Marketing

Table of Contents

1. Topic pack - Marketing - introduction
2. 4.1 The role of marketing - notes
3. 4.1 The role of marketing - questions
4. 4.2 Marketing Planning - notes
5. 4.2 Marketing planning - questions
6. 4.3 Product introduction - notes
   1. Product
   2. Classification of products
   3. The total product and Marketing Myopia
   4. New product design and development
   5. New Product Development: Invention and Innovation
   6. Product development: the good, the bad and the ugly
   7. New product development
   8. New product development - case study
   9. Product life cycle
   10. Product life cycle - interactive diagram
   11. Product life cycle - case study (1)
   12. Product life cycle - case study (2)
   13. Product life cycle - case studies (3)
   14. Product life cycle - extension strategies
   15. The product life cycle & cash flow
   16. The product life cycle and product diffusion
   17. Product adoption - case study
   18. Product portfolio analysis
   19. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix
   20. Using the BCG matrix
   21. Branding
   22. The importance and role of branding
   23. Branding - activities
   24. Brand development
   25. Brand loyalty
   26. Types of branding
   27. Global Brands
   28. Marketing blunders
   29. Brand-as-person
7. 4.3 Product - questions
8. 4.3 Product - simulations and activities
9. 4.4 Price - notes
10. 4.4 Price - questions
11. 4.4 Price - simulations and activities
12. 4.4 Promotion - notes
13. 4.5 Promotion - questions
14. 4.6 Place (distribution) - notes
15. 4.7 International marketing - notes
16. 4.7 International marketing - questions
17. 4.8 E-commerce - notes
18. 4.8 E-commerce - questions
19. Printable version

Product life cycle - case study (1)

Glaxo and Zantac; the stomach ulcer miracle!

10% of adults will suffer from a stomach ulcer at some time during their lives; a massive potential market and one that large pharmaceutical companies spent millions of dollars in pursuing. Several remedies were launched onto the market, but by far the most successful was Zantac produced, and then patented, by Glaxo. The returns for Glaxo were huge and fully justified the investment on research and development. Three years after its approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Zantac had become the largest prescription drug in the world with annual sales revenue of over $1 billion.

However, for every Zantac there will be tens of thousands of costly failures.

For a detailed summary of the development of Zantac, read the article Zantac - protected and profitable. You can view this in the window below, or follow the previous link to open the article in a new window and then answer the questions that follow.

Question 1

Define the following terms:

• Patent
• Generic product.

Question 2

Outline the advantages and disadvantages of manufacturing 'me-too' products.

Question 3

Analyse the relationship between the product life cycle and the marketing mix for prescription drugs such as Zantac.

Question 4

Discuss the problems of financing research and development in the pharmaceutical industry.