Question

Topic: Student Questions

Dissertation Help Needed!

Posted by Anonymous on 2/5/2006 at 5:43 PM ET 250 Points
Dear Professors,

I am pursuing my MBA in Newcastle, UK. I know this has been asked a zillion times before, and I looked into all the previous questions asked, but sadly coudn't find my question answered there.
I need to finalize my dissertation topic, and just like most of the undergraduate/postgraduate students, i'm finding it tough to think of a good topic for my research.
I am interested in the marketing communications and different marketing mixes being used by organizations and want to learn more about it, also i'm interested in the pharmaceutical industry. Now, all i need is a topic and suggestions on how shoud i go about doing the research?
I'm advised to take an organization(any pharma organization) and compare its marketing strategies to its competitors, would that be good enough ? If yes, then what could be the topic and any idea how should one go about collecting the data and research from the organizations, internet, books?? how do people get the information??
Any sort of help would be appreciated!

I'll be hoping for prompt reply from your side. I don't know about other uni's but the teachers aren't too cooperative in my university.

Sincerely,

Syed.
MBA - Full time
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 2/6/2006 at 11:04 PM Author
    Thanks very much for your valuable advise.

    This sounds like a nice idea, perhaps i might want to do it on a drug that is already there in the market and describe how it was brought to the market, why there was a need for such a drug to be made in the first place and its effective aspects for the cure of mankind.
    Please can you advise me further on:

    a) Title of the dissertation
    b) Any such drug you think would be suitable with regards to this research?
    c) I am still unsure about how should i carry out my research as in where would i get all this information from, internet? What can be the first step in carrying out such a research?

    I am thankful for the people who started this website and the professors who help the professionals around the world, pure genius!

    I would be hoping for a reply from your side.

    Thanks once again, hope you'd be able to answer my queries.

    Syed.
  • Posted on 2/7/2006 at 8:08 PM Author
    Thanks Kandi for your elaborate reply! very much appreciated! The article is too good.

    One last advise, are there any books you could refer that would further clarify the pharmaceutical industry and the patterns and procedures they follow in bringing out a new drug in the market? or for that matter some internet website that would give all the background details related to the industry and its ways.

    Sorry for being a pain.

    Hope you'd understand.

    Thanks,

    Syed.
  • Posted by bobhogg on 2/8/2006 at 5:07 AM Accepted
    Syed...

    First of all, I'm disappointed to hera you say that your tutors at Newcastle are not being helpful - as Newcastle was the university where I did my Masters in marketing (many) years ago, it sounds as though things have changed for the worse!

    As far as your dissertation is concerned, you've already had some good advice here; let me add another few points:

    1. One aspect of the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the UK, is deciding who its customer is: is it the user (i.e. the patient) or is it the chooser (i.e. the individual doctor who prescribes) or is it the payer (i.e. the government, through the NHS)? The answer, of course, is all three, and from a marketing communications point of view, the pharmaceutical companies have to aim their communication at all three, but in very different ways.

    2. A specialist pharmaceutical marketer that you might find useful in your research is Dr Brian Smith - his website is at https://www.pragmedic.com and there are a few articles there that might give you some useful background.

    3. Another website worth exploring (if you're not familiar with it already) is https://www.pmlive.com - the website of Pharmaceutical Marketing magazine

    Hope some of that helps - good luck with the dissertation.

    Bob
  • Posted on 2/12/2006 at 6:17 PM Author
    Thanks everyone for expert opinions!

    It's my first time awarding the points, I don't know if i have to award points to all of the people who have answered my question or select the best one among them. Anyway, i'm accepting all the responses for now.

    Cheers,

    Syed.
  • Posted on 2/16/2006 at 3:38 PM Member
    Having successfully completed the dissertation process, I highly recommend that you look at the existing dissertation abstracts/research articles on your subject and check out the last section which is usually entitled Recommendations for future research. This is similar to "the passing of the baton in a race". It's a collaborative effort of various researchers trying to minimize the research gap in their field of study. Also, by reviewing other research articles and dissertation topics, you will be able to use other researcher's titles as a benchmark to come up with your own unique title.
  • Posted on 2/16/2006 at 7:47 PM Author
    Dear Spam, thankyou for your advice.

    But the problem is where would i get to see the previous dissertations? I just want to do something that would keep me interested the whole disseratation period, and something that i could find about in the books/journals and internet.
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