Managing medical manager meetings in Europe

The increased development costs of bringing new drugs to the market is one of the main reasons for pharmaceutical companies to globalize their operations. Globalized pharmaceutical businesses require their international operations to be present in all major markets. The various subsidiaries and affiliates operate under quite different cultures and guidelines. In the absence of effective communication and teamwork, misunderstanding can easily arise and valuable synergies are lost, resulting in suboptimal customer service and product support. This paper describes a European medical and scientific managers' network in which international meetings address activities, roles, and goals for the individual managers. By regular face-to-face contact joint decision making builds trust and team spirit. Internally, value can be assessed by the enthusiasm, willingness to participate in meetings, and commitment of all team members. Externally, effectiveness is revealed by product support, rapid growth, market penetration, and attainment of targets.