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challenges in international pharmaceutical research

  • Blog
  • Barri M. Blauvelt, CEO
Running a strategic insights market research project internationally can be quite a daunting task. There are a number of challenges that you will face that are different from a domestic project. These include legal, language, time, physical location, and cultural barriers. First of all, you may need official permission to conduct the market research in a country. The key is compliance with the Government Legislation in the country where you are conducting research, as pointed out by MRA, CASRO, and ESOMAR. Make sure you know whether or not permission is required.

Another challenge in international market research is language. You may be able to use English (or whatever your first language is), but for better results you are better off planning to conduct the research in the local language. This should be apparent from the outset of the project, so it is best to line up your team with this in mind.

You will also surely run into timing and location issues, especially if you are out of the region and halfway around the world. Since it is your project, you will need to be flexible in order to accommodate the respondents and your team. Late nights and early morning conference calls and follow ups may be the norm for the duration of the research.

Other major challenge that you will most definitely face are cultural gaps or barriers. Again, you must be flexible and understanding. In a cultural training program that we have run at Innovara, we emphasize awareness, sensitivity, knowledge, mindfulness, and behavior. Although there is quite a bit more to it than that, those concepts are a good place to start. I highly recommend reading (or reviewing) the book, Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands by Terri Morrison. If you have a bit more time it may be worth reviewing some of the work done by Geert Hofstede on culture.

These and other challenges can make an international market research project more complicated, but ultimately more rewarding if planned, executed, and analyzed with a enough of an understanding of the countries, cultures, and people that you are researching and working with.