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Marketing and Burroughs Essay

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Finding the Alternatives There was continuous pressure from sectors of the government and nonprofit organizations to reduce the price of the Retrovir product. This was followed by the negative reaction from the management team to reduce the price of the drug. There are three possible alternatives to fix the problem: 1. Maintain status quo This alternative implies that Burroughs will maintain current prices unaltered. The company would have to invest more in marketing programs in order to communicate this to its customers. The government and nonprofit organizations already cut the price by 20% in 1987 and 1989. Also the marketing campaign has to communicate that by maintaining the current prices it will not only allow the company to …show more content…

This is a prime opportunity for the company to search for new treatments to control or maybe eliminate the virus.

Threats Some recipients of Retrovirus had a negative reaction to Retrovirus. To these patients FDA had been given limited approval to a new drug called DDI produced by Bristol and Myers; also other drugs were in clinical trials in 1989 like DDC, developed by Hoffman-LaRoche. These new drugs represent a serious threat to Retrovirus and with the damage image of the company to the consumers could represent a serious loss in market share and revenue. Some members of the Senate were seeking a legal way to nationalize the drug by invoking a law to revoke exclusive license in the interest of national security. In addition the American Civil Liberties Union was considering a suit against Burroughs. The U.S. House of Representatives started an investigation about “inappropriate” pricing of the drug. At the same time patient-advocate groups continued to criticize the high price of the drug, and they were launching campaigns against company stocks. With all these threats at the same time the company can lose a large portion of its market share.
Analyzing the alternatives Alternative Department | Maintain Status quo | Reduce the price by 10% | Reduce the price by 20% | Management Team | F | U | U | U.S. Congress | U | MF | F

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