Evaluating patients' perception towards generic and branded medicines: A segmentation approach

Abstract

The objective of this study is to identify the underlying subgroups of consumers in terms of their perceptions towards branded and generic medicines in emerging economies. To the best of our knowledge, no research till date has dwelled on their patient segmentation based on their psychographic towards medicine. This makes the current study a seminal attempt in its category. Based on the survey data collected by the authors from Delhi and National Capital region of India, the present research employs consumer research methodologies. Cluster analysis based on psychographics and demographic was employed to cluster consumers based on their perception towards and generic medicines. The cluster-based analysis segmented the patients into three categories namely Branded Medicine Inclined, Generic Medicine inclined, Cost Conscious. From the extant review of the literature, it was observed that segmentation of patients based on their perceptions was found to be insignificant. Identifying and establishing patient clusters will help the government agencies in devising and managing healthcare awareness program towards generic medicines in an efficient fashion.

Keywords

Perception branded medicine generic medicine cluster analysis

Introduction

Addressing the health issues of the citizens of a country is the top most challenge and priority of any government. This challenge is even of more significance for population in developing economies where a wide disparity in healthcare exists. One of the ways of improving the health standards is providing an affordable quality medicine to the patients. Owing to this, the government of India is planning to embark upon transforming the healthcare by providing access to generic medicines. Recently, there has been mounting pressure from the government agencies directed at physician and the private and public hospital pharmacies to prescribe and ensure the availability of generic medicines which are cheaper than branded medicines. Although monetary incentives is one of the major positive factors for the prescription and use of generic medicines by the patients, the quality concerns, lack of proper regulation, patient's preference and personal experience are negative factors influencing the generics uptake by the patient’s prescribing behaviour.¹

‘A generic drug is identical – or bioequivalent – to a brand name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, performance characteristics and intended use’.² It is clear from the above definition that the only difference between a brand name drug and a generic is that brand name drugs are sold by proprietary name and are very expensive due to the advertisement cost, while generics are far cheaper and are sold by just the pharmaceutical salt name. This holds true for brand name drugs and generics in most western developed countries. In the developed countries, branded drugs researched and patented first-in-market. After the expiry of patent period, other companies launch generics of the innovator drug with just the pharmaceutical salt name at a hugely discounted price. In many developing countries such as India, there is another category called ‘branded generic’ which is so named to distinguish from generics. Branded generics are off patented drug sold with proprietary name. According to the National Sample Survey Office survey on healthcare, in 2014, medicines emerged as a principal component of total health expenses constituting 72% in rural areas and 68% in urban areas. Therefore, with the use of generic medicines, decrease in out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures on health will significantly help to reduce the treatment expenditure.³

Despite the financial benefits there is considerable debate and discussion concerning the use of generic medicines among the patients as well as prescribers, with regard to its clinical outcome and safety profile.

Patients being the end users of the prescribed medications, therefore it is of paramount significance to understand the perceptions of the patient and their extent of willingness towards the intake of the generic medicines. In the debate over the use of branded versus generic medicines, consumers' perceptions based on their concerns regarding the risks involved and on their beliefs concerning the use of generic drug products have been neglected.⁴ Patient willingness to accept a generic medicine is a core requirement to facilitate the uptake of generic medicines.⁵ However, studies investigating Indian patients' perceptions towards the generic medicines and branded medicines are less.

The paper is organised as follows: the next section sets the context of the need to study the perceptions of the consumers towards branded and generic medicine in emerging economy. Then the existing literature on gauging the consumer perception is examined; this is followed by a section that highlights the research objectives followed by research methodology, analysis and findings, implications and limitations and scope for future study.

Literature review

An extensive review of literature was performed to study the consumer's perception towards generic and branded medicines. Research papers employing both qualitative as well as quantitative approaches were considered for the review. Till date, majority of the research conducted to gauge the consumer perception towards the generic and branded medicines have been confined to developed nation. Findings from these studies concluded that patients have mixed attitude towards the branded and generic medicines. Lambert et al.⁶ in his study to find the acceptance towards the generic medicine concluded that approximately 66% of the respondents were not motivated by low price factor of generics and rejected lower-cost generic alternatives and perceived low priced drugs to be less effective. In this study, majority of respondents belonged to higher income and age group. Dunne et al.⁷ observed that about one-third of patients lack knowledge of generic medicines and a significant number of the respondents were found to be confused between ‘generic’ and ‘genetic’. Bearden and Mason⁸ conducted a study on 105 consumers to know their attitudes towards the risks associated with the use of generic medicine based on Fishbein and Ajzen's (1980) theory of reasoned action.⁹ Patients' perception about the quality, price, safety, adverse effects and efficacy of generic medications, together with the reputations of generic drug manufacturers were examined. Of the total respondent surveyed, one-third had negative perceptions towards the use of generic drugs, one-third was positively inclined and the remainder was neutral. Respondents who held negative perception perceived higher risk levels for each of the six dimensions and considered those risks to be more important than did those favouring generic substitution practices. Those favouring generic, perceived generic medicines to be high in quality, safe and produced by reputable manufacturers, and that they would have the intended results. Mason and Bearden⁸ repeated their study and concluded that patients were hesitant in taking medicines of unknown manufacturer but were overall supportive in favour of taking the generic medicines as this will help them in cost reduction.

Opposite to this finding, Shepherd¹⁰ in his study on 621 respondents in the USA found that 33% of those surveyed had never purchased generic prescription medicines. The patients perceived generic drugs to be of lower quality, more risky, less effective and less healthful, although patients above 55 years of age perceived generic drugs to be of higher quality than did younger respondents. Tootelian et al.¹¹ concluded that respondents perceived branded drugs as more effective, having less potential for adverse effects and providing greater value than their generic counterparts. The respondents’ positive perception towards the branded medication was influenced by the perceived risk of the prescription drug. Age may have impacted the results of this group, as more than 85% of individuals in the sample were 30 years or younger. Positive belief is infused among the patient about the generic medicines if it is recommended to them by a Physician or a Pharmacist. This was evident by the study conducted by Podulka et al.¹² on 100 consumers in the USA; this study had found that generic medicines were perceived to be same as branded medicines in terms of quality. Respondents feel safe and confident if a physician or a pharmacist recommended generic medicines. Age was found to be a significantly impacting factor on the perception about the generic medicines. Older patients were more hesitant in accepting the branded substitute. Kendall et al.¹³ in their study on 295 patients visiting chain drug store had found that 80% of the patients accepted the offered generic substitute prescription drug but the older patients were reluctant to accept generic substitute. Satisfaction level with generic medicines was lowest for those patients who do not have to pay for the medication. Intention to purchase generic medicines in future was influenced by having recently accepted a generic substitute, perceiving that the cost savings would be high and having to pay some or all of the cost of the medication. Muirhead,¹⁴ conducted study on 876 respondents and reported that 34% of pharmacists and 36% of physicians had started generic substitution on consumers' request. The findings further suggested that 29% of respondents viewed generic medicines to be equal in quality to branded medicines and viewed the two were ‘about the same’. Patients with lower incomes were more in less favour to generic medicines as compared to individuals with higher income. Momani et al.¹⁵ investigated 303 patients in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, USA, to find the consumer awareness of drug-management strategies (formularies, drug co-payments, prior authorisation and generic substitution).The findings from the study revealed that approximately 51% of the respondents revealed that their health plan mandated generic substitution. Patients viewed that generic substitution impacted their compliance with medications. In addition, consumers were neutral with regard to the following statements: ‘generic substitution makes it more convenient to get my medicines’ and ‘generic substitution limits my chances to get the best medicine’. Consumers agreed mildly with the statements ‘generic substitution results in less effective medicines’ and ‘generic substitutions compromises the quality of my medicines’. The authors observed that, overall this group of patients had a slightly positive attitude towards generic medicines and was most aware of generic substitution and drug co-payments as means to manage drug costs. Valles et al.¹⁶ in their study on 4620 subjects found that 99% agreed to receive a generic formulation. Repeat educational intervention leads to higher acceptability towards generic medicines. In an another cross-sectional study conducted by Figueiras et al.¹⁷ conducted a study on 1125 consumers in Portugal to explore the impact of the common illnesses like influenza, asthma and angina pectoris on the extent of agreement with the prescription of generic medicines by their physician as well as to explore the influence of socio-demographic profile on beliefs about generic medicines. It was observed that respondents had well-defined beliefs about generic drugs concerning their efficacy and similarity with brand medicines. Age group and education were found to play a significant role in shaping the beliefs about the efficacy of generic medicines. Although participants were indifferent in their opinion about their willingness with the prescription of generic medicines for influenza, asthma and angina pectoris, their extent of agreement decreased significantly with the perceived severity of the illness. The findings revealed that participants generally believed that generic medicines were effective and similar to their brand equivalents. Educated and young hold the strongest opinion about the efficacy of generic medicines, whereas the older participants strongly believed in the similarity of generics to their branded equivalents. Iosifescu et al.¹⁸ conducted a research to study the beliefs of older adults of age more than 65 years towards generic medicines and assessed potential correlates of these beliefs, including socioeconomic and health status variables, health literacy and physician communication skills. The respondents (n = 311) were interviewed in two primary care practices of a tertiary care hospital. Beliefs about generic drugs were assessed using a scale that compared generic and brand name drugs across four domains, namely efficacy, safety, tolerability and ease of use. Patients of non-white race origin, lower levels of education and income and having medic aid coverage held negative views about the generic medicines. Individuals with low health awareness (literacy) and who reported that their physicians had poor communication skills were more likely to hold negative views.

In nations like Norway, a new legislation on medicines has been implemented that allows pharmacy for generic substitution. Pharmacists should make the patient know about the cheapest available generic drug as per the list produced by the Norwegian Medicines Agency. Kjoenniksen et al.¹⁹ conducted a study in Norway to assess patients' attitudes towards and experiences of generic substitution three years after generic substitution of prescription medicines was permitted. The study concluded that a significant percentage of patients (41%) were against their medicines to be substituted, two-thirds of the patients who had used generic medicines were satisfied, and about one-third of patients who switched had negative experiences. This suggests that generic drug substitution for a number of patients is not viewed as an equal alternative to branded drugs. Al-Gedadi et al.²⁰ conducted study in Malaysia on 400 consumers and concluded that 28% were aware with the term generic medicine. Sixty four percent understood that generic drugs cost less to branded ones. Thirty-two percent thought generic drugs may cause more side effects. In another study, Thomas and Vitry²¹ surveyed 203 consumers in 10 pharmacies in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Malaysia. The researcher observed that overall, 67.5% of the respondents did not know about generic medicines. Among the 86 consumers who had used generics before, most of them (79.0%) felt that generics worked well. For those who had not used generics or were not sure if they had, the majority felt that they would be unwilling to use them as they felt that they were not as effective or as safe as brand name products. Gill et al.²² conducted a qualitative study with a sample size of 15 pharmacists and 30 customers in Australia, Finland and Italy, using a narrative inquiry technique along with critical events and metaphors with an objective to study the experience of customers and pharmacists in pharmacy practice settings. The research concluded that customers, lacking knowledge of generic prescription medicine were confused and suspicious with generic substitute. Pharmacists experienced tough challenge while educating the unaware customers as they also exhibited the sign of mistrust and annoyance.

To the best of our knowledge, no research till date has dwelled on patients' segmentation based on their psychographics towards the branded and generic medicines. Another gap that has been revealed from the review of literature is that, most of the studies that comprehend the consumers' perception towards branded and generic medicines have been conducted in the Western developed countries leaving a scope for its assessment in a developing country like India.

Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are to identify the underlying subgroups of consumers in terms of their perceptions toward branded and generic medicines based on psychographics and demographic using Cluster analysis.

Research methodology

A survey was conducted where the questionnaire was self-administered and also sent online to the consumers. The respondents were patients and attendants visiting clinic centre in Delhi and National capital Region. Subjects were selected on the basis of the following criteria: (1) subjects of either gender older than 18 years, (2) subjects who could understand English. The respondents were included in the survey after taking the verbal consent from the subjects. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on the review of extant literature and relevant discussion with consumers regarding their perceptions on generics and branded medicines. The questionnaire comprised two sections which tested for face and content validity by domain experts. The first section comprised 25 items to know the psychography of the respondent. The second section comprised respondent demographics. The responses were framed in five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree and 5 = strongly agree) questions. This was followed by a pilot study of the face validated questionnaire on a convenience sample of 30 patients. Initially, 732 patients were contacted for the survey, of which 651 agreed to be the part of the survey. A total of 511 valid and complete responses have been used for the final study. On the basis of responses received, Hierarchical cluster analysis followed by K means cluster analysis was performed. All analyses were conducted using SPSS version 19 statistical software.

In the present research work, consumer refers to a person who buys medicinal products for either personal use or for the treatment of their known one.

Observations made from the semi-structured interview

In order to develop new items for the questionnaire, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 patients and 8 physicians. The patients and physicians were informed beforehand about the purpose of conducting the semi-structured interview. The physician was consulted at this stage because they know what about their patients and this knowledge is a result of their discussions with the patients at different contact points. The interviews were conducted face-to-face, with each interview lasting approximately an hour. Using content analysis, those items whose frequency were 80% or more were included in the final study. A total of eight items was obtained whose frequency count matched the above criteria, from semi-structured interview. The items are: I am emotionally confident while taking branded medicines as compared to generic medicines; Branded medicines causes less harm as compared to generic medicines even if used for longer time; I get well early when my doctor prescribes me branded medicines over generic medicines; The therapeutic effect of branded medicines stays for longer period of time as compared to generic medicines; I will prefer branded medicines over generic medicines, if I am supposed to take medicines for longer time period; Branded medicines provides relieve from the disease more quickly as compared to generic medicines; Branded medicines are more powerful as compared to generic medicines; In general medicines cost in India is high.

Data analysis and findings

Consumers’ segment

Hierarchical cluster analysis. Hierarchical method is based on constructing a hierarchy of objects based on similarity with the most similar pair and going to the most dissimilar one. The number of segments was determined by the agglomeration coefficients in the hierarchical cluster analysis which was used for guidance in deciding how many segments are required to be in the analysis. It is recommended to stop agglomeration as soon as the increase between two close steps becomes large.²³ The agglomeration schedule helps in determining how many distinctly different clusters can exist. Maximum variation was observed when we move from two-cluster to a three-cluster solution. Thus, three-cluster solution was assumed to be adequate and distinct enough for the analysis.

K-means cluster analysis. K-means cluster analysis was used to segment consumers according to their perceptions. The cluster information for each case in the K-means cluster analysis was used to specify the number of the final cluster to which the case was assigned (SPSS help manual). By implementing this procedure, the number of cases in each cluster and cluster membership was determined as follows: ‘Cluster 1 = 210 consumers, i.e. 42%’; ‘Cluster 2 = 160 consumers, i.e. 31%’; ‘Cluster 3 = 141 consumers, i.e. 27%’. The details of the three segment have been presented in Table 1.

Table 1.

Segments of consumers based on their perceptions towards branded and generic medicines

		Segment			F-Value	Sig.
		1	2	3	F-Value	Sig.
1	Generic medicines are cheaper because they are less efficacious	1.89	2.76	2.66	82.85	0.00
2	Generic medicines are made with lower quality substances	2.12	2.15	3.08	20.22	0.00
3	Generic medicines have the same effect as brand ones	2.75	4.75	3.12	9.05	0.00
4	Generic medicines are exactly the same as brand medicines	2.15	3.88	3.06	7.08	0.00
5	Generic medicines have the same side effects as brand medicines	2.29	3.34	2.95	52.69	0.00
6	Generic medicines are good for less serious diseases	2.89	3.82	3.01	36.16	0.00
7	Generic medicines take longer time to be efficacious	4.00	2.77	2.97	49.99	0.00
8	Treatments with generic medicines take longer time	4.81	2.25	2.63	39.54	0.00
9	I don't mind the pharmacist substituting the medicine I was prescribed to a cheaper equivalent one	2.33	3.79	2.16	26.89	0.00
10	I don't mind my prescribed medicines to be substituted from originator to generic	2.22	3.86	2.46	55.69	0.00
11	My medicines should only be substituted from originator to generic if I request	4.24	3.82	3.17	19.18	0.00
12	I don't mind the pharmacist substituting my prescribed medicine to an equivalent locally produced one	2.00	3.12	2.12	65.88	0.00
13	I prefer to be prescribed a well-known brand	4.99	2.05	2.02	53.31	0.00
14	Costs should be considered before a drug is prescribed	2.49	3.32	4.44	41.03	0.00
15	I don't mind whether my prescribed/dispensed medicine is locally produced or imported as long as it is effective	2.63	3.53	3.39	70.11	0.00
16	I prefer to be prescribed/dispensed the cheapest medicine available for the treatment of my condition	1.93	3.07	4.42	84.79	0.00
17	Using generic medicines would provide significant saving to me	1.99	4.02	4.92	30.27	0.00
18	In general, medicine costs in India are too high	2.03	4.02	4.98	36.39	0.00
19	I am emotionally confident while taking branded medicines as compared to generic medicines	1.98	2.53	2.81	33.33	0.00
20	Branded medicines causes less harm as compared to generic medicines even if used for longer time	4.92	2.75	1.93	45.51	0.00
21	I get well early when my doctor prescribes me branded medicines over generic medicines	4.44	2.34	2.36	56.95	0.00
22	The therapeutic effect of branded medicines stays for longer period of time as compared to generic medicines	4.67	2.45	3.80	42.00	0.00
23	I will prefer branded medicines over generic medicines, if I am supposed to take medicines for longer time period	4.84	2.10	2.79	44.53	0.00
24	Branded medicines are more powerful as compared to generic medicines	4.72	2.70	2.62	49.02	0.00
25	Branded medicines provides relieve from the disease more quickly as compared to generic medicines	4.13	2.75	3.23	32.52	0.00

Source: SPSS output.

Psychographic segmentation

Segment 1: Branded Medicine Inclined: This is the largest segment (42% of the respondents). The consumers of this segment have more favourable opinion towards branded medicines as compared to generic medicines. The means score of the statements such as: generic medicines take longer time, branded medicines are less harmful, branded medicines are less harmful, branded medicines cure the disease more quickly, medicinal effects of branded medicines last for longer time period was found to be in favour of the consumers falling under this segment.

Segment 2: Generic Medicine Inclined: This is the second largest segment (31% of the respondents). The consumers of this segment have more favourable opinion towards generic medicines. The means score of the statements such as: Generic medicines have the same effect as brand ones, Generic medicines are exactly the same as brand medicines, I don’t mind the pharmacist substituting the medicine I was prescribed to a cheaper equivalent one, Using generic medicines would provide significant saving to me. I prefer to be prescribed/dispensed the cheapest medicine available for the treatment of my condition was found to be significantly in favour of the consumers falling under this segment

Segment 3: Cost Concern: This is the smallest segment (27% of the respondents). The respondents of this segment are more cost concerned as compared to the issue of branded or generic medicine. Their main motive is related to the cost saving on the purchase of medicines.

The means score of the statements such as: Costs should be considered before a drug is prescribed. Using generic medicines would provide significant saving to me. In general, medicine costs in India are too high was found to be significantly in favour of the consumers falling under this segment.

Demographic segmentation

The respondents were categorised on the basis such as: gender, age, income, marital status and education. The details of the respondent segment wise demographic profile has been presented in Table 2.

Segment 1: Branded Medicine Inclined: The majority of consumers in this segment are females (60%) as compared to other segments. Fourty-four percent are of age 55 and above. Sixty-seven percent were married. From educational qualification point of view, 50% of the respondents were graduates. Majority of the respondents, i.e. 42% were in the income group of 40 k–60 k. One of the reasons for the affinity towards the branded medicines is that aged patients do not want to take risks.

Segment 2: Generic Medicine Inclined: It is the youngest segment since 52% of consumers in this segment are in the age group (25–40) years. Of all the three segments, segment 2 has highest male respondent (57%). Forty-four percent of consumers fall in the monthly income group of INR (Indian rupees) 40 k–60 k. Twenty-six percent of the respondents are having educational qualification of postgraduate and above.

Segment 3: Cost Concern: Females constitute 61% of this segment. Demographically, 61% of the respondents fall into the monthly income group of INR 20 k–40 k. Majority of the respondents (45%) were either high school or intermediate pass.

Table 2.

Respondent segment wise demographic profile

Socio demographic characteristic	Categories	Segment 1 percent, n = 210	Segment 2 percent, n = 160	Segment 3 percent, n = 141	Chi square	p values
Gender	Male	40	57	49	21.87	0.000
Gender	Female	60	43	51	21.87	0.000
Age (in years)	25–40	23	52	34	32.43	0.000
	40–55	33	16	45
	55 and above	44	32	21
Monthly Income (in Indian Rupees. 000)	20–40	36	33	61	31.56	0.000
	40–60	42	44	23
	60 and above	22	23	16
Marital status	Married	67	60	70	18.10	0.000
Marital status	Unmarried	33	40	30	18.10	0.000
Education	High school and intermediate	29	10	45	43.16	0.000
	Graduate	50	64	33
	Post graduate & above	21	26	22

Source: SPSS.

Discussion and conclusion

The present segmentation study of consumers in terms of their perceptions towards generic and branded medicines has identified three distinctive segments, namely, skepticism towards Generic medicine consumers, Affinity towards Generic medicine consumers, Cost concern consumers. Consumers in each segment have their own motives that make them different from other segment. The largest of all the three segments is of consumers who are skeptical of generic medicines. This gives a better understanding about why a specific segment is skeptical towards generic medicines as whole. Profiling each segment in terms of their perceptions toward medicines and demographics, can better help the government and healthcare policy makers to develop and design the effective awareness programme to educate the consumers about generic medicines. Further, the awareness programme will help the consumers to debunk their myths about generic medicines. Enhanced awareness and acceptance of generic medicines will assist patients to decrease their financial burden of treatment cost.

In this study, the majority of patients believed that the costs of medicines in India are too high. India is known to have one of the highest OOP expenditures on health globally; More than 80% of the expenditure is met by OOP.²⁴ OOP expenditure on medicines and other treatments by patients has been a burning issue that has severely affected India's health system.²⁵

In low income countries, such as India, the health services are believed to be of a poor quality²⁶ and many of the insurance schemes do not provide medicine benefits, or do so with substantial co-payments.²⁷ Therefore, medicines are still mainly purchased through OOP payments.²⁸

Implications

Use of generic medicine can significantly help the patient to reduce their OOP expenditures as they are bioequivalent to their branded and branded generic counterparts. Due to the lack of awareness and knowledge, a significant number of consumers have negative belief towards generic medicines. Healthcare professionals such physician and pharmacist can play a very crucial role in creating awareness about the benefits of generic medicines. In fact, direct education and advice from healthcare professionals are one of the most effective strategies.²⁹ The physician should proactively enquire the patients about their cost-related concerns, as many times patients have inhibitions about discussing OOP costs with their doctors.³⁰ The health policy makers in India and other emerging economies should stress on formulating healthcare educational measures to build positive image towards generic medicines, in order to lessen the exorbitant healthcare treatment cost. The healthcare policy makers of developing countries should focus on building the confidence of patients towards unbranded generic medications. Another very significant implication will be that the generic medicines will increase competition and thus will make the medicines affordable globally.

One important step that needs to be taken by the government agencies is setting up an international standard drug regulatory mechanism in line with/like the USFDA (The Food and Drug Administration, USA), UKMHRA (The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, UK), etc. In the absence of standard and strict regulatory bodies, efficacy of the generic medicines can be questioned by Physician and Patient alike.

Limitations and scope for future research

The study design and sample selection may have influenced the psychometric parameter estimates and the generalisability of results. The geographical and temporal restriction limitations of the study could be detrimental in the generalisability of the results. To generalise the results, the study can be replicated in other geographical locations such as small cities of India and in other developing countries to make the findings more acceptable. It was deemed that the respondents have the idea of Branded and Generic medicines. It is also recommended that this questionnaire be made in the local and regional languages for better comprehension of the pan country respondent. This will assist in developing a clearer picture about the consumers' perception towards branded and generic medicines. It will further help the healthcare policy makers to design strategies that could further enhance the uptake of generic medicines by the patients.

Furthermore, the number of statements that were included in this study can also be considered a limitation. More number of statements can be considered to study the perceptions towards generics and branded medicines. Moreover, the perception of the consumers (patients) visiting public hospital and private hospital can be studied and compared.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Author biographies

Md. Moddassir Alam is a PhD Research Scholar from Birla Institute of Technology, NOIDA Campus. His domain of research is marketing with a focus on pharmaceutical branding and healthcare marketing and advertising. He has corporate experience of working as a Brand Manager in a pharmaceutical major prior to joining the doctoral program. Mr. Alam has contributed articles to reputed national and international journals and has presented his work at various international and national conferences. He may be reached at moddassir.alam@gmail.com.

Dr. Arun Mittal is an Assistant professor at Birla Institute of Technology, NOIDA campus. His research interests include advertising and promotion, social media marketing and retail management. He has published over 15 research papers in the national and international journal of repute. He may be reached at drarunmittal1985@gmail.com.

Dr. Deepak Chawla is a Distinguished Professor at the International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi. He has published more 70 research papers in the national and international journals of repute. He has guided a number of Ph.D scholars. He may be reached at chawlad8@gmail.com.

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