The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) committee of Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) is planning a series of one-day seminars in various states to improve the marketing skills of SME pharmaceutical companies.

The first seminar will be conducted in Mumbai on September 22 and similar events will be held at Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi in the following months. The SME committee has also decided to conduct the same seminar in each state, depending on the interest of the IDMA board of the particular state.

The event will focus on brand management, field management, regional marketing and co-marketing, export marketing, online marketing and institution marketing.

The second seminar will be conducted at Chennai, probably on November, and at Kolkata by December, this year, said S V Veeramani, vice president of IDMA and chairman, IDMA-SME Committee.

He said the committee has received a request from the state board of Haryana, which is also in charge of Delhi, and the seminar will be conducted at Delhi by January 2006. The MRP based excise duty and Schedule M has affected the SME units all over India and the association is trying to make the SME industry self reliant, he said.

As Pharmabiz reported earlier, the topic on brand management will detail on selecting an ideal product mix, brand building and new product launches. While speakers on filed management will elaborate on sales and systems required for SMEs in the changed environment, the topic on export marketing is aimed to sensitize SMEs on selection of countries, how to commence export formalities, product costing etc. The seminar will also discuss the opportunity of OTC marketing through online market.