to fulfill all necessary post-marketing
obligations.

Following is a brief description of some major health care companies:

1) Pfizer
Pfizer Incorporated is a pharmaceutical company, ranking number one in sales in the world. The
company is based in New York City, with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut. It
produces Lipitor (atorvastatin, used to lower blood cholesterol); the neuropathic
pain/fibromyalgia drug Lyrica (pregabalin); the oral antifungal medication Diflucan
(fluconazole), the antibiotic Zithromax (azithromycin), Viagra (sildenafil) for erectile
dysfunction, and the anti-inflammatory Celebrex (celecoxib) (also known as Celebra in some
countries outside the USA and Canada, mainly in South America).
Pfizer's shares were made a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on April 8, 2004.
Pfizer pleaded guilty in 2009 to the largest health care fraud in U.S. history and received
the largest criminal penalty ever levied for illegal marketing of four of its drugs. Called a repeat
offender, this was Pfizer's fourth such settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in the
previous ten years. Full-Year 2016 Revenues of $52.8 Billion, Reflecting 11% Operational
Growth; Full-Year 2016 Revenues for Pfizer Standalone (Excluding Legacy Hospira and
Legacy Medivation) of $48.1 Billion, Reflecting 5% Operational Growth. Provides 2017
Financial Guidance, Including Revenues of $52.0 to $54.0 Billion and Adjusted Diluted EPS of
$2.50 to $2.60;
2) GlaxoSmithKline
Type-Public limited company, Industry- Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Consumer goods
Founded-December 2000; 16 years ago, Headquarters- Isleworth, London, England, U.K.
Area served- Worldwide, Key people- Sir Philip Hampton (Chairman), Emma Walmsley (CEO),
Products-Pharmaceuticals, vaccines, oral healthcare, nutritional products, over-the-counter
medicines, Revenue-27.889 billion (2016), operating income-2.598 billion (2016), Net
income- 1.062 billion (2016), Number of employees-99,300 (2016).
GSK Consumer Healthcare globally owns some of the worlds best loved healthcare brands,
successful in over 100 countries. Our Consumer Healthcare business is focused on five key
areas: Pain Relief, Respiratory, Oral Healthcare, Nutrition/ Gastro intestinal and Skin
Healthcare. Our portfolio of products include some of worlds most trusted & best selling
brands which includes Sensodyne, Voltaren, Theraflu, Paradontax, Panadol, Polident, Otrivin,
Horlicks and Physioge.

3) Novartis
Type-Public company AG, Industry-Pharmaceuticals, Founded-1996; 21 years ago (from
merger), Headquarters-Basel, Switzerland, Area served-Worldwide. Key people- Joerg
Reinhardt (Chairman), Joseph Jimenez (CEO), Products-Pharmaceuticals, generic drugs, over-
the-counter drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, contact lenses, animal health (2015)

3) Amway
Amway launched a direct sales business model. The original product offered by Amway was
Liquid Organic Cleaner. It was the first concentrated, bio-degradable, and environmentally
friendly cleaning product. Since then, Amway has expanded from home products to a global
leader in the health and beauty categories, with more than 3 million Independent Business
Owners worldwide.
Amway is a direct selling company and manufacturer that use multi-level marketing to sell a
variety of products, primarily in the health, beauty, and home care markets. Amway was
founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos. Based in Ada, Michigan Its product
lines include home care products, personal care products, jewelry, electronics, Nutrilite dietary
supplements, water purifiers, air purifiers, insurance and cosmetics Amway conducts business
through a number of affiliated companies in more than ninety countries and territories around
the world. It is ranked by Forbes as one of the largest private companies in the United States and
by Deloitte as one of the largest retailers in the world.

4) Cipla Limited
The Cipla Limited was founded by Dr. Khwaja Abdul Hamied in 1935. The company is both a
multinational Pharmaceutical and biotechnology company. Cipla sells Pharmaceutical and
personal care products as well as active pharmaceutical ingredients. Like Escitalopram (anti-
depressant), Fluticasone propionate and lamivudine. The company is known for the worlds
largest manufacturer of antiretroviral drugs. In India Cipla has already 34 factories in 8 locations
of India and has many more factories around 170 countries. Cipla has established a great name
in the field of health for they have received many awards in the rising years of its company. It
has earned a spot to this years list of the most famous healthcare agencies in India

5) Wockhardt Ltd
Wockhardt Ltd is an Indian company founded by Habil Khorakiwala in the year 1960. It is a
global company with huge presence in developing countries like Brazil, Russia, and Mexico etc.
The company has manufacturing plants in developed countries like US, UK, France and Ireland.
Wockhardt has state of art treatment facilities and hospitals. Industry: Pharmaceuticals and
Health Care Products: Formulations, Biopharmaceuticals, Nutrition products, Vaccines.

6) Dettol India
Dettol India is the moving force behind Dettol which is one of the top products when it comes to
killing germs and is highly recommended by healthcare professionals and medical experts for its
success in that area. It is one of the leading names in the liquid soap segment with an 80 percent
market share. In the health segment it owns 8 percent of the market. On an average the brand
experiences a growth of 25 percent on a yearly basis.

7) Cadila Healthcare
The Cadila Healthcare was established by Ramanbhai Patel in 1952. The company is currently
the one biggest healthcare company in India with an INR of 54.7 billion in 2015. The company
is known for its a manufacturer of generic drugs. The company has good record for it has
earned a Welcome Trust Award under the R&D for affordable Healthcare in India. This
company is obviously one of the biggest healthcare companies in India

8) HLL Life care Limited- HLL is an Indian Manufacturing company that develops healthcare
products in Kerala, India. The company produces products like condoms, surgical sutures,
hydrocephalus shunts, tissue expanders, blood bags, and contraceptive pills. The company has
produced the first and only oral non-hormonal, non-steroidal oral contraceptive. Because of its
work, products and accomplishments HLL Life care Limited earned a spot in the list of the most
popular healthcare companies in India.

9) Lupin Ltd. The company was founded by Dr. Desh Bandhu Gupta in 1968. The company is
a transnational pharmaceutical company based in Mumbai. It is one of the largest companies in
the world in the field of health for its performance and excellence in their work. The company
has created with a vision to fight life-threatening infectious disease and to manufacture drugs of
the highest social priority. The company has already made a name in the market and has earned
many accomplishments in the world of health so thats why Lupin Limited deserves a spot in the
list of the largest Indian healthcare agencies.

LITRATURE REVIEW
 1. Healthcare system 2020 Report (2012)
This report explains the healthcare issues and challenges with intervention to improve health
delivery. This report also focuses on the policy process in the health sector by promoting more
effective stakeholder engagement and enhancing participation at different levels to promote
effective delivery of health programs.
2. T. V. Sekher (2005)
This article explains that healthcare products in the rural areas of India are really bad due to lack
of infrastructure, lack of awareness, poor accountability and transparency. In this situation, there
is an institution called (Panchaythi Raj Institution) which has made a difference in the delivery
of rural healthcare products. The idea was that to bring health department, including health
responsible for providing essential products under the supervision of local elected bodies to
achieve better results.
3. Trevor J.B. Dummer and Ian G. Cook (2008)
This report explained that China and India are similarly huge nations currently experiencing
rapid economic growth. This review compares health care in China and India. The major issue
of both countries is that they are both experiencing a decline in the amount of government
funding for healthcare. India has problems in providing rudimentary health care to its large
population of rural areas and China also struggling to re-establish universal rural health
insurance.
4. Umesh Kapil Panna Choudhury (2005)
The study is about the healthcare infrastructure of the rural area of India. This article explain
that India has a vast public health infrastructure of Public Heal Centers and Community Health
Centers but this vast infrastructure is able to cater only 20% of the population and 80% of
healthcare are still being attached with private sector. Rural India is suffering from healthcare
problems. Only one trained healthcare provider with a doctor with any degree is for every 16
villages. Indias nearly 70% population lives in rural areas but only 20% of the total hospital
beds are located in the rural areas of India
5. The Behaviour of the Health Care Consumer: a Selective Review, Lawrence H, Wortzel,
Boston University the studies reviewed suggests that behaviour can be changed in specific
healthcare situations. It would be worthwhile to know that extent to which changing the
consumers behaviour in any given situation has a carryover effect in terms of changed
behaviour towards other healthcare situations. Such knowledge could be extremely useful, for
example, in finding the most efficient entry points to produce the most pervasive health
behavioral change.

6. Binder, 2008.
Healthcare consumers are the key stakeholders in patient-centered and patient-driven care.
Consumers play a critical role in the medical decision-making process, making choices that
ultimately impact the value of care delivered on both individual and societal levels. As a result,
healthcare consumerism has been identified as a powerful tool to accelerate changes in the
delivery of care

7. Health Care Different? Health Care by Michael A. Morrisey

 Health care is different from other goods and services: the health care product is ill-defined, the
outcome of care is uncertain, large segments of the industry are dominated by nonprofit
providers, and payments are made by third parties such as the government and private insurers.
Many of these factors are present in other industries as well, but in no other industry are
they all present. It is the interaction of these factors that tends to make health care unique.

8. Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh.

The health care product is often loosely defined as a service. The authors develop a more precise
definition of the health care product, product line, and product mix. A bundle-of-elements
concept is presented for the health care product. These conceptualizations help to address how
health care providers can segment their market and position, promote, and price their products

9. Ramani, K.V. (2005)

Several Issues are discussed in this compilation, which provides a framework for further
discussion, in order to improve the delivery of healthcare services. The proposed framework is
aimed at addressing the issues on governance such as Autonomy, Public-Private Partnership,
and Management Reporting. Autonomy which offers decision making powers comes with
accountability for all the actions taken. There is a need to design systems with autonomy for
managing human resources, financial resources and materials. Our health sector is obsessed
with setting targets, and in the process the emphasis on quality in service delivery gets diluted.
Public private partnership requires a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of
both the public and private sectors, and a regulatory mechanism for managing and sustaining the
PPP. Outsourcing is not about doing away with responsibilities for service delivery, it requires
continuous monitoring to ensure good quality service delivery by the outsourced party. Above
all, good governance and effective management require performance monitoring and reporting
over and above the statutory needs for reporting.

10. Maheshwari Sunil. Kumar, (2005)

Meeting the health care needs of population goes beyond mere budget allocations. The
organisation of programmes and commitment of people working in the health sector has
significant bearing on sector performance and its reform process. The reform process, among
other things, intrinsically makes some fundamental assumptions: high organizational
commitment of health care providers, high professional commitment of health care providers
and adequate skills of health care providers. The current paper attempts to analyse the HR
practices in Madhya Pradesh and its implications on commitment of the health officials. The
findings of the study indicate that district health officials do not share strong emotional bond
with the department which is likely to affect their willingness to take initiative. The findings
suggest the need to consult senior doctors in staffing decisions in order to develop a sense of
belongingness in the mind of the health officials. The study suggests investing in development
of multiple strategies for the growth and career development of health professionals. The study
also advocates the need for intense socialisation among health professionals to facilitate the
effective implementation of reforms. Finally the study advocates the need to develop informal
channels of communications and networking among various health providers.

11. Mavalankar Dileep (2004)

In resource-poor countries, substantial sums of money from governments and international
donors are used to purchase equipment for health facilities. WHO estimates that 5080% of
such equipment remains non-functional. This article is based on experience from various
projects in developing countries in Asia and Africa. The key issues in the purchase, distribution,
installation, management and maintenance of equipment for emergency obstetric care (EmOC)
services are identified and discussed

12. Ramani, K. V.; Trivedi, Poonam; Malek Imran (2010)

IIMA Board approved the setting up of a Centre for Management Health Services (CMHS) in
recognition of IIMAs contributions to the health sector in the past and the felt need to
strengthen the management of health sector in the context of socio-economic developments of
our country. The overall objectives of CMHS are to address the managerial challenges in the
delivery of health services to respond to the needs of different segments of our population
efficiently and effectively, build institutions of excellence in the health sector, and influence
health policies and wider environments.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research always starts with a question or a problem. Its purpose is to question through the
application of the scientific method. It is a systematic and intensive study directed towards a
more complete knowledge of the subject studied. Marketing research is the function which links
the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through information- information used to
identify and define marketing opportunities and problems generate, refine, and evaluate
marketing actions, monitor marketing actions, monitor marketing performance and improve
understanding of market as a process.

Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs, and the
method for collecting information, manage and implemented the data collection process,
analyses the results and communicate the findings and their implication.

I prepared my project as Descriptive Research type, as the objective of the study demands the
answers of the questions.

The Marketing Research Process

As marketing research is a systemic and formalized process, it follows a certain sequence of

research action. The marketing process has the following steps:

1. Formulating the problems

2. Developing objectives of the research

3. Designing an effective research plan

4. Data collection techniques

5. Evaluating the data and preparing a research report

Here, in this research I used Secondary Data.

Secondary data

Secondary data can be obtained from two different research strands:

Quantitative: Census, housing, social security as well as electoral statistics and other
related databases.
 Qualitative: field notes, observation records and other personal, research-related
documents.

A clear benefit of using secondary data is that much of the background work needed has been
already been carried out, for example: literature reviews, case studies might have been carried
out, published texts and statistic could have been already used elsewhere. This wealth of
background work means that secondary data generally have a pre-established degree
of validity and reliability which need not be re-examined by the researcher who is re-using such
data.

RESEARCH
Descriptive Research
Descriptive research is aimed at casting light on current issues or problems through a process
of data collection that enables them to describe the situation more completely than was possible
without employing this method This type of research describes what exists and may help to
uncover new facts and meaning.
The purpose of descriptive research is to
observe
describe
document
Aspects of a situation as it naturally occurs (Polit & Hungler 1999)
This involves the collection of data that will provide an account or description of individuals,
groups or situations. Instruments we use to obtain data in descriptive studies include
questionnaires
Observation (checklists, etc.)

SAMPLE
While deciding about the sample of research, it is required from the researchers point to pay
attention to these under mentioned points:
a) Sample Units: A decision has to be taken concerning a sampling unit before selecting a
sample, sampling unit may be a geographical one such as state, district, village Etc.
b) Source list: It is also called sampling frame from which sample is to be drawn, it caters name
of all the items of a universe (in case of finite universe only).
c) Sampling size: This refers to the no. of items to be selected from the universe to constitute a
sample. This is a major problem before the researcher. The size of sample should neither be
excessively large not too small, it should be optimum. This size of population must be kept in
view for this also limits the sample size .
d) Sampling procedure: Finally the researcher must decide the type of sample he must be .That
is he must decide about the technique to be used in selecting items for the sample .In fact this
technique or procedure stands for the sample design itself.