TM

MEDICINMAN
June 2015 | www.medicinman.net

Field Force Excellence

Since 2011

EDITORIAL

THE PARTY IS OVER

FOR THE IT SECTOR;

WHAT ABOUT

INDIAN PHARMA?

The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. - Friedrich Nietzsche

or the past two decades, Indias IT industry has been an amazing

job-engine that created thousands of well paying jobs for young
engineers. It is unlikely to remain so, says Ravi Venkatesh former
chairman of Microsoft India. (See here)
According to Ravi Venkatesh, the abundance of employment party
is coming to an end, due to a combination of factors like slowing
demand, rising competition and technological changes. Even Wipro
and Infosys, once considered as IT bellwethers are not immune to this
slowdown that calls for creative destruction as the only solution.
What lessons can Indian Pharma people learn from the IT sector? Will
the good times last for Indian Pharma? Tapan Ray, former Director
General, Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI)
asks, Is Pharma Euphoria in India Misplaced? (See here)

Editorial

In his blog, contrasting the healthcare scenario in

China with that of India, he concludes that unlike
China, which is well placed to remove restriction on
drug prices, Indias abysmal healthcare access and
infrastructure necessitates price controls.
A combination of factors like increasing price
controls, UCPMP and MCI guidelines are beginning
to adversely impact conventional pharma
promotions and thereby Indian Pharmas growth
story. Like the IT sector Indian Pharma will also
need to shed weight, which will impact those with
mediocre and obsolete skills. The rise of digital
and social media will adversely impact those with
without these skills and provide opportunities to
those with necessary skills.
Ravi Venkatesh, concludes, The rate of change in
our world is astonishing; whatever skills we have,
will largely be irrelevant in a decade. So, the ability
to learn new things, develop new competencies and
periodically reinvent ourselves is a crucial one. Sadly
too many of us have no curiosity and no interest in
reading nor learning. The future will not be kind to
such people.
And the learning, unlearning and relearning, which
have been neglected in the prevailing scenario of
transactional selling, should begin at the top and
trickle down to the front-lines that are responsible
for effective customer engagement. -MM

Meet the Editor

Anup Soans is an Author, Facilitator and the
Editor of MedicinMan.
Write in to him: anupsoans@medicinman.net
Connect with Anup Soans on LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

CONTENTS
MedicinMan Volume 5 Issue 6 | June 2015

(Click to navigate)
1. Seven Sutras to Kick Start Your Product
Management Career...............................................6
Small steps to make the big leap from field sales to
product management.

Editor and Publisher

Anup Soans
CEO

Chhaya Sankath
Chief Mentor

Soham Wagh

K. Hariram

2. Four Questions Every Learning &

Development Professional Should Ask ................9

Editorial Board

Adopting Chan Kim and Rene Mauborgnes ERRC

framework (Eliminate, Reduce, Raise and Create) to
create real value for learners.

Executive Editor

Salil Kallianpur; Prof. Vivek Hattangadi; Shashin

Bodawala; Hanno Wolfram; Renie McClay

Joshua Soans

Dr Rajshri Jobanputra
3. Brilliant Basics...................................................12
Revisiting the basics of sales success.

Letters to the Editor: anupsoans@medicinman.net

K. Hariram
4. Brand Building: Beneath the Iceberg .............14
The real power of a brand comes from the
intangible values associated with it such as warmth,
concern, and sentimentality.
Vivek Hattangadi
5. Delivery Boy to Company President ..............19
The Success Story of Rashesh Patel - President,
Corona Remedies
Rashesh Patel
5. The Abilene Paradox ........................................21
The Inability to Manage Agreement
Vivek Hattangadi
Susan Josi , Managing Partner ,Sorento Healthcare , receiving the Distinguished Alumnus AwardEntrepreneur, from the Director (Vice Chancellor) of ICT , Professor G.D.Yadav on 11th May 2015

Every year UDCT awards its

distinguished alumni in three areas
of Entrepreneurship, Professional and
Young Achiever.
This year, Susan Josi received this
award in the Entrepreneur category.
Heres what she had to say about
winning the award:
While getting awards and accolades
is always a pleasure, getting a
distinguished award from your own
Alma Mater is a very prestigious event in
ones life.
I still remember the day, 36 years ago,

when I took my admission at UDCT.

It was one of those remorseful moments
of not getting a medical seat and
therefore like a disgruntled kid I walked
into this great institute then. And
so a few weeks ago when I got the
delightful news on this award , my mind
raced back to the 6 wonderful years I
spent here, filled with some nostalgic
memories of how I was part of a noisy
dozen batch of girls and just three odd
men in our pharmacy class of 15 !
It truly means a lot to be honored by
a university that has given me such a

solid foundation and has enabled me to

accomplish so many things in my life. For
that, I will be eternally grateful.
Real contentment, enduring happiness,
and fulfillment come from the
gratification we get from two things: our
work and our relationships. And in a way
I am so grateful that I am abundantly
blessed on both fronts.
And that is surely what I often tell
youngsters... Choose what you love and
you wont have to work for a single day
in your life!

7 SUTRAS TO KICK START YOUR

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT CAREER
Small steps to make the big leap from field sales to product management.

Soham Wagh

roduct Managers have an enviable role

in the Pharmaceutical Industry. They are
the face of the brand(s) they manage.
They develop the brand strategy and help drive
the execution. They travel within and outside
the country for conducting/attending important meetings and are constantly visible to senior leadership of the organization. It is hardly
surprising that many Pharmaceutical Sales
Reps aspire to become Product Managers.

1. Increasing diagnosis of the disease

Here are Seven Sutras to help field sales people

to realize their dream of becoming a Product
Manager.

tivities are nothing but What is to be done to

1. DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF
GROWTH LEVERS, STRATEGY AND ACTIVITIES

THOROUGHLY

Although the primary responsibility of a Sales

Rep is execution of plans laid out by the Product Management Team, it is important to develop a larger perspective of what Growth Levers,
Strategy and Activities are.
Simply speaking, any Pharmaceutical Brand
can be grown by working on the following
levers depending on the opportunity size,
market share of the brand and organizational
resources

2. Increasing treatment rate of the disease

3. Gaining share within the drug class
4. Gaining share within the molecule segment
5. Increasing duration of the therapy/ improving compliance
Strategy is simply the roadmap of How that
particular lever can be worked upon and Acaccomplish the strategy.
2. LEARN YOUR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
If an organization plans to promote Sales Reps
from within into Product Management, one of
the first qualifying criteria would be to possess above-average knowledge of the therapy
area. There is no simpler way of becoming an
expert in the relevant therapy area apart from
diligently reading and understanding all the
promotional/scientific materials that are produced by the Product Management Team for
promoting to HCPs (Health Care Providers are
primarily Doctors).

6 | MedicinMan June 2015

Soham Wagh | 7 Sutras for Moving from Field Sales to Product Management

Product Management Teams

are always hungry for first
hand information on how
their strategies/ campaigns/
activities are perceived by
the HCPs... Sales Reps who
proactively share such
feedback with the Product
Management Team create
extra visibility for themselves.

3. SHARE STRUCTURED FEEDBACK WITH YOUR

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT TEAM
Sales Reps have the advantage of being the closest to
the ground reality. Product Management Teams are
always hungry for first hand information on how their
strategies/ campaigns/ activities are perceived by the
HCPs. What is the competition up to and other relevant developments/ happenings in the marketplace.
Sales Reps who proactively share such feedback with
the Product Management Team create extra visibility
for themselves. If an opportunity arises in Product
Management wherein internal talent is being evaluated, proactive Sales Reps may have an edge over other
Sales Reps.
4. LET YOUR ASPIRATIONS BE KNOWN TO THE
PEOPLE WHO MATTER
Sales Reps get opportunities to interact with Marketing, Business or HR Heads during Annual Functions,
Quarterly Cycle Meetings and Training Programs.
Sales Reps interested in making a career in Product
Management should convey their aspirations to the
decision makers at the opportune moment so that
whenever there is an opportunity to promote interested and capable Sales Reps will be on the radar.
5. IDENTIFY A MENTOR WHO CAN GUIDE YOU ON
A REGULAR BASIS
An ideal mentor for Sales Reps aspiring to move into
Product Management would be a Product Manager or
a Marketing Manager who is willing to share what the
job involves, what are day to day roles and responsibilities and what are the skills needed to be successful in
Product Management.
6. ENROLL FOR PROFESSIONAL COURSES THAT
DEMONSTRATE YOUR PASSION FOR LEARNING
Being a Sales Rep is tough and the job is extremely
time intensive but it would be prudent to enroll for
part-time courses that are aligned to Pharmaceutical
Marketing. Nowadays MOOCS (Massive Open Online
Courses) have made it easy to for individuals to learn
from the comfort of their home with zero/negligible
fees. This can help a Sales Rep demonstrate their genuine desire to move into Product Management.

Soham Wagh is a Sr. Marketing Manager for

Emerging Markets and Europe with a leading
Multinational Pharmaceutical company.
Soham has over 13 years of experience in the
industry in Sales and Marketing.
7 | MedicinMan June 2015

7. BE READY AND PREPARED TO MOVE ON

Sales Reps who are not able to move into Product
Management in their current organizations despite
their best efforts should be open to move to another organization that might offer them the role they
desire even if the new organization might be smaller
in size or lesser in reputation. -SW

GET YOUR
PHARMA CAREER
OFF TO A FLYING START!
CAREER
PROGRESSION
RESOURCES

SuperVision for the SuperWiser Front-line Manager

is a tool to help pharma professionals transition from
super salesmen to great front-line managers and
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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
dont go as planned. HardKnocks for the GreenHorn
is a powerful learning and motivational tool for field
sales managers to build their sales teams.

NOW AVAILABLE ON
(click on the books to purchase on
flipkart)

4 QUESTIONS EVERY
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
PROFESSIONAL SHOULD ASK
Adopting Chan Kim and Rene Mauborgnes ERRC framework (Eliminate,
Reduce, Raise and Create) to create real value for learners.

Dr Rajshri Jobanputra

here are very few management books that

can deeply engage a non-management au-

dience and which also unfolds the concepts

as if they are some characters of a novel. One such
book, authored by Chan Kim and Rene Mauborgne
is Blue Ocean Strategy or BOS. What makes BOS a
marvelous read is its business management ideas
that are beautifully articulated with real life industry
examples.
From among the many actionable tools provided
in BOS, one that I think works in any situation, be it
parenting or creating a business strategy, is the ERRC
grid. ERRC stands for Eliminate, Reduce, Raise and
Create. Basically these are 4 actions that can help
create value innovation for your customers. Simply put, if you want to really create something
exceptional and valuable for your customer then
it is important that you honestly and without any
ambiguities answer these 4 important questions:
Question 1: What are some of the factors/ elements
that are no longer of value to your customers? (Eliminate them)
Questions 2: What are some of the factors/ elements that have little attraction for your customers?
(Reduce them)
Question 3: What are some of the factors/ elements
that are highly attractive or significantly valuable to
your customers? (Raise them)

Dr Rajshri Jobanputra is Senior Learning and

Talent Transformation Consultant at KNOLSCAPE
9 | MedicinMan June 2015

Question 4: What are some of the factors / elements that your customers have never experienced
before / will be a new source of value for your non
customer? (Create them)

Dr Rajshri Jobanputra | 4 Questions Every Learning & Development Professional Should Ask

With the advent of

learning modes such as
e-learning, video based
learning, and gamified
simulation modules, the
paradigm of learning has
gone beyond the confines
of passive classroom
learning.

REDUCE

In the language of BOS non-customers could be

those who:
a) Are willing to jump ship or soon-to-be customers
b) refuse to consider/ disinterested in your offering,
and
c) Are furthest from you the ones you have not yet
explored
Being from the training industry I thought of putting
these questions to use in order to understand the
likely value innovation that the training fraternity
can offer to its customers and non-customers. Here
is what I arrived at after using the ERRC tool for the
training industry to which I belong. My analysis is
based on my own personal experience as a facilitator
and of the many interesting narratives shared by my
peers and mentors belonging to this profession of
facilitation.

1. Cost: travel and training

2. Long hours of classroom based
learning
3. Theoretical inputs
4. Dependency on training instructor

ELIMINATE
1. Boredom
2. Lecturing
3. Physical classroom presence
4. Passive learning

10 | MedicinMan June 2015

RAISE

1. Transferability of knowledge & skills

2. Knowledge retention
3. Interactivity / learner engagement
4. Motivation for learning

CREATE

1. Flexible learning time

2. On the go learning environment
3. Context / Industry relevant learning
4. Instantaneous feedback mechanism

During this process of analysis, I realized that a

similar analysis would have prompted and motivated many young and experienced minds whom we
have now come to say have revolutionized the way
individual and group level learning happens in an
organization. With the advent of learning modes
such as e-learning, video based learning, and gamified simulation modules, the paradigm of learning
has gone beyond the confines of passive classroom
learning. These new online and virtual modes of

Dr Rajshri Jobanputra | 4 Questions Every Learning & Development Professional Should Ask

The increasingly digitally

wired workforce along
with the easy availability
of commercial and
technological platforms
has today made it easy
and affordable to invest
in online training be it
onboarding or even
succession planning.

learning have opened the floodgates of anytime

anywhere learning - just the kind of requirement our
ERRC model reveals. With many simulation based
learning modules integrating context specific concepts, game elements like leaderboards and scores,
instantaneous feedback mechanism among other
things, all add up to creating a value for the learner
long missing in classroom based didactic training
sessions.
The timing of introducing such personalized and ICT
propelled trainings couldnt have been better. For,
over the last couple of years, organization workforce
has become populated with the first generation of
workers who grew up with computers and www.
Also known as the Millennials or digital natives,
Gen Ys involvement and existence in the virtual is
so significant that it has even impacted how they
conduct and think about their life. Small wonder
why companies keen to attract, engage and retain
the Gen Y workforce have begun paying serious
attention to different digital learning avenues. The
increasingly digitally wired workforce along with the
easy availability of commercial and technological
platforms has today made it easy and affordable to
invest in online training be it onboarding or even
succession planning. As such, the prevailing workforce profile, the organizations renewed interest
in making learning and performance integral to
their success strategy, and the burgeoning variety
of online learning tools and platforms all together
contribute in fortifying human capital within the
organization.
So now the big question: were you to analyze your
organizations or Gen Ys learning needs using the
ERRC tool, what would it reveal? Go ahead try it
out! -RJ

11 | MedicinMan June 2015

BRILLIANT BASICS
Revisiting the basics of sales success

K. Hariram
How often have we heard this from the CEO or the Sales
Head of a pharma company?
Let us do these numbers now or this month or this year.
Do it at any cost. Next year we will see next year or let us
cross the bridge when it comes.
Given the push approach to sales in many pharma companies, surviving the short term with a few quick bonus
offers, borrowing from next month/quarter/year or
pushing new products to show inflated sales is an often
repeated trick.
Yes, you become the EK DIN KA SULTAN. However, these
oft repeated tricks (tactics) do very little to secure consistency and predictability in sales growth.
How do we come out of this? Revisit the sales fundamentals.
1. The selling process has to be established with proper
systems/processes.
2. More importantly, it has to be embraced by one and
all, more so at the top.
K. Hariram is the former MD (retd.) at
Galderma India.
He is Chief Mentor at MedicinMan and a
regular contributor. khariram25@yahoo.com
12 | MedicinMan June 2015

3. Sales has to be through PULL strategy and not

through PUSH strategy.
4. Today there are business solution providers who are
willing to work along with the organisations towards
building a supply chain process that adopts PULL
strategy

K. Hariram | Brilliant Basics

In these challenging and

exciting times, when you
move away from these
basics and fundamentals,
short term you gain but in
the long term you get into
trouble.

5. With the expected implementation of UCPMP,

marketing and pull strategy approach, embracing
change keeps the misery at bay.
6. Create additional value added services that
DISTINCTLY DIFFERENTIATES your representation
at in-clinic level.
7. Instead of merely competing create an attitude
of creating value monopolies.
8. Let the sales management be tuned towards on
the job coaching
9. Train & update sales people on selling skills
10. Embrace technology, digital media etc. to facilitate the sales people towards improved productivity.
In these challenging and exciting times, when you
move away from these basics and fundamentals,
short term you gain but in the long term you get
into trouble. So basics and fundamentals are the
bedrock foundation of sustainability and predictability.
Hence they are brilliant basics and hard-core fundamentals.
Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently
applying the basic fundamentals. -KH

13 | MedicinMan June 2015

BRAND BUILDING:

BENEATH THE

ICEBERG
The real power of a brand comes from the intangible
values associated with it such as warmth, concern, and
sentimentality.

Vivek Hattangadi

hat is a brand? Ask this question to

a medical representative, a first-line
manager or an aam aadmi, the answers
could be many.
One may say it is a logo, another signage. A third
may say its positioning or the fourth its communication.
Well, they may not be entirely off the track, but are
just nibbling the tip of the iceberg.
What then is a brand?

Prof. Vivek Hattangadi is a Consultant

in Pharma Brand Management and Sales
Training at The Enablers. He is also visiting faculty at CIPM Calcutta (Vidyasagar
University) for their MBA course in Pharmaceutical Management.
vivekhattangadi@theenablers.org

14 | MedicinMan June 2015

That perhaps is a very difficult question to answer.

If you do a Google search, you may probably have
more than 50 definitions of a brand!
To me, a brand is the sum total of how a customer
(the doctor) perceives a product. Branding and
brand building is about shaping and directing that
perception.
What then is brand building? It is enhancing a
brands equity directly through advertising campaigns and ethical promotions. It is championing
the brand through various activities carried by the
field staff.

Vivek Hattangadi | Brand Building: Beneath the Iceberg

... a brand is the doctors

gut feeling about your
product. The kind of
personality you create for
your brand either sets it
apart from competitors or
makes it a commodity.

Building a great brand often involves patient-centric

activities. Branding means much more than giving a
brand name and signaling to the outside world that
such a product or a service has been stamped with the
mark and imprint of an organization.1
Brand building is an on-going process to create a cohesive personality for a brand.2
Says David Ogilvy: Brands, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market
place.3
Before you know what essentially brand personality
is, you should first be aware what the personality of a
human being signifies.
New Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines
personality as the qualities of a persons character that
make them interesting, attractive and different from
others.4 These are the visible aspects of ones character
as seen by others. They include your actions, your attitudes, and your behaviors. Your personality can either
make a good impression or make a poor impression on
others. Personality is an embodiment of a collection of
qualities. You take an inventory of the visible traits of a
person. Your gut feelings then determine the personality. Example, you can brand someone as an affable
person, a grumpy person, an arrogant person, a
pseudo-intellectual and so on. This is how you describe
someones personality.
If you have to brand yourself, what kind of personality
would you chose? Your personality will help you to
build your personal brand. It is your personality that
elicits a gut reaction from people. Your personality permeates through everything you do. Your personality is
what sets you apart from everyone else.
It is your personality that makes you different.
So also, a brand is the doctors gut feeling about your
product. The kind of personality you create for your
brand either sets it apart from competitors or makes it
a commodity.

15 | MedicinMan June 2015

A brand personality can be defined as the set of

human characteristics associated with a given brand.
Thus it includes such characteristics as gender, age,
and socioeconomic class, as well as such classic human
personality traits as warmth, concern, and sentimentality.5 A brand manager will have to develop a personality which she would like to project for her brand. The
perception of the doctors of that consistently projected
personality eventually becomes a brand.

Vivek Hattangadi | Brand Building: Beneath the Iceberg

Brand associations are the

attributes of brand which
come into a doctors mind
when the brand is talked
about. Brand association
is driven by brand identity
and brand personality.

But this is much easier said than done. Brand building

is not as simple as we think and involves many processes.
How will you develop a brand personality? Take any
brand of yours and imagine it is a famous person. What
are the traits of this brand which you would like to
apply continuously in your verbal and visual communication?
One of the best examples of how a brand personality has been developed is that of Cetaphil, a skin
cleaner from Galderma. If you ask a dermatologist
the brand personality of Cetaphil, he is most likely to
say: Cetaphil is like a caring and gentle nurse for my
patients skin
This emanates from the consistent and enduring communication of Cetaphil which says6:
Cetaphil The Gentle Skin Cleanser
Cleanses Gently; Moisturizes Intensely; Protects Daily
This brings us to brand equity.
Brand Equity is a set of assets (or even liabilities) linked
to a brands name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts
from) the value provided by a brand.5
The major assets groups include:5

Brand name awareness

Brand loyalty

Perceived quality

Brand associations

Brand identity is fundamental to recognition. It is

central to a brands strategic vision. Brand identity is
the driver of one of the four principles of brand equity:
associations which are the heart and soul of a brand.5
Brand identity symbolizes the brands differentiation
from competition. The visible elements of a brand
(such as colors, design, logotype, name, symbol and
more of such) identify and distinguish the brand in the
doctors mind. You as the brand manager have to decide how you want the doctors to perceive the identity
of your brand and build a brand association.

16 | MedicinMan June 2015

Brand association is anything which is deep seated in

the doctors mind about the brand. Brand should be
associated with something positive so that the doctors
relate your brand to being positive. Brand associations
are the attributes of brand which come into a doctors
mind when the brand is talked about. Brand association is driven by brand identity and brand personality.
Brand association is also greatly influenced by many

Vivek Hattangadi | Brand Building: Beneath the Iceberg

Prescribers decide what

a brand is. We may have
a particular idea of what
we would like your brand
to be, however, it is only
the brand which makes
prescribers arrive at the
same gut feeling. Brand
managers alone can help
influence this reaction

touchpoints like contact with companys medical

representatives, the promotional material you prepare,
word of mouth publicity, price and quality of the product and even the displays.
Prescribers decide what a brand is. We may have a
particular idea of what we would like your brand to be,
however, it is only the brand which makes prescribers
arrive at the same gut feeling. Brand managers alone
can help influence this reaction
Communication plays a key role in building a successful brand. Brand positioning is essentially prescribers
perceptions the objective to build a clearly defined
position in minds of prescribers through our communication. All elements of the promotional mix need to be
used to develop and sustain prescribers perceptions.
The initial challenge is to build awareness, then to develop the brand personality and reinforce the perception so as to generate prescriptions.
What is brand building in our pharma industry?
Pharma brand building is prescription generation and
determines the health of the company. For a pharma
company, good health means a strong prescription
base for the brands of the company. It is in fact more
important than volume sales. This has three factors viz.
1. Strong physical response7
2. Strong perceptual response7
3. Strong character of response7
Physical response is the number of actual prescriptions
for a brand. Prescriptions can come either through pull
demand versus push tactics. Pull prescriptions come
through scientific communication, creating prescriptions demand through science and the benefits of
product. Push prescriptions demand on the other hand
comes through samples, gifts and customer relations
management.
Perceptual response is the gap between the brands
communication and the prescribers perception of the
brand. Does the prescriber perceive the brand the way
it has been communicated by the brand manager?
Is there a gap between perception and the intended
communication?

17 | MedicinMan June 2015

Suppose are positioning your brand Omepraz (omeprazole) in acid-peptic disorders. Are you getting prescriptions of Omepraz in acid-peptic disorders? Or are you
getting prescriptions in NSAID-induced gastritis? If the
latter is true then the perceptual response of Omepraz
is weak.

Vivek Hattangadi | Brand Building: Beneath the Iceberg

Bibliography
1. Kapferer Jean-Noel. Strategic Brand Management:
Creating and Sustaining Brand Equity Long Term.
Kogan Page Ltd. London (1997)
2. Geller, L. Why Does My Dog Win at Social Media? In
http://www.joyofdirectmarketing.com
3. Ogilvy David. Ogilvy on Advertising. Random House,
New York (1985)

The character of response means whether or not we

are getting prescriptions from doctors for whom it was
intended. Omepraz is targeted towards gastroenterologists. If 80% of the prescriptions of Omepraz are from
the gastroenterologists, then the character of response
of Omepraz is strong. On the other hand, if 80% of the
prescriptions of Omepraz are from orthopedic surgeons, then the character of response is weak.

6. Cetaphil website - http://www.cetaphil.com.au

To conclude, to build a strong pharma brand, it should

have a powerful physical response through pull strategy. The perception of the prescriber should match the
intended communication of the brand manager. Besides, the character of response has to be very strong.
This will result into a strong brand.

7. Based on presentations by Late Prof. Chitta Mitra

And finally - Brands are a storehouse of trust.8 -VH

8. Quote from - Niali Fitzgerald Former CEO of

Unilever.

Authors note: some brand names in this write-up are

imaginary and if such brand names exist, it is coincidental

4. Hornby AS (Ed). New Oxford Advanced Learners

Dictionary. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2007)
5. Aaker, D. Building Strong Brands. The Free Press
London, (1996)

What the Pharma CEO

Wants from the Brand
Manager
A Book by Prof. Vivek Hattangadi

Available on Flipkart
(click to purchase)

18 | MedicinMan June 2015

DELIVERY BOY

TO COMPANY

PRESIDENT

The Success Story of Rashesh Patel President, Corona Remedies

Rashesh Patel
I cant change the direction of the wind, but I can always
adjust my sails to reach my destination -- Jimmy Dean
As president of Corona Remedies, one of the fastest growing
pharma companies, Rashesh Patel leads a team of young
and dedicated professionals. But, the journey to success has
not been rosy.
During his tenure, Corona Remedies was awarded the prestigious Emerging Company of the Year 2014 award at the
AIOCD AWACS Marketing Excellence Awards function.
When asked about his success, he modestly says, I took care
of Time and Time took care of Me. - Editor
-19th April, 1983, Mumbai.
It was a routine lazy morning for thousands of 18 years
old. After an overnight revision and last-minute frantic
preparation they were getting ready for their final examination.
But it was very different for me. Living at the Ashok
Samrat Society, Walkeshwar, one of the swankiest areas
of Mumbai, I stepped out of my home with a heavy heart
and suppressed tears.

19 | MedicinMan June 2015

Before heading to college to appear for my final year

exam, I had to go to the crematorium to perform the last
rites of my father who had passed away the previous
night from a heart attack.

Rashesh Patel | Delivery Boy to Company President

Through sheer dedication

towards work, from a
delivery boy, I became the
President.
I firmly believe that this
industry gives an equal
chance to all who really
want to become successful.
I truly and genuinely owe
my success to the industry.

Not willing to be defeated by the hands of Time, I

went straight to the examination hall after the rituals
and went on to achieve 2nd rank in the University.
When the going gets tough, it really gets tough! As if
the emotional volcano that erupted on our family was
not enough, a financial catastrophe struck - we lost
the rights to our ancestral house and the partnership
in my fathers business.
Meanwhile, I had to relinquish the admission I had
secured in one of the most sought after institutes
of India, the IIT. This put an end to what could have
been a smooth sailing in professional career. Probably, there was nothing more to lose. The journey from
Rashesh to Mr. Rashesh Patel had just begun.
I took up a job as a delivery boy at Sevantilal Kantilal, a pharmaceutical distributor. With a clear focus, I
pursued and completed my MBA from Indian Merchant Chambers, Mumbai through a weekend study
program.
Bit by bit, slowly and gradually, I started climbing the
ladder. From a delivery boy in a distribution firm, I was
now working as a Medical Representative in one of
the prominent pharmaceutical company of India.
At 26, I shifted to Ahmedabad and by then I had
ensured a happy life for my elder sister by getting her
married and was taking care of my mother. I too got
married.
June, 2015, Ahmedabad
Through sheer dedication towards work, from a delivery boy, I became the President.
I firmly believe that this industry gives an equal
chance to all who really want to become successful. I
truly and genuinely owe my success to the industry.
Decisions that you make in life; some will go in your
favor always. But whats important is, never shy away
from taking decisions and do not be upset if they are
not going in your favor. Move on, better times are
bound to come. -RP

20 | MedicinMan June 2015

E
THE ABILENE PARADOX THE INABILITY TO MANAGE AGREEMENT
On my birthday a couple of years back, I wanted to take
my family out for dinner. I asked my wife where we can
go. Knowing that I like Gujarati food, she immediately
said: Lets go to Agashiye -The Terrace Restaurant.

ative supremacy for the sake of the whole and accept

humbly the wholes verdict we dont get a collective
super-brain. We get only the weak, meek, submissive and
impotent collective mind.

My son and daughter both nodded in agreement. We all

voted on Agashiye -The Terrace Restaurant

The Abilene Paradox plagues Pharma India too, severely.

On return my son said: I wish Pappa had taken us to

Mainland China he loves Chinese food. Or at least
to Shere-E-Punjab for the wonderful tandoori chicken
added my daughter. Yes, I too would have loved to go to
Mainland China, I said.
My wife looked surprised: But didnt we all unanimously
agree to go to Agashiye she asked. I said sheepishly I
didnt want you to feel bad. And both my children nodded in agreement. Here were four people who of their
own volition would not have gone to Agashiye - The
Terrace Restaurant, but collectively agreed to go there.
This also happens in the corporate world. This is the
Abilene Paradox. Prof. Jerry Harvey calls it: The Inability
to Manage Agreement.1
Abilene Paradox occurs when a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is contrary to the
preferences of many of the individuals in the group.
Prof. Harvey states in his paper The Abilene Paradox1:
Organizations frequently take actions in contradiction to
what they really want to do and therefore defeat the very
purpose they are trying to achieve. This is the inability to
manage agreement.
He adds: The inability to manage agreement, not the inability to manage conflict, is the essential symptom that
defines organizations caught in the web of the Abilene
Paradox.
In the corporate world, when the top boss throws an
idea, the group immediately agrees. This is because
everyone in the group thinks he would look stupid if he
disagrees. Standing out as a lone voice is very embarrassing. This leads the group to decide on yes when no
would have been the personal (and the correct) response
of the majority.
I love this one from Ayn Rand: If we have an endless
number of individual minds who are weak, meek,
submissive and impotent who renounce their creReferences:
1. Harvey, JB. The Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement. Organizational Dynamics,
Summer 1988, pp. 1743. 1988 by the American Management Association, New York.
2. Covey, Stephen. (2004) The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. New York: Simon&
Schuster.

Decisions are taken which do not conform to the real understanding of problems. This is because people do not
want to take stress and anxiety by differing with the boss,
even if their own viewpoint is logical and superior.
Often, a senior manager with excellence in communication skills may cause this to happen. The oration is so
convincing and his personality driving, voices of dissent
get silenced. He may present his case so forcefully, that
rather than be conspicuously different people decide to
just go along with it. They are avoiding the anxiety of
voicing a different viewpoint. This can lead to dangerous
situations. Managers will continue to say `Yes when they
want to say `No for the fear of being isolated or labeled
as a rebel.
This paradox can be preempted by true and authentic
leadership. It requires a leader with a different caliber
and courage to lead such a group into a different direction, where non-conformity is not acceptable. Such a
leader will confront the group and even the person who
throws the original idea, with what they have already
agreed upon. This true leader will make people forget the
previously agreed upon facts. Bringing these up causes
people to reconsider, and could render the change in
direction needed for a turnaround.
A young manager, who truly wants to make a mark,
should have the courage to stand up and speak what he
senses as correct. In fact by doing this, he is respecting
himself and is telling the world that he is a significant
person.
Robert Frost wrote:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The path less traveled is one the one which requires
courage to say No when it is required to say No.
Most of the great cultural shifts ones that have built
great organizations that sustain long-term growth, prosperity and contribution to the world started with the
choice of one person.2 - Prof. Vivek Hattangadi

21 | MedicinMan June 2015