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A FICTITIOUS (BUT REALISTIC)
COFFEE BREAK CASE HISTORY

March 2002

Recently we received an e-mail from a very cheerful client...

Let’s call him Jack. He had just moved from a tiny biotech start-up to a considerably larger company where he was in charge of market research for in-line and new products. He had read our last newsletter describing the new twin-track methodology i.e., the fusion of in-depth telephone discussions and Internet quantification. His e-mailed comment was simply: “Finally! The best of both worlds in a single project! Why doesn’t everyone offer this?” We e-mailed back that most qualitative companies cannot match the Internet’s speed but for Rood’s quick turnaround service, the Internet’s speed is a perfect match. Jack then e-mailed an RFP along these lines:

His company was planning a phased expansion and, for Phase I, he needed to profile a potential ophthalmic acquisition candidate in terms of product and image. He wanted to see a twin-track approach: A) In-depth telephone interviews with 25 prescribers of the company’s lead glaucoma product, including reasons for its selection, views regarding the company, its image, sales force, customer relations and service. The rationale and thinking underlying these opinions were essential. B) An Internet survey with 100 ophthalmologists, to cover: physician demographics; number of scripts written for each glaucoma product used, currently and projected over 3 years; and a satisfaction rating for each product. The results of both study tracks were to be integrated into a single report. The turnaround time was two weeks.

The telephone and Internet tracks were fielded simultaneously. Within ten days the results for both were in. The ‘quant’ segment showed that 67% of the participating ophthalmologists used the glaucoma product currently, but that the percentage was projected to drop to 18% in three years. The ‘qual’ segment explained that the drug would become obsolete due to greatly superior glaucoma products in the pipeline. About half of the participating ophthalmologists had a high opinion of the company and its sales force, but the majority of them expressed a degree of dissatisfaction with customer relations based on quite specific anecdotes. We recommended against the acquisition.

Jack’s company was disappointed in the study results, but we were pleased to receive an RFP about the next potential acquisition candidate.