PM360 Product Manager Survey August 2011

RESPONDENT PROFILE

Educational background, professional experience, and brand experience.

Industry Breakdown

We received responses from a diverse mix of product managers representing the industry as a whole. The respondents have a wide range of experience and education while working in various industry sectors, brand team roles, and therapeutic categories. The majority of our respondents work in the pharmaceutical industry (63%) followed by a nearly equal split between biotech (15%) and medical device (14%). The remaining respondents listed other industries as their main focus, including vaccines, training and consulting, packaging, OTC, generics, diagnostics, healthcare public relations, and nutraceuticals. Over half of respondents work for a top 20 company (Figure 1).

Brand Experience

In terms of their educational background, just under half have a BA or BS, about one-third an MBA, 5% an MA or MS, 5% a PhD, and 3% a PharmD. The average respondent has spent 17.9 years in the industry (compared to 19 years in 2010) and worked on an average of 13 brands (compared to 11 brands last year and 7 in 2009). (Is this increase in the number of brands that each respondent has worked on a sign of the industry’s growth or a result of economic cutbacks and downsizing? It’s unclear from the data.)

About seven out of ten worked on brand management, with approximately 10% in promo management and 6% in market research. The remaining few respondents worked on communications, regulatory, clinical, sales, and medical education. Respondents also have experience in many different therapeutic areas—they listed 30 different categories. The top five are Cardiovascular, Infectious Disease, Women’s Health, Gastrointestinal, and Central Nervous System. They also have experience launching new products. Respondents have worked on an average of 3.6 launches with about half working on 4 or more (Figure 2).

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