From Advocating Brands to Creating Value: A Case Study of Transforming Oncology Sales Roles and Capabilities

Today’s health care environment is marked by system cost pressure and complex networks of care. Pharmaceutical companies respond to this reality by transforming their go-to-market and sales force models. While the adoption of e.g. key account management by pharma has been discussed, the question yet to be answered is: How are role(s) and respective capabilities of those at the customer interface, now primarily mandated with value creation, evolving? A multiyear case study with a pharmaceutical drugs company illustrates the evolution of oncology sales representatives into therapeutic specialists and documents the emergence of an entirely new role called ‘oncology network manager’.