Pharmaceutical Contract Sales Organizations (CSO) - Emerging Markets to Drive Growth but Talent Acquisition in Specialty Secondary Care Remains a Chal

13 Sep 2010 • by Natalie Aster

GBI Research, the leading business intelligence provider, has released its latest report, “Pharmaceutical Contract Sales Organizations (CSO) - Emerging Markets to Drive Growth but Talent Acquisition in Specialty Secondary Care Remains a Challenge” that provides key data, information and analysis of the major trends and issues affecting the global contract sales organizations. The report provides a comprehensive insight into the difference between pharma sales and contract sales models. It also provides an insight into the key services that form part of contract sales organizations’ service provisions. The report also provides a detailed analysis of the contract sales outsourcing market characterization in terms of its market size, key reasons for outsourcing sales to contract sales organizations and the key market drivers and barriers. The report also talks about the key regulations that affect contract sales organizations. The report also looks into the competitive landscape of the market and profiles key market players along with brief business description, key service offerings and major deals with the pharmaceutical companies. The report also provides detailed analysis of major deals that have happened in the contract sales outsourcing domain. At the end, the report looks into the major opportunities and challenges that can play a major role in shaping the future of contract sales organizations.

This report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research and in house analysis by GBI Research’s team of industry experts.

The Global Contract Sales Outsourcing Market will Witness a Double-Digit Growth Rate to Reach $9.2 Billion in 2016

GBI Research estimates the global contract sales outsourcing market was worth $3.7 billion in 2009 and expects it to witness a healthy double-digit growth rate of 13.9% to reach $9.2 billion in 2016.

The increasing pressure on pharmaceutical companies to improve their sales efficiency coupled with CSOs increasing and improving their service offering will provide a significant boost to the growth of the global contract sales outsourcing industry. As CSOs expand their service portfolio to provide a wide range of sales outsourcing services, pharmaceutical companies are able to concentrate better on their core competencies. In the future, the role of CSOs is expected to change from service providers to partners, providing strategic sales solutions to improve the sales force efficiency and effectiveness of the pharmaceutical companies.

Service Portfolio and Quality, along with Cost Competitiveness, Evolving to Become Major Selection Criteria for Contract Sales Organizations

Over the years, the contract sales outsourcing industry has become more mature to provide a wider range of sales solutions to the clients. On the other hand, the needs of pharmaceutical companies are also becoming more complex. New and complex drugs in niche areas and complicated mechanism of action are entering the market. Thus, selling these drugs is a difficult task for an average sales representative. In addition, financial pressures on the companies are making it difficult for them to manage their sales force, recruitment as well as training. Also, the technological intervention in the sales process is increasing which makes it more complex to manage.

Thus, with such a complex set of requirements, cost is no longer the sole determinant for CSO selection. Clients are moving towards CSOs that are able to provide a wide range of service capabilities with excellent quality standards to maximize the returns and effectiveness of the sales force. In addition to pricing, criteria such as service portfolio, experience, agility, resources and reputation are also becoming key criteria on which pharmaceutical companies select CSOs. In the future, CSOs, who will be able to demonstrate strong capabilities in all these criteria, will stand the best chance to receive the contract from pharmaceutical companies.

The Future Contract Sales Outsourcing Market is Expected to be Dominated by Big Players with Increased Consolidation

The current competition in the global contract sales outsourcing market is high with several large companies competing to gain maximum market share in various geographies, mainly the developed ones. Over the years, the industry has witnessed several mergers and acquisitions where big players have acquired small companies to strengthen their market presence, launch into new markets, widen their service portfolio and gain access to key clients of the acquired company.

In addition, to generate cost synergies and benefit from each others capabilities, several companies have merged to form larger entities.

In the future, the global contract sales outsourcing market is expected to witness further consolidation and is highly likely to be dominated by big players with wider presence across different geographies, developed as well as emerging.

Emerging Economies Provide Greatest Opportunity for Future Growth of Contract Sales Organizations

The current contract sales outsourcing market is largely concentrated in the developed nations such as the US and the countries of Western Europe. In the future, the global contract sales outsourcing market growth will receive impetus mainly from emerging economies as the pharmaceutical industry expands to geographies such as the BRIC nations, Latin America, Canada and Eastern Europe.

However, lack of local knowledge and poor access to quality sales talent, in these “high volume low margins” markets prevent the pharmaceutical companies from investing heavily. This is where CSOs have an opportunity to provide quality sales solutions in these markets. Some of the leading CSOs have already expanded to these emerging geographies, have established themselves with access to quality sales talent and significant local knowledge in order to accelerate drug launch for pharmaceutical companies in these markets.

In the future, the emerging markets will be the key for contract sales outsourcing market growth as well as determining the competitive positions of some of the leading CSOs in the existing market.

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Our highly qualified team of Analysts, Researchers, and Solution Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, analyze and represent the latest and the most reliable information essential for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.