PhD defense

In order to obtain the PhD degree Stefan Fraenkel, Department of International Economics and Management has submitted his thesis:

Key Success Factors for Sales Force Readiness during New Product Launch
A Study of Product Launches in the Swedish Pharmaceutical Industry

Drawing from the analysis of product launches in the Swedish pharmaceutical market, the research identifies a set of key success factors for sales force readiness during new product launch. The research is derived from the importance and high cost of the sales force, together with the need for the pharmaceutical companies to continuously launch new products in a marketplace with increased challenges. The research approach constitutes of two main parts. The first part reviews earlier studies/findings in the literature, collects empirical data in the form of six case studies and conducts six expert interviews with the purpose of formulating a Research Model. In the second part, the Research Model and its variables are quantitatively tested against fifty launched pharmaceutical products in Sweden. The study employs a bottom-up analysis method with Partial Least Squares Analysis, being predictive in nature, rather than the more conventional top-down and hypothesis-testing approach.

Supervisors:

Professor Per V. Jenster
 Center for International Management & Industrial Development
 China Europe International Business School

Professor Thomas Ritter
 Department of Marketing
 Copenhagen Business School
 
Assessment committee:

Associate Professor Peter Gammeltoft (chair)
 Department of International Economics and Management
 Copenhagen Business School

Professor Avinandan Mukherjee
 Department of Marketing
 Montclair State University

 Associate Professor Svend Hollensen
 Department of Border Region Studies
 University of Southern Denmark
 
After the defense, Department of International Economics and Management will host a small reception in Porcelænshaven 24, 2nd floor.