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Cialis Case Essay

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HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL 9-505-038 REV: JUl Y 2 8. 201 0 ElIE OFEK Product Team Cialis: Getting Ready to Market It was early 2002, and Mark Barbato, the executive director and global product team leader for Cialis, knew he faced a daunting task: launching a medicine for the treatment of male impotence in a market with an established leader-Viagra. 1 Not only had Viagra been generating over $1 billion in sales annually for its parent company Pfizer for three consecutive years, but it also enjoyed the highest brand recognition of any other pharmaceutical drug in the world. Despite the huge success of Viagra, Barbato and his team were very optimistic about the future prospects for Ciatis (active ingredient is tadalafii). …show more content…

505-038 Product Team Cialis: Getting Ready to Market future marketing activity. In particular,. they had to clearly identify a target market for the drug and a way to position it against the competition. Brown and Blum were contemplating three possible approaches: Cialis could either follow a "niche" strategy, whereby a specific and relatively narrow segment would be identified and targeted; it could follow a direct "compete" strategy and go head­ to-head with Viagra's positioning; or it could follow a " beat" strategy and try to come up with a differentiated positioning that would allow it to pursue a broad market. ED-A Treatable Medical Condition When Pfizer created a little blue pill called Viagra, it produced a widely used oral treatment for a medical condition rarely discussed in public-male impotence, or erectile dysfunction (ED). For men who suffer from ED, the process by which increased blood can flow to tissue necessary for attaining an erection is impaired . Most cases of ED are associated with another medical disease, certain medications, or lifestyle factors such as smoking or excessive alcohol consumption. (Primary morbidities linked to ED are shown in Exhibit 1.) The nature and incidence of these diseases tend to produce a strong age correlate with the ED condition. As for psychological factors, such as stress and

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