Centrality in the Pharma industry
As we have learned in class, information flows through nodes of networks. The more center you are in your network, the more information you can both spread and receive from your neighboring nodes. This centrality gives you more power in the network compared to other nodes. You can choose who in the network to exchange information with or to interact with. Having choices gives you power. Oppositely, if you are on the edge of a network, only connected to one or two nodes, then you have less power in that network. You can only exchange information with your one or two neighbors. You don’t have a lot of access to other people’s assets. This idea, introduced in class, applies in various real-life situations. In an article I found on Harvard Business Review, the concept of centrality and power is applied to the Pharmaceuticals industry…
According to the article, social networks play a key role in doctors’ prescribing choices. Even after a drug has been proven effective, doctors tend to be slow to recommend it until other doctors prescribe it. But, social connections can also work the other way, turning doctors away from certain drugs. It is shown from research that interconnected doctors switch their prescriptions almost simultaneously like “a flock of birds changing direction.” Perhaps doctors synchronize their prescriptions to make sure they don’t prescribe the wrong drugs to their patients…
Given the power of networks, marketing managers can utilize social connections to analyze who among the whole network are at the central. Then, marketing managers can target these central nodes because once they become customers, there is a high chance their neighboring nodes will become customers as well.
https://hbr.org/2011/09/tapping-the-power-of-social-networks