The literature on promotional inputs has accumulated over time but continues to be fragmented. While there is a plethora of insights and findings, these are dispersed necessitating a one-stop-shop literature review to cover the ever-increasing research stream. This chapter addresses this gap by organizing and synthesizing the findings of the literature. This review paper covers all the important promotional instruments, such as “free drug samples,” “gifts,” “CME sponsor,” “journal advertising,” and “honorarium.” The chapter develops a novel strategic contribution called “promotional inputs distribution framework,” which gives tips to practitioners regarding promotional inputs; following this framework, salespeople can optimize the promotional cost and increase sales as well. Another novel contribution is the “detailing process” that characterizes the importance of information used to effectively develop the detailing story (or presentation) to physicians. This research also identifies a wider spectrum of research gaps available in the domain to advance knowledge development.
The High Costs of “Free” Drug Samples