Does the country of origin has impact on prescribing behaviour of general practitioners?

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of country of origin (COO) on the prescription behaviour of metro and A class cities of doctors. It also aims to study if the category of doctors like consulting physician differs from general practitioners on their prescription behaviour due to the COO. The primary, as well as secondary research data, was used to achieve the study objective. A total of 400 respondent doctors (Allopathic General Practitioner including various specialty practice and Multispecialty practice consultants) from metro and A-class cities were selected for the study. Results showed that the COO does not influence the prescription behaviour of metro and A-class cities doctors. Both GPs and CPs from the metro and class A cities have no significant difference in prescribing locally available brands (Indian) and global innovator brands. More emphasis should be given on brand equity to differentiate the brands. COO need not be an important point of differentiation. Marketers should be aware of the fact that physicians are influenced by many other factors than the brand’s original country image. This research work has extended prior COO research to influence of the same on prescription behaviour of doctors in metro and A-class cities in emerging markets like India. This research fills an identified gap in the literature as it helps to get an understanding of COO in the pharmaceutical industry with respect to metro and A-class cities doctors.