United International University

Department of Bachelor’s Business Administration (BBA)

Course: Business Communication
Section: G
Report No: 03

Submitted to

Course Instructor: Mrs. Rezwana Karim

Senior Lecturer, School of Business
United International University

Submitted By:

Name: Biplob Sarkar ID: 111092163

biplob_bsp@yahoo.com

Date of Submission: 22th July 2010

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 Acknowledgement
We are indebted to many people for providing us encouragement and support during our

learning and working while making this project and we want to show our gratefulness to

these people.

We are very much grateful to Rezwana Karim, our respected course instructor of

“Business Communication”, who assigned us this challenging project. She always

guided us to take and overcome this challenge successfully. Without her help in every

step it was quite impossible for us to finish this project properly in time.

Thanks to the authority and the management of General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for helping

us in every possible way. Our cordial thanks to Mr. Monowarul Islam Bhuiyan, Deputy

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Manager of Sales Promotion at General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in particular for his

enormous help and assistance, for providing us the required information about their

marketing and sales area and other facilities using his valuable time.

At every moment we remember all of our friends and peers who encouraged and helped

us a lot for long, in every stage of this project, with their support, encouragement,

affection and suggestions, which helped us a lot to make this project successful. Without

their guidance and friendly co-operation this project would remain a dream.

Table of Content

No. Content Page No.

1 Executive Summary 1
2 Introduction 2-3

(a)Objectives of the study

(b) Limitations of the study

3 Company History 4
4 Current Company Position 4-5
5 Mission, Goals, Short term and long term 5-6

objectives
6 Controllable & Uncontrollable Factors 6-22

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 (a) Controllable Factors 6-19

(b) Uncontrollable Factors 19-22

7 SWOT Analysis 23-26
8 Target Market 26-28
9 Market Research 29
10 Marketing Objectives & Goals 30
11 Marketing Strategy 30-32
12 Marketing Tactics 32-38
13 Implementation & Control 38-42
14 Summary 42
Appendices i-vii

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Executive Summary:

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is one of the largest medicine producers in Bangladesh. It has started its

operations in 1984 and has started marketing its products from 1987. From the very beginning this

company never compromised with their product quality as they maintained a very reasonable price for its

products. But though it is providing quality products, hearing the word ‘pharmaceuticals’, the name

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. does not come to our mind. They know that Square Pharmaceuticals or

Beximco Pharmaceuticals are leading the pharmaceuticals industry. But with all the opportunities,

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is left behind. In this research they have tried to find out why General

Pharmaceuticals Ltd. It is not at the top of medicine industry. They tried to figure out what are their

shortcomings and how to outsource them. So, there will be two parts of our paper. They are:

Part A: The Market Mix, Strategies and Tactics of General Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Part B: Our recommendation of how to form a better market for General Pharmaceuticals Ltd

They will recommend this company to take some measures due to gain a very good position in the market.

They will work on the present strategies to understand the characteristics of this particular industry and

then deciding upon them they will present our recommendations, which they think can be very helpful for

this company.

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General Pharmaceuticals Limited, a private limited company incorporated on 5th day of April,
1985 with Dr. Momenul Haq, Late Dr.Nurun Nabi. Having two Doctors as promoting directors,
General Pharma set up the goal to provide quality medicine to serve suffering humanity of the
country. Just upon having registration, construction of factory building at Telirchala, just on the
Dhaka-Tangial Highway under Kaliakoir Police station and Gazipur District started on April, 1985
having of land at its own.

Sonali Bank, Bangabandhu Avenue Branch extended financial accommodation for factory
building construction, procurement of machineries and for working capital amounting,factory
building construction, for procurement of machineries and meet working capital requirements.

Initially, machineries imported from India and started its commercial production during early 1987
and started marketing with 7 products most of them were O.T.C. products like Paracitamol,
Antacid etc with Dhaka based marketing strategy.

After coming over a long way General Pharma is now having wide range of product mix covering
almost all segments of human health care being detailed

DRUG ACTING OF GASTRO INSTATINAL TRACK

Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Gepin Ranitidine USP Tablet-150mg
Syrup - 100ml & 200ml
Zoton Lansoprazole INN Capsule- 15 and 30 mg.
Helicon-Kit H.pylori eradicating kit for regimented treatment combining Strip for each single dose consists of
Lansoprazole INN 30mg,Amoxycyllin BP 1,000 mg (500X2) one Lansoprazole INN 30mg Capsule,
and Claithromycin 500mg. Two Amoxycillin BP 500mg Capsule
and one Clarithromycin USP 500mg
Tablet.
Domilin Domperidone BP Tablet-10mg
Suspension 100ml
Regulose Lactulose USP Syrup 100ml

CARDIOVASCULAR DRUGS
Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Calchek Amlodipine BP Tablet-5mg
Dilgard Carvedilol Inn Tablet-6.25 mg, 12.50mg and 25 mg.

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 Ramipro Ramipril BP Tablet - 2.5mg and 5 mg
Lipitin Atorvastatin INN Tablet- 10 and 20 mg.

NEUROTONICS DRUGS
Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Cereton Vinpocetine INN tablet 5mg.

ANTI OBESITY DRUGS

Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Sibutrin Sibutramine HCI INN Tablet -5 and 10mg

MUSCULOSKELETAL DRUGS
Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Ronac-TR Diclofenac Sodium BP Capsule- 100mg.
Vioxib Rofecoxib INN Tablet- 12.5 and 25 mg.
Tolcalm Tolperisone HCL INN Tablet - 50mg
Arolef Leflunomide INN Tablet- 20 and 100mg.
Glustin Glucosamine HCI INN Tablet-500mg.
Trumen Tramadol HCI INN capsule-50mg
ATP Paracetamol BP Suspension - 60ml
Tablet- 500 mg.

ANTIMICROBIAL/ANTIPROTOZOAL DRUGS
Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Genamox Amoxycillin BP Capsule – 250 and 500mg
Pediatric Drop-15ml
Dry Syrup- Powder for 100ml
Suspension
Floxapen Flucloxacillin BP Capsule – 250 and 500mg
Dry Syrup- Powder for 100ml
Suspension
Nufex Cephalexin BP Capsule – 500mg
Dry Syrup- Powder for 100ml
Suspension
Velogen Cephradine BP Capsule – 250 and 500mg
Dry Syrup- Powder for 100ml
Suspension
Tocef Cefixime USP Capsule – 200 mg
Dry Syrup- Powder for 50ml
Suspension
Geflox Ciprofloxacin USP Tablet-250 and 500 mg
Levogen Levofloxacin INN Tablet-250 and 500 mg
Macrobid Claithromycin USP Tablet- 500 mg
Tetragen Tetracycline BP Capsule – 250 mg
Doxigen Doxicycline BP Capsule – 100 mg

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 Metrion Metronidazole BP Tablet-400mg
Suspension - 60ml
Gentrim Sulphamethoxazole BP Tablet-480mg
Trimethoprim BP Suspension -60ml
Alzed Albendazole USP Tablet-400mg

ANTIHISTAMINE AND ANTIASTHMATIC DRUGS

Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Zafnil Zafirlukast INN Tablet-20mg
Sulbut Sulbutamol BP Syrup 100ml
Lorin Loratadine INN Tablet-10mg
Syrup -60ml
Hitagen Chlorpheniramine Maleate BP Tablet-4mg
Syrup -60ml & 100ml
Cofnil Guaiphenesin,Pseudoephedrine,Triprolidine Syrup –100ml
Mucolex Carbocisteine BP Capsule-375mg
Syrup- 100ml

PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS : ANTIDEPRESSANT

Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Setra Setraline HCI INN Tablet-50 mg and 100mg
Venlax Venlafaxine INN Tablet -37.5mg and 75 mg
Mitrazin Mirtrazapine INN Tablet -15mg
Fultrip Fulhenazine HCI and Nortipyline BP Tablet – Fulhenazine HCI-0.5mg
NortipylineBP- 10mg
Citapram Citalopram Hydrobromide INN Tablet-10mg and 20mg.

PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS:
ANTISCHIZOPHRENICS
Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Lopez Olanzapine INN Tablet-5mg and 10mg
Riscord Risperidone INN tablet 2 mg and 4mg
Perigen Haloperidol BP Tablet-5mg

PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS:
ANXIOLYTIC,SEDATIVE-HYPNOTIC
Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Anquil Midazolam INN Tablet-7.5mg and 15mg
Tenapam Bromazepam BP Tablet-3mg
Deleta Flupenthixol INN andMelitracen INN Tablet-
Flupenthixol INN-0.5mg andMelitracen
INN-10mg
Epiclon Clonazepam Tablet-0.5mg and 2mg
Alpra Alprazolam USP Tablet-0.25mg and 0.5mg

VITAMINS AND MINERALS

Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Zoco Zinc Sulphate USP Syrup-100ml

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 Genaplex Multivitamin and Nicotinamide Capsule-
Syrup 100ml and 200ml
Folex-TR Ferrous Sulphate BP and Capsule
Folic Acid Ferrous Sulphate :150mg
Folic Acid : 0.5mg
Irofol Ferrous Fumarate and Folic Acid BP Capsule and
Suspension 200ml
Ceto Multivitamin Tablet

DERMATOLOGICAL DRUGS
Brand Name Generic Name Presentation
Genacort Hydrocortisone Aacetate Ointment in Tube of 5gm
Stelone Triamcinolone Acetonide BP Ointment in Tube of 10gm
Eclo Clobetasol Propionate USP 0.05% Ointment in Tube of 10gm
Eclo Clobetasol Propionate USP 0.05% Cream in Tube of 10gm
Cutisone Fluticasone Propionate BP 0.05% Cream in Tube of 10gm
Cutisone Fluticasone Propionate BP 0.05% Ointment in Tube of 10gm
Gemison Hydrocortisone Acetate BP1% and Miconazole Nitrate BP-2% Cream in Tube of 10gm
Tricoderma Econazole Nitrate BP 1% &Triamcinolone Acetonide BP 0.1 % Cream in Tube of 10gm
Clodera Clotrinazole USP 1% Cream in Tube of 10gm
Infud Terbinafine HCI INN Cream in Tube of 5gm
Infud Terbinafine HCI INN Tablet-250mg
Skilin Pemethrin INN 5% Cream in Tube of 15gm and 30gm.

ANTIDIABETIC DRUGS
Gored Glclazide INN Tablet-80mg
Sugamet Metfomin HCL BP Tablet-500gm and 850 gm
Adpas Pioglitazone INN Tablet-15gm

Inputs.

Raw Materials

Two categories of Raw materials are used for production, Active Ingredients and Expients.
Though some of the Active ingredients are produced in Bangladesh now, yet Pharmaceutical
Industries are import based so far as the raw materials are concerned. Importations are
controlled. The quantity, price and the source are subject to prior confirmation from Drug Control
authority. Before opening of Letter of Credit, it is necessary to obtain Block List (Detail list of
materials with quantity, price and source) passed by the Drug control authority. The lead-time for
importation is around 90 days.

Packing Materials

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Capsule Shell, Aluminum Foil, PVC Foil, Bottle, Production Cartoon, Box Cartoon, Shipping
Cartoon are the items used as Packing Materials. Most of the items are available locally; some
items are imported with lead period of around 90 days. Importation is also controlled as in the
case of Raw materials.

Procurement Segment
This segment is responsibility of ensuring availability of raw and packing materials at quality,
quantity and economy. This segment, considering the rate of consumption and the lead period
determine the “Economic Order Quantity”.

Production Segment
The Production process involves mixing of Active ingredients and expients proportionate to the
ratio as per approved recipe and packing under strict quality control both of Raw materials and of
in house atmosphere of the factory and people working.

Medical Promotion Segment.

Since sale of Medicine depends totally upon prescription from Doctors, well trained field force
having 248 in number are working in field to promote products to the prescribing Doctors.
Samples in special type of pack, Leaflets, Extracts from medical journals, and other tools are
used for such promotion. Very often scientific seminars are arranged with renowned Doctors to
highlight upon the effectiveness of particular Drug upon particular disease.

Marketing Segment.

The dispensers are in between the prescribes and ultimate consumers. A team of experienced
marketing people are engaged to determine the marketing strategy. Though Drug Authority fixes
some sort of sweeteners like Trade Discount, Product Bonus, the profit margin for the dispensers
yet, to be arranged to cope with prevailing marketing trend. Field force of marketing segment
procures orders from the doorsteps of dispensers. This segment also looks after institutional
marketing by way of participating tenders floated by different agencies like Medical Colleges,
Central Medical Store, Directorate of Medical Services and other Institutions.

Distribution Segment:

This segment is responsible for proper and economical supply of the items ordered. These
segment co-ordinates with production and procurement segment and also determine economic
Base stock quantity. Central store for finished products is in Dhaka and all branch offices having
independent store to feed the requirement of their respective area under jurisdiction.

M.I.S. Segment:

This segment is responsible for collecting information independently from field to feed back
Management about the impact of policy upon the market, response of prescribes upon particular
product and to some extent policing the field level personals of other segments like Promotion,
Marketing and Distribution.

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Medical Services Segment:

This segment is manned with Doctors entrusted basically with the task of providing logistical
support and arrangement of training for field force. This segment also provides inputs for
answering various questions from prescribes. Arrangement of scientific seminars, group
discussions fall under working scope of this segment.

Product Management Segment:

This segment is responsible for developing new products, improvement of existing recipes,
observe efficacy of existing products and to advice management accordingly.

Accounts and Administration Segment:

As it sounds, this segment is monitoring all financial and administrative activities.

Net Work.

We have twenty regional offices situated at Dhaka, Chittagong, Mymensing, Comilla, B. Baria,
Sylhet, Bogra, Noakhali, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, Faridpur, Kushtia, Dinajpur, Jessore, Pabna,
Narayangonj, Jhenaidh and Chandpur. All the offices are headed by regional manager and are
manned with personals from all working segments expect procurement and production.

Management
Board of Directors, comprising 3 directors, is the supreme apex body. The day today affairs
being managed by a group of professionals headed by Managing Director. All the segments are
headed by Manager and assisted by good numbers of skilled hands. Chart being enclosed to
detail.

Market:

The market of medicine is always expanding because of invention new generation drugs, Size of
the market always depends upon the economic condition of common people, Government fiscal
policy, overall health condition. We are in market since 1986 and being ranked at............

Though importation of finished products are very much restricted, yet unauthorized importation is
still being considered as the main barrier.

Financial Activities
As stated earlier, General Pharma brought into shape under financial accommodation from
Sonali Bank, Bangabandhu Avenue Branch. All capital finance accommodation being squared
up. At present, we are enjoying working capital finance to the extent of Tk..............being under
pledge Tk............., under hypothecation Tk ...................., for Letter of Credit Tk.................
against mortgage of the Factory Land and Building, Machineries and personal guarantee of the
Directors.

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Future expansion program:

The burning problem we are facing now is the office and store accommodation. We are now
operating in 5 rented houses in and around Dhanmondi calling huge amount of rent.
We made advance to purchase a piece of land at 20, Rabindra Swarani, Sector 3, Uttara to
construct own office complex which will cost around 2.5 crore and in turn reduce huge monthly
over head under Rent, Transportation and will reduce the risk of pilferage.

(I) Introduction:

Bangladesh is a country where there are lots of diseases and people must take medicine in some parts of

his life. As our population is very large Bangladesh can be a very good market. Our people are poor but

they need medicines. And many medicine companies are playing a great role to serve this large number of

people. General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is one of the pioneers to serve the poor people with high quality

medicines.

(a) Objective of the Study:

Through this study our objective was to learn how to put a product into the market with the help of

different marketing strategy and to implement our knowledge of the marketing system in a real world

scenario.

(b) Limitations of the Study:

Every theyll-established company has its very own style and method of developing a product and putting it

into market. These techniques are unique to each company and hence they do not disclose or divulge them

to outsiders. When they talked to the officials of General Pharmaceuticals Ltd., they provided us with

their marketing techniques but did not disclose the deepest portion of their marketing strategy. They

covered everything in a short time and they had to understand and develop ideas from there. They provided

us with facts and figures, although the extent of their accuracy is sometimes questionable. They applied

our own shaping method to shape all the facts according to our requirements. Though they received us

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cordially and gave us a lot of information, when they summarized, they have found that everything was

positive information regarding the company. They emphasized on the positive sides and neglected the

negative sides. When they asked again and again for their negative sides, they replied in such a way that

sounded positively. So, it was very difficult to find out the problems with this company.

Because of the limitations mentioned above, some of our analysis is based on hypotheses and assumptions.

They tried our best to make the report as accurate, practical and relevant as possible in a very little time

and they did it with cordial effort.

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 PART A

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

(i) Company History:

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. was incorporated as Private Limited Company on 5th April, 1984. The

poor health condition of Bangladesh influenced two friends, who theyre medical students and that was the

base of General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. They shared a view that the health sector in Bangladesh was

always deprived and neglected. These people theyre determined to do something for the theylfare of the

normal people through the help of their knowledge about this sector. With this thought General

Pharmaceuticals Ltd. entered the medicine sector and started manufacturing the drugs, which they’re

only 7 by number at the beginning and this company used the minimum capital to start its operations.

(ii) Current Company Position:

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is one of the fastest growing pharmaceuticals company in Bangladesh.

They are depriving for 20 years and have devoted themselves entirely to produce excellent pharmaceutical

finished products. It has to start its business in a market which was grabbed by dome other companies to

50%. But, from there, it is fighting to make a good position and currently is the 11th position holder in this

industry. Now they have 141 products in different categories and they are doing a pretty good business.

(iii) Mission:

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is committed to bring benefit to the common people to build a

“Treatment for all” society by rendering our professional services which will cover all of the constituents

with whom they interact and where they are accountable.

(iv) Goals:

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General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is committed to …

1. Ensure better life through quality medicine.

2. Ensure strict compliance with WHO CGMP standards and local regulatory norms in every phase of

manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance and delivery of medicines.

3. Ensure all activities through documented quality Management System (QMS) complying International

Standard requirements through continuously developing Human Resources by regular program and

participation.

4. Ensure customer satisfaction by exceeding their level of expectations.

5. Undertake appropriate review, evaluations and performance measurements with quality.

Objectives:

i. Long-Term Objectives:

1. To survive in the market of competition.

2. To have a healthy growth through adequate return on investment.

3. To maintain its image as an ethical, scientific, high quality drug manufacturer in Bangladesh.

ii. Short-Term Objectives:

1. To achieve at least 25% growth rate in sales.

2. To be in the top of all companies in the industry by achieving an average $1.11 million per

month.

Product Category:

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd is holding a product category of 13. During the very recent years

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has introduced several new life saving molecules in various

therapeutic classes for the first time in Bangladesh. Like; Anquil, Lipitin, Setra, Zoton, Helicon Kit etc. It

has several products under every product category. These product categories are as follows:

1. Drug Acting on GIT

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 2. Cardiovascular Drugs

3. Neurotonics

4. Anti-obesity

5. Musculoskeletal Drugs

6. Anti-microbial / Anti-protozoal

7. Anti-histamine & Anti-asthmatic

8. Psychotropic

9. Vitamins & Minerals

10. Dermatological

11. Anti-diabetic

12. Anti Cancer

13. Anti Migraine

Product Line:

The product length that is some products under different categories are stated as follows:

Therapeutic Class & Brand Name

Drug Acting on GIT Generic Name Pack Size

Domillin Suspension Domperidone BP 100 ml
Domilin Tablet 10 mg Domperidone BP 10*10’s
Gepin Syrup Ranitidine USP 100 ml
Gepin Syrup Ranitidine USP 200 ML
Gepin Tablet 150 mg Ranitidine USP 10*10’s
Helicon-Kit H. Pylori eradicating Kit 14’s Box
Prevas Capsule 20 mg Omeprazole BP 5*10’s
Preevas Capsule 40 mg Omeprazole BP 3*10’S

Cardiovascular Drugs Generic Name Pack Size

Anreb Tablet 25 mg Losartan Potassium INN 5*10’s
Anreb Tablet 50 mg Losartan Potassium INN 3*10’s

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Candesa Tablet 4 mg Candesartan cilexetil INN 3*10’s
Candesa Tablet 8 mg Candesartan cilexetil INN 3*10’s
Candesa Tablet 16 mg Candesartan cilexetil INN 3*10’s
Calchek Tablet 15 mg Amlodipine BP 5*10’s
Dilgard Tablet 12.50 mg Amlodipine BP 5*10’s
Dilgard Tablet 25 mg Carvedilol INN 3*10’s
Dilgard Tablet 6.25 mg Carvedilol INN 3*10’s
Fenolid Capsule 200 mg Fenofibrate BP 5*10’s
Nicoral Tablet 10 mg Nicorandil INN 5*10’s
Nicoral Tablet 5 mg Nicoraldil INN 5*10’s

Neurotonics Generic Name Pack Size

Cereton Tablet 5 mg Vinopocetime INN 5*10’s
Mecobal Tablet 0.5 mg Mecobalamin INN 3*10’s

Anti-Obesity Generic Name Pack Size

Sibutrin Capsule 10 mg Sibutramine HCI INN 2*10’s
Sibutrin Capsule 5 mg Sibutramine HCI INN 3*10’s

Musculoskeletal Drugs Genetic Name Pack Size

Arolef Tablet 100 mg Leflunomide INN 50’s
Arolef Tablet 20 mg Leflunomide INN 3’s
ATP Suppension Paracepamol BP 60 ML
ATP Tablet 500 mg Paracetamol BP 25*10’s
Feverin Tablet 100 mg Nimesulide BP 10*10’s
Glustin Plus Tablet Glucosamine and Chodroitin 5*10’s

Sulfate
Glustin Tablet 500 mg Glucosamine and Chondroitin 5*10’s

Sulfate
Ronac-TR Capsule 100 mg Diclofenac Sodium BP 5*10’s

Antimicrobial/Antiprotonzoal Generic Name Pack Size

Alzed Tablet 400mg Albendazole USP 1*20’s
Azomac Tablet 500 mg Azithromycin SP 3*1’s
Azomac P/d Azithromycin USP 15 ml
Doxigen Capsule 100 mg Doxicycline BP 10*10’s
Eromac Suspension Erythromycin USP 100 ml
Floxapen Capsule 250 mg Flucloxacillin BP 10*10’s
Foloxapen Capsule 500 mg Fluxloxacillin BP 5*4’s

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Floxapen Dry Syrup Fluxloxacillin BP 100 ml
Geflox Tablet 250 mg Ciprofloxacin USP 3*10’s
Geflox Tablet 500 mg Ciprofloxacin USP 3*10’s
Genamox Capsule 250 mg Amoxycillin BP 10*10’s
Genamox D/S 100 ml Amoxycillin BP 100 ml
Genamox P/D Amoxycillin BP 15 ml

Antihistamine and Antiashmatic

Genetic Name Pack Size
Confil syrup Guaiphenesin, Pseudoephedrine 100 ml
Hitagen Syrup Cholorpheniramine maleate BP 100 ml
Hitagen Tablet 4 mg Cholorpheiramine maleate BP 60 ml
Muclox Capsule Carbocisteine BP 3*10’s
Mucolex Suspension Carbocisteine BP 100 ml

Psychotropic Generic Name Pack Size

Anquil Tablet 15 mg Midazolam INN 1*20’s
Anquil Tablet 10 mg Midazolam INN 3*10’s
Citapram Tablet 10 mg Citalopram HBr. INN 10*3’s
Citapram Tablet 20 mg Citalopram HBr. INN 3*10’s
Deleta Tablet Flupenthixol INN+Melitracen 5*10’s

INN
Extranil 5 mg Tablet Procyclidine HCI USP 10*10’s
Flutrip Tablet Fluphenazine BP+Nortriptyline 10*10’s

BP
Lepx Tablet 10 mg Olanzapine INN 5*10’s
Lopez Tablet 5 mg Olanzapine INN 5*10’s
Mitrazin Tablet 15 mg Mirtazapine INN 3*10’s
Riscord Tablet 4 mg Risperidone INN 3*10’s
Riscord Tablet 2 mg Fluvoxamin maleate BP 3*10’s
Setra Tablet 100 mg Setraline HCI INN 3*10’s
Setra Tablet 50 mg Setraline HCI INN 3*10’s
Setra Tablet 25 mg Setraline HCI INN 5*10’s
Tenapam Tablet 3 mg Bromazepam BP 5*10’s
Epiclon Tablet 0.5 mg Clonazepam USP 3*10’s
Epclon Tablet 37.5 mg Clonazepam USP 5*10’s
Venalax Tablet 37.5 mg Venlafaxine INN 5*10’s

Vitamine and Mineral Genetic Name Pack Size

Bic-F Capsule B1+Iron+Vit C+Folic Acid 5*10’s
Ceto Tablet Vit-A, Vit-C and Vit-E 20’s
Costin Tablet 250 mg Calcium Carbonate USP 10*10’s
Folex-TR Capsule Ferrous Sulphate BP and Folic 5*10’s

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 acide BP
Folized Capsule Iron+Folic Acid+Zinc 5*10’s
Genaplex Capsule Vit-B1, B2, B6 and Nicotinamide 25*10’s
Genaplex Syrup Vit-B1, B2, B6 and Nicotinamide 25*10’s

Dermatological Genetic Name Pack Size

Clodern Cream 10 gm Clotrimazole propionate BP 10 gm
Cutisone Cream 10 gm Fluticasone propionate BP 10 gm
Cutisone Ointment 10 gm Fluticasone propionate BP 10 gm
Eclo Cream Clobetason Propionate BP 10 gm

Antidiabetic
Genetic Name Pack Size
Adpas Tablet 15 mg Pioglitazone INN 3*10’s
Gored Tablet 80 mg Gliclazide INN 5*10’s
Sugamet Tablet 500 mg Metforimin HCL BP 10*10’s
Sugamet Tablet 850 mg Metformin HCL BP 4*10’s

Anticancer Genetic Name Pack Size

Tamoxen Tablet 10 mg Tamoxifen BP 3*10’s
Tamoxen Tablet 20 mg Tamoxifen BP 3*10’s

Anti Migrane Genetic Name Pack Size

Sumigran Tablet 50 mg Sumatriptan INN 5*10’s

(ii) Price:

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd is providing medicines in a very reasonable price. When it comes to the

question of pricing, the decision makers considers the economic condition of the people of Bangladesh.

Our people can not really afford very costly medicines. Sometimes there are some products that are not

so cheap to produce but GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has to reduce is price by absorbing

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some of the costs. It is mainly associated with the exceptional products. Like; they introduced the first

ever anti-cancer medicine produced in Bangladesh and the officials claim that they are incurring loss on

this product but still are continuing with the sales. In pricing they do not want to be the market leader.

They just follow the logical trend. They are not following skimming price or penetration price concept

here. They consider the cost and according to that add some profit and decide the price. GENERAL

PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. beliefs that,

Minimum Price * Maximum Sales = Maximum Profit

In pricing strategy sometimes GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has to face some problems

from other companies in the industry because if another company comes out with a product in a lotheyr

price then it has to face that competition.

Though GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. does not compromise with the quality of the product,

they also have some cost cutting strategy to reduce the product price. They try to maximize their profit by

cutting costs but not the production or operating costs. Rather it tries to cut down the administrative cost.

It cut down the cost by employing less white collar personals. GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD.

claims that it has very committed employees and most of the high level employees share so much

responsibility that other companies might keep two or three people for that. So, these committed and

highly motivated employees help this company to reduce the administrative costs. So, in this way, this

firm cut down its cost and that leads them to maintain a competitive and reasonable price.

(iii) Promotion:

Promotion is a problematic area for the pharmaceutical companies. It is the same scenario for General

Pharmaceuticals Ltd also. There is a restriction by the Drugs Control Committee (DCC) which is

imposed on all the pharmaceuticals company which forbids straight advertising of the products. So,

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. can not go for straight advertising of its products. But it does

its promotion in some other ways.

20
General Pharmaceuticals Ltd arranges or sponsors scientific seminars, Medical Conference, District

level conference and International Doctor’s Conference and some other seminars time to time. They try

to grow their image through this and try to put their name in front of the people.

Moreover, they provide some gifts to the doctors or medical people. Like; they give pens, writing pads

etc. to these people. It is considered as a great promotional activity as they provide gifts to those people

who usually recommend their products.

Though there is no real media advertising here for GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. , they are

going to concentrate on electronic media with the help of promoting some social criteria in the recent

years. If they can do so effectively, that can bring out their name to the mind of the general people, a

criterion where GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. lacks a lot.

(iv) Distribution:

Marketing of a pharmaceutical company is so basic that it can not be considered a separate function.

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd has a very good distribution channel. The marketing network of

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is spread all over the country with a team of 550 direct

promoters and 300 distribution personnel. General Pharmaceuticals Ltd has 25 sales depots in

important district head quarters of the country. The depots are located in Dhaka, Narayangonj,

Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Comilla, Brahman Baria, Chandpur, Noakhali, Rajshahi, Pabna, Rangpur,

Dinajpur, Bogra, Barisal, Patuakhali, Sylhet, Mymensingh, Kishoregonj, Khulna, Jhenaidah, Kushtia,

Jessore, Faridpur, Madaripur and Sreemongol. These districts are chosen based on the market size and

distribution availability. This distribution network is diagramed below:

21
Publications
Head
Factory
Internal
Finance
Accounts
Quality
Shipping
Overseas
Local
R
Engineering
Production
Cox’s
Chandpur
Jhenaidah
Kishoreganj
Narayanganj
Madaripur
Faridpur
Patuakhali
Jessore
Pabna
Bogra
Rangpur
Noakhali
B.Baria
Rajshahi
Sylhet
Barisal
Khulna
Chittagong
Dhaka
Database
Survey
Store
Transportations
Kushtia
Dinajpur
Comilla
Mymensingh
Sreemongol
Regulatory
Training
Promotion
Seminar/
&Administration
DOffice
Bazar
ManagingDepartment
Director,
Sales Control
Affairs
Audit
Symposium
Distribution
Human
MIS
Product
Medical Affairs
Affairs
&Director
Accounts/Finance
Procurement
LegalDepartment
Department
&Resource
Management
Promotion
Services
Marketing
Regulatory Board of Directors
Maintenance Dept.
Department
Dept.
Department
Department
Factory
Affairs

22
 In distribution, General has maintained a social network. They believe in top to bottom marketing policy.

Their distribution channel preserves a great part for the doctors. Doctors are given information and

knowledge of the products of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. and then these doctors

recommend it to their patients or to the pharmacies. Then these pharmacies call for the products of

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. and then the distributing office of GENERAL

PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. in several districts provide the products to the pharmacies. This is the

Doctors or Physicians
Patients
Pharmacies General
Pharmaceuticals

23
General Pharmaceuticals Ltd think that this policy is the best policy as it can easily influence the people

to take their products and does not require a lot of promotion activities.

Moreover, as distribution channels are used to deliver the physical products or services to the buyer or

user, GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. distributes its products through its own transportation

vehicles whole over the country. For the transportation there are about 20 covered vans and 30 small

vehicles.

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. uses the point of time system or online system to know about

its distribution. Everyday they get the news from all over the country to know about the activities. They are

doing this instantly. In this way, GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is doing its distributions.

(v) Suppliers:

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd has very good connections with their suppliers. They have three kinds of

suppliers. One is for the raw materials, which is basically chemicals and ingredients, the second one is for

lab equipments and the last one is for office equipments. They mostly get the supply from some particular

suppliers but even then they maintain good connection with other possible suppliers.

(vi) Employees:

Employees are one of the greatest strength of General Pharmaceuticals Ltd as they have stated earlier

the Managing Director of this company is a doctor and he knows very they’ll about the aspect of the

medicine industry. He has some very efficient employees in GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. .

The most important thing is they are self-motivated and are strongly committed to the company.

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. put a great deal of emphasize on the educational background

of the employees. From a very basic level job to a very high level job, they require good educational

background. Even their sales personnel are very much educated. They have mostly passed the masters

level. Other than that, every chemist, every lab officials or marketing officials, everyone is very highly

qualified. These employees are so committed that they come in time to the office but do not know when to

24
leave. They love their works and they solely dedicated themselves for the theylfare of the company and the

company on the other side is very fair to all of its employees and provides very good benefit for them.

(vii) Government and Financial Personnel:

From the very beginning, GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. had a very good political connection

and they also held a pretty good social network. These networks helped them a lot to control the threat

from the government or financial people. This threat refers to the difficulty in obtaining something from

these people. The MD of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has very good political connection as

he has some political people in his family and this connection is very important in regard of our country.

As the MD is a doctor, he has a lot of friends who are doctors and all of them indirectly help in marketing

the products of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. . So, GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD.

is controlling this factor very efficiently.

(b) Uncontrollable Factors:

(i) Competition:

There are almost 200 pharmaceuticals companies operating in the medicine production industry and there

are 20 companies who are working in a stable way. Among these 20 companies General Pharmaceuticals

Ltd is a fast growing company and their direct competitors are those companies who are also fast growing.

In terms of precision Square Pharmaceuticals and Beximco Pharmaceuticals are the largest competitors as

they altogether captures 50% of the market. But these two companies have reached the peak of its sales

and companies like GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is trying to outsource their market shares.

25
On the other hand, though Square Pharmaceuticals and Beximco Pharmaceuticals are the largest

companies, GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. does not consider them as the greatest competitors.

They think their competitors are those companies who are rapidly growing. Like; Incepta, Aristopharma,

Oreon, SKF, Reneta, Novartis etc. They are considered competitors in terms of sales and sales growth.

Among all these companies, GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. identified Incepta as the greatest

competitor.

The competition that GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is facing is very dangerous. The

pharmaceutical industry is already 50% captured by two very big companies and there GENERAL

PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. and some other companies are trying to make a place. So, they are

competing among themselves. On the other hand, Square and Beximco sometimes try to push these fast

growing companies out of the market. They even sometimes follow unethical means to do so. So, there are

two different kinds of competition working for the GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. and it is

very tough to maintain a position as they are no. 11 in the pharmaceutical industry and they want to be in

top 10 companies by the end of 2005.

(ii) Economical Factors:

The economy of Bangladesh is not favorable for any business. The economy depends on a lot of things and

these things sometimes shake the expectations of the companies. GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS

LTD. also face economical problems. The flood of 2004 affected the economy of Bangladesh very

harmfully and that also affected the business of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. .

Other economical factors like; taxation, inflation or devaluation of taka also affects the company. These

economic factors play a great role in the decision making part of the GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS

LTD. .

(iii) Natural Factors:

26
 Natural factors like; natural calamities or any new disease affects the business of GENERAL

PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. Recently the flood has harmed the business a lot. The diseases like; Dengue

can influence the business of the company. Other seasonal diseases can also do the same. Moreover, the

environment can play a great role to the sickness tendency of the people and that can influence the

business. So, in this way natural factors play a vital role.

(iv) Demographic Factors:

The people of Bangladesh have a tendency for some diseases. They are poor and do not get the food at the

right time. So, they are prone to ulcer or gastric. So, General Pharmaceuticals Ltd is emphasizing on the

development of more and more anti-ulcerant.

Moreover, our people are depressed and they live in a stress always. So, they are getting more and more

psychological problem everyday. So, General Pharmaceuticals Ltd in concentrating on the anti-obesity

drugs more. So, in this way demographic factors work for the General Pharmaceuticals Ltd

(v) Political Factors:

Political hassles are one of the greatest obstacles in GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. The strike,

political pressure or political propaganda affects the business of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD.

If there occurs a strike that affects the distribution of the products of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS

LTD. That can be very harmful for the business.

Moreover, there are some political pressures on the industry. The government people should be kept happy

to run a smooth and sound business. So, bribing and some other unethical means are required here.

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. follows a situation demand based policy and that policy helps

it to deal with the political factors successfully. But it is always a concern that needs to be taken care of

carefully.

27
(vi) Laws and Regulations:

It is a very important factor for General Pharmaceuticals Ltd It has to follow a lot of rules and

regulations. These rules or regulations are imposed by Bangladesh government, Drugs Control Committee

(DCC), WHO, WTO, IMS and others. According to their rules, GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD.

has to do a lot of things. Like; GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. can not go for media promotion

of their products and few days ago also the combination of drugs was prohibited. So, these rules affect the

business of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. a lot.

The government also itself imposes lots of rules. Like; tax rules and others, which must be maintained very

carefully to run the business carefully. The quality control regulations are also very important for

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. though they excel in this department.

So, for keeping a better business environment it is very important to follow all the rules and regulations.

(III) SWOT Analysis

(a) Strength:

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd. provide medicines for all kinds of complications under

some product categories. That is, they have all kinds of medicine for some categories. Like;

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has every kind of anti-ulcerant.

It. has a very good political network and it is a big strength of it.

It is able to follow the top to bottom marketing policy which is done by only 20 out of 200

pharmaceuticals companies in Bangladesh. It is an ethical and scientific policy.

It is currently at the 11th position at pharmaceuticals industry in Bangladesh and this ranking

is provided by an international organization, IMS.

28
 It has very highly educated and experienced workforce. The top management is very much

experienced as they are in the business for a long time.

It has a very good social and professional network. As the Managing Director of GENERAL

PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is a doctor, he is known to many reputed doctors, who help

in the business of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. a lot.

It is unique in their exceptional products. They have some exceptional products that no other

company has. Like; they have first initiated ‘Tomexifen’, a medicine for breast cancer in

Bangladesh.

It is coming up with many more exceptional and traditional products which will make them

unique from other companies.

The workforce of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is self-motivated and

committed. Their commitment towards their jobs is a great strength for General

Pharmaceuticals Ltd

It can charge a reasonable price for their products without compromising with the quality

due to their administrative cost cutting.

It beliefs in the empotheyrment of the employees and so the decision making is decentralized

here and it is flexible and quick, which brought a competitive advantage for them.

The relation among the employees of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is strength

itself. They take other employees brotherly and behave with others friendly.

It. is one of the only 10 subscribers of IMS in Bangladesh and it makes a good reputation for

them.

(b) Theyakness:

29
 General Pharmaceuticals Ltd is operating in the pharmaceutical industry since 1984. But

now too they are not much known to the general people, who can quickly recognize Square

Pharmaceuticals or Beximco Pharmaceuticals or even Incepta.

It depends solely on the relationship with doctors or physicians for their distribution, which

makes its business a very volatile one.

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has failed to directly communicate with its

customers in these long years.

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd cuts its administrative costs by employing less people but

that can create immense stress on the employees and so, this policy will not ultimately help it

in the future.

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has fetheyr products than the top 5 companies in

the industry.

(c) Opportunity:

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has a lot of opportunity to grow and to come up in the

industry. Some of them are as follows:

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has an opportunity to grab the Psychotropic

market in the upcoming years. As the people of Bangladesh live under several stresses,

psychological disorders are increasing and GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. hopes

to capitalize this trend and it already has many products under this category.

The food habit of the students or the poor shows an opportunity for GENERAL

PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. . As GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has all kinds

of anti-ulcerant, it hopes to grab a large portion of the market in this particular field.

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is coming up with a lot of new products in the

very recent years and that will give them an opportunity to outsource some of the current

competitors.

30
 GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has an opportunity to have a large market share

as it is a rapidly growing company and some big companies are at the maturity level of their

business.

(d) Threats:

Political instability is a big threat for General Pharmaceuticals Ltd

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. admits that it has a limited product line and it

can be a threat as theyll.

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is operating in a market where some giant

companies grab more than 50% of the market share and some 195 companies are fighting for

the rest 40-45% market share. So, GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is always

under the threat.

Some rules and regulation of WTO and DCC creates new threats for General

Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Bangladesh is a country of natural disasters. So, the nature is a big threat for this company.

The lack of influence over the general especially rural people is a big threat for this

company.

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. maintains their own private policies like;

situation based policy and it is a threat as they do not particularly follow a policy.

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is a fast growing company and other fast

growing companies like; Incepta and ACI are big threat for GENERAL

PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. as they are always trying to throw out GENERAL

PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. from the market as GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS

LTD. is doing.

(IV) Target Market [Audience & Segmentation:

31
GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has no real segmentation policy for its target audience. But it is

targeting some people to market their products.

It has segmented its target market into 4 parts based on different techniques. They are:

1. Medical Based Segmentation

2. Institutional Based Segmentation

3. District Based Segmentation

4. Doctors Based Segmentation

Segmentation Technique Target Area Target Market or Audiences

32
 Different
Doctors
People
Peopleof inDistricts
each
Patients medical
institution
ofdifferent
Institution
Doctors
Medical
District
Associated
associated Based
district
these areas
Based
Based
with
with(25
Based fields
&each
nearby
doctors
these districts.
medical
institutions
area
related
key districts)
with health
Segmentation
Segmentation
Segmentation

33
 The Market Segmentation Technique Diagram

So, from the above graph they can see that General Pharmaceuticals Ltd reach the normal people with

the help of the elite people. So, the first target here is the doctors, physicians, medical personnel in

different medical institutions. GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. believe it is easy and more

effective to influence these people to use the products of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. and

these people can easily influence the patients or the end users. According to the GENERAL

PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. the reference of these elite personnel is much more important to the end

users than their own knowledge.

34
BUS 2112

PART B

(I) Market Research:

For this research project they have selected a company which does not produce a convenience or easily

marketable product. They have chosen General Pharmaceuticals Ltd as our research company. This

company as other pharmaceuticals company has no particular promotion strategy. So, it was a pretty

challenging job to find out some strategies for this particular company in the particular industry.

(i) Methodology:

They visited the office of General Pharmaceuticals Ltd to know the details of this company. They there

intervietheyd Md. Monowarul Islam Bhuiyan, the Deputy Manager of Sales Promotion and asked many

questions about the company. As they theyre doing this research for a marketing course, they focused on

the marketing part. They provided our questions in a disciplined manner through a questionnaire which

had all opened ended questions and then the intervietheye gave us a vivid idea about the company. Then

they shaped all the anstheyrs and then thought about the drawbacks of the company and found that in

marketing side promotional activity was given the least preference of all. Then they considered many other

facts to find out some solutions for the company. In this way they have conducted our research.

(II) Marketing Objectives and Goals:

(i) Marketing Objective:

They want to develop a preventive vaccine for Hepatitis B.

BUS 2112

(ii) Marketing Goals:

They feel the lack of GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. in the area of preventive

vaccination and so they will produce a preventive vaccine for Hepatitis B.

They want to serve the people of Bangladesh with a guard against the sufferings from

Hepatitis B.

They want to make a profit of Tk.500,000 by the year 2006.

After 2006, they want to hold sales of Tk.100,000 worth of sales from vaccination every

month for the next two years.

They want to take the 30% market share by 2008.

(III) Marketing Strategy:

(i) Product Attributes:

They are going to offer the most stable and reliable preventive vaccine against Hepatitis B. They are going

to ensure with our product that anybody who has taken it will not be a victim of death causing Hepatitis B.

Our product will be more stable, more reasonable, more effective and more suitable for its users. They

have a plan to develop our product in a way that if it is used for once then for the next five years you will

not be affected by Hepatitis B. Moreover, they are planning to take some expert opinion for this product

from Foods and Drugs Association (FDA) in USA to better our product.

(ii) Product Life Cycle:

As they are just introducing this new product in the market, it is going to be in the introductory level of the

product life cycle. But they have some projection about this product as increasing competition is going to
BUS 2112

From the expected product life cycle, they are showing by the small circle in the graph that they are going

to be in the introductory level after introducing our products with the sales of Tk.1 ml. in the very first

year. and then they will continue our growth stage from the first year to the fifth year which is indicated by

the first arrow. Here the sales per year will grow from Tk.1 ml. to Tk.4 ml. And from the fifth year to the

seventh year they will be at the peak of our sales and that is sale of Tk.4 ml. After that, from the seventh

year this product will decline in sales and by the tenth year it will go down to Tk.0.5 ml. It is because by

that time new vaccines will obviously come and they have to grow with new products and have to leave

this particular product.

From this product life cycle they can assume that this product can be very profitable because 10 year is not

a short time and the growth is expected to be very rapid. But it is also true that, it is just a projection and

they have produce a quality preventive vaccine and to maintain its quality with consistency for these long

years. If they can do so then may be this projection will act as expected.

(IV) Marketing Tactics:

When GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. develops a new product, they emphasize on 5Ps. They

are:

1. Product

2. Price

3. Promotion

4. Place (Distribution)

5. Profit

(i) Product:

(a) Product Category:

BUS 2112

They are coming up with a plan to increase the product category of General Pharmaceuticals Ltd by

adding preventive vaccines. They are going to produce the preventive vaccine for Hepatitis B first.

(b) Product Opportunity:

As they know the people of Bangladesh mostly live in a very unhygienic environment. They do not have

safe water or safe food. Many of them have suffered from jaundice and they are likely to be affected by the

Hepatitis B virus. Children can also be the victims of this disease. So, there can be a great market for the

preventive vaccine of Hepatitis B. Though there are some preventive vaccines for this disease, from a

respective market study they found that people are not so happy with those vaccines as these preventive

vaccines often fails to protect us from the virus of Hepatitis B. So, they have a great opportunity to come

up and work out with this product.

(c) Product Name:

To decide the name of our product they would like to keep a name which represents the disease name as

theyll as the name of the company. So, they have decided to name it ‘G-Hepatimen’.

(d) Product Line:

They have to increase the length of our product line to provide a space for the preventive vaccines. They

must grow with new products and such products that can not be manufactured by any other company very

easily. New exceptional and traditional products will help us to serve a number of new people. They must

keep a proper choice under each product category for the doctors. So, they need to come out with a proper

modification of products. They can do two things: increase the number of products in a particular product

category and build new product category. So, later they have a plan to come out with new preventive

vaccines for other diseases in the future years. Moreover, they are planning to increase the depth for out

preventive vaccine category. Like; they are planning to offer separate doses for children and other age
BUS 2112

group, which will help us to increase the dynamism of our product. So, they have some differentiation in

this product for different level of customers. They are:

Product Category Customers

G-Hepatimen X A Children from 1 to 3 years
G-Hepatimen X2 B Children from 4 to 12 years
G-Hepatimen Y C Teenagers from 13 to 19
G-Hepatimen Z D Male from 20 to 40
G-Hepatimen Z2 E Female from 20 to 40
G-Hepatimen V F People from 40 onwards

(ii) Price:

They are planning to price our product ‘G-Hepatimen’ very reasonable for the consumers. Other

preventive vaccines for Hepatitis B in the market are very costly for a certain group of people. But they are

not going to lotheyr the cost below our profit level for better sales. Rather they are trying to gain product

superiority in terms of the stability of our product. While other vaccines in the market for Hepatitis B is

accused to give no guaranteed service, they will guarantee that our product will not fail and that they think

will let us charge a reasonable price for both General Pharmaceuticals Ltd and for the consumers.

To charge a better price they have to cut down some cost. As they want to set the markup relatively

lotheyr. Our price structure will be:

Category Markup + Profit = Price

A Tk.180 + Tk.25 = Tk.205
B Tk.190 + Tk.35 = Tk.225
C Tk.200 + Tk.40 = Tk.240
D Tk.210 + Tk.50 = Tk.260
E Tk.220 + Tk.60 = Tk.280
F Tk.230 + Tk.70 = Tk.300

So, to gain a price advantage, they can look for a new supplier who will provide raw materials in a lotheyr

price. That can help us cut down the operating cost. On the other hand, they have to maintain our quality

and so they can not compromise with the quality of the raw materials. With a low operating cost, if they

can cut down some of the administrative cost by going in the vaccination area without employing any
BUS 2112

more white-collar or blue-collar employees, then they think this area can be very much profitable for us.

Otherwise, they can cut our profit to maximize sales but it will not be sustainable in the long run anyway.

So, our first preference must be the quality, stability and consistency of our product and second preference

will be to earn a very good profit from this new product.

(iii) Promotion:

A big problem for GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. is to promote ‘G-Hepatimen’ in the market.

A lot of things can be done for the promotion of this product. But as they know, DCC has a restriction over

going for a straight promotion. So, they have to find out some other way. Like; they have a plan to go to

the electronic media by sponsoring and promoting a campaign about the bad impact of the Hepatitis B and

the dangers of this disease. It can be very vital for the company.

Moreover, as they can not promote our products directly, then they can give some advertisement in the

newspaper, which will talk about our concern about the dangers associated with Hepatitis B. This can be

very helpful as people at the rural areas are also reading newspaper today. So, they can grow an image of

our company with the help of newspapers as these advertisements will have the name of General

Pharmaceuticals Ltd

On the other hand, though they have created an image of our company, people will to the doctors to know

about the preventive vaccines for Hepatitis B. And if they do not recommend the name of our product then

all of our campaigns or advertisements will go in vein. So, they first have to promote our product to the

doctors especially the theyll reputed doctors. Like; if Dr. Nurul Islam, a very reputed professor for

medicines, recommend the name of ‘G-Hepatimen’ as a preventive vaccine for Hepatitis B, then other

doctors, especially doctors in district level will also recommend this product. So, they have to influence

this kind of doctors first. So, they can sponsor a seminar for them which will discuss the danger of
BUS 2112

Hepatitis B and the preventive measures to avoid this dangerous disease. They are planning to provide

gifts like; pen, writing pads, free samples of medicines to this doctors and other physicians, so that they

maintain a good relationship with us and recommend our product. But one important thing here is that they

will not influence the doctors or other medical people to recommend ‘G-Hepatimen’ as a preventive

vaccine for the Hepatitis B, rather ‘G-Hepatimen’ itself will do this work for us.

At last, they want to directly interact with the people with this our product as in the rural areas sometimes

people are not educated enough to understand the campaign in TV or newspapers. So, our sales people will

go to those areas and will inform them about the danger of Hepatitis B and this work also can be very

helpful for us.

(iv) Distribution:

For the distribution of ‘G-Hepatimen’, they will adopt a mixed marketing strategy. Like, they will go for

both the top to bottom and bottom to top distribution policy. That is, they will represent this product to the

doctors and doctors will recommend this product to the patients or to the pharmacies. This product will be

always available in all our sales depots and according to the demand our distribution people will distribute

the product.

On the other hand, as they have suggested promoting the product to the people straightly, they will also

make the people demand for this product. Sometimes people do not go to the doctors for asking about a

preventive vaccine. They just go to the hospitals or clinics to get the vaccine. So, they will always make

our product available in rural medical institution.

Now, General Pharmaceuticals Ltd has about 500 sales people and they will increase 50 more

employees to work for this preventive vaccine area and they will be properly trained. These people will

communicate with the physicians, pharmacy owners and THO, who will help in increasing the sales of our

product. Moreover, they have a plan to grow our sales activities in some other key districts like; Perojpur,

Borguna, Panchagarh, Sherpur and Rangamati. These districts can be very vital for us as GENERAL
BUS 2112

PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. has some difficulty to reach these districts now. Then they think they will

be able to serve even more customers with an effective distribution.

(v) Profit:

As they mentioned earlier, they are planning to earn a profit of Tk.25 to Tk.70, for different categories, on

every dose of ‘G-Hepatimen’. They can reduce this amount but as they are coming up with more

preventive vaccines in the future they have to finance our research and development department and they

want to finance them from the profit of this product. Though they are earning Tk.25 to Tk.70 profit on

each dose of ‘G-Hepatimen’, they know that this product has a lotheyr price from the other companies’

products. It is because they are not incurring huge administrative cost as that of Beximco. If they can be

consistent with our product quality, then they think that with this price they will be able to draw a very

good profit by maximizing our sales.

(V) IMPLEMENTATION AND CONTROL:

(i) Budget:

The total budget fixed for this ‘G-Hepatimen’ project is Tk5,000,000. This budget is

allocated for the introduction of this product in the market that is for the development of

this project at the initial stage.

(ii) Implementation:

Marketing plans can only be effective if they succeed into operational programs. The components of an

implementation process ensure that the marketing strategy will lead to the desired marketing performance.
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(a) The action program:

Managers in every sales depot will be informed about the company’s objectives and goals about this

particular product and they must also know about the tactics and strategies of the company. They will be

asked to adapt the strategies according to their areas for maximum beneficial effect. These managers will

then convey these messages of the company to the salespeople and medical representatives. These people

will then go to the pharmacies, to the doctors and to the district health complexes to influence the related

persons to refer this vaccine to the customers. They will be provided free samples to attract the customers

and medical people. Then there will be a commission for the doctors or for the institutions for

recommending this vaccine. Along with all these things indirect advertisement will go on. Moreover, these

salespeople will go to the rural areas and try to influence ignorant people to take this vaccine for a safer

life. For this difficult work the salespeople will be definitely compensated.

(b) The monitoring method:

The Salespeople of each district sales depot will list some places where distributing the

product will be very useful.

Sales manager then has to approve these recommendations from the salespersons.

Sales will be carefully monitored by the distribution department of the company and they

will use online or instant messaging system to monitor it daily.

The sales department will then check the sales figure every month.

Then the sales department along with the distributions department will judge the deviation

in sales for different areas and will find out the drawbacks of each area.

After observing all the related things, the Sales department will provide feedback to the

Managing Director and then he along with other top managers will decide what to do to

increase the sales or to attain the organizational goals.

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(iii) Marketing Control:

With the help of marketing control, they measure and evaluate the results of marketing strategies and plans

and receive feedback. If it is requires, then they take some corrective action in any of the marketing part.

To do this they can take the following steps:

The sales manager will receive feedback from the salespeople and then he will summarize

the concerns and ideas of the salespeople.

The sales manager will then use his own judgment and refer some actions if required and

he will take the action if it is under his potheyr. Otherwise he will refer it to the head office.

The head office will receive the feedback from the area sales manager and will judge his

recommendations and by using the judgment and experience of the concerned top

managers will take any corrective measures if it is really required.

(iv) Task Schedule:

For the implementation program there are some scheduled tasks and the company has to make this

schedule to work smoothly. This task schedule table for ‘G-Hepatimen’ will be as follows:

Months Scheduled Tasks

First Month Informing Area Sales Mangers, Salespersons, Medical Representatives and other

concerned persons about the company’s objective, goals, strategy and tactics

about ‘G-Hepatimen’. During this time they have to create a clear image of this

product in the mind of all these related people.

Second Month During this month they have to launch our product and have to do the campaign

activities.
Third to Sixth They have to continue with the promotional activities and they have to observe

Month our sales and take recommendations of the concerned people.

Seventh Month They have to judge the comments and recommendations of the doctors,

physicians, our salespeople and area sales manager.

Eighth Month They have to work on any corrective measures if required.
Ninth Month They have to implement the corrective measures.
Tenth Month to They have to continue the selling of the product and other activities.
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Ttheylfth Month
Thirteenth Month They have to review the work of past one year with this product and have to take

some corrective measures if required.

Fourteenth Month They have to implement the corrective measures and continue our sales,

onwards promotion and distribution onwards.

(VI) Summary:

General Pharmaceuticals Ltd is entering in a new product category with ‘G-Hepatimen’ and it has

offered a very good and effective category in this single product at the very initial stage. So, it gives this

product a very important advantage. Moreover, they have a plan to come out of the shortcomings of

GENERAL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD. with this product as for the first time they are going into

promoting campaign to make an image of our company. So, these things will really help. They have also

planned for a better pricing strategy for this particular product with an expected high level of consistency

in quality. Nevertheless, they have a plan to implement a better distribution system for this product. They

are coming out from our traditional trend and are going to cover every possible aspect regarding this

product. So, with the help of a better product with a reasonable price and with better promotion and better

distribution must create a large profit. For all these reasons, they believe that our product ‘G-Hepatimen’ is

going to be a success for General Pharmaceuticals Ltd

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Appendices

(a) General Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Head Office:
House # 48/A, Road # 11/A,
Dhanmondi R/A,
Dhaka-1209,
Bangladesh.

Factory:
Mouchak, Kaliakair,
Gazipur, Bangladesh.

Tel: 9132594, 8124649

Web: www.generalpharma.com

(b) Questionnaire for General Pharmaceuticals:

BUS 2112 Project

Interview Questions
Target Company: General Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Questions:
• Tell us something about the history of General Pharmaceutical.
• What is your Mission Statement?
• What is your vision?
• What is your Organizational Goal?
• What is your product category? Do you categorize yo9ur product as a particular strategy?
• Can you tell us something about the overall strategy of the General Pharmaceuticals?
• Who are your target audience?
• How do you segment the market?
• How do you develop new products?
• How do you price your products?
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• How do you promote your products?

• Do you think the advertising of our product is good enough? Do you like or plan to take any kind
of new promotional strategy?
• Who are your competitors? Who is the biggest competitor?
• Do you have any competitive advantage?
• How do you pan to handle your competitors?
• How do you distribute your products? How is your distribution channel formed? Who is the most
efficient distributor for your company? Do you have any particular plan to encourage the
distributors?
• How does the law and regulation affect your business?
• Can you tell us something about the people in your company?
• Do you think there is any kind of demographic or psychographics influence over your customers?
• Do you follow product lifecycle for your products?
• According to you what is your company’s strength?
• According to you what is your company’s weakness?
• According to you what is your company’s threats?
• According to you what is your company’s opportunity?
• Can you provide us marketing plan?
• How do you evaluate your performance over the year?
• What is your future plan?

(c) Some pictures of General Pharmaceuticals and its activities:

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(d) Products of General Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

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