Decision-making Responsibilities When Outsourcing Late-Phase Studies

Market research categorized as DMP/DMU (decision-making process/decisionmaking unit) studies may be conducted qualitatively, via in-depth interview, or quantitatively, via web-based survey. When it comes to outsourcing aspects of pharmaceutical development and commercialization, this type of research is focused on understanding the decision-making process when selecting a vendor and the decision-making unit, or group of people, involved in the vendor selection. Industry Standard Research (ISR) finds this category of market research to be an essential foundation for sales and marketing outreach — such as thought leadership — to be effective because it identifies the “right” audience to direct communications toward.

Secondarily, understanding which provider attributes matter (location, staff characteristics, cost) and which capabilities are required helps to focus the message around what matters the most to these decision makers.