The pharmaceutical industry across the globe is undergoing a metamorphosis. Mergers and acquisitions have become the order of the day. The competition is becoming fiercer day by day in India as well. In order to stay ahead, pharmaceutical organisations are adopting all possible methods that can help them sustain their operations. Thus, in the present-day industry, a Field Manager's job is not easy. A Field Manager is the extended arm of the management. He is the one who will have direct exposure to all the challenges faced by the industry. And these challenges are by no means insignificant.

In order to protect their business interests, post-2005, most Indian organisations are launching new divisions and new products. This has heightened the competition in the market. The number of medical representatives meeting a particular doctor or a chemist has increased considerably. Consequently, the time available with a medical representative to promote his products to a doctor or to take information from a chemist has reduced. This has put pressure not only on the medical representatives, but also on doctors and chemists. Doctors have to remember the names of more products while chemists have to stock them. The availability of ‘generics’ at an economical price has worsened the situation. Above all, the advent of new organisations, the BPOs (business process outsourcing) and ITeS (information technology enabled services), as well as the launching of new divisions by pharmaceutical organisations have increased the attrition rate of the field force.