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This study aims to examine the attitudes of physicians towards the pharmaceutical industry and investigates how these are reflected when a new drug is introduced.

The qualitative theme-interview study adopts the innovation diffusion perspective and is conducted with 22 general practitioners and specialists.

Physicians’ positive relationship orientation and active interaction can result in early adoption of new drugs with product advantage. In comparison, negatively oriented and passively interacting physicians will adopt a new drug later based on research evidence- and experience-based reasoning and opinions of their colleagues.

The objective was to obtain a deeper understanding of the research themes. Further qualitative studies in different countries and health care environments with a larger sample size would improve generalizability of results.

It’s necessary to find an optimal win – win situation that fulfils both parties’ needs, while decreasing unnecessary and time-consuming marketing activities and avoiding waste of limited resources and allowing physicians to participate in activities that better serve their primary needs. Managers in pharmaceutical companies should ensure their sales representatives act in appropriate and professional ways, interact openly and reciprocally and provide accurate and objective information.

The study demonstrates that the physician–pharmaceutical industry relationship has developed from being ethically precarious and having non-professional related personal benefits, towards becoming a more sustainable collaboration. The mutually beneficial collaboration supports physicians’ professional development, enabling better patient care and relieving strain on limited resources.

This study examines the role and relative impact of market orientation, product orientation and relationship orientation on new product launch performance, investigating product advantage and market-based assets as alternative mediating mechanisms, which link these strategic orientations to launch performance.

Survey data from the pharmaceutical industry are used to test hypotheses in the research model using partial least squares modeling.

Findings show that while each examined strategic orientation relates positively to launch performance, their performance effects and related mechanisms vary significantly. Results demonstrate a firm’s relationship orientation is the strongest predictor of launch performance, and accumulated market-based assets represent an alternative relational mediator besides product advantage linking firms’ orientations and launch performance.

The empirical study is based on cross-sectional data collected in one specific industry sector. The authors encourage researchers to confirm the key findings in different industry and other contextual settings.

New product launch can be effectively managed as a relational activity. Firms benefit from paying explicit attention to strategic orientations and relationships. Especially, top management should foster a relationship-oriented organizational culture, develop relational competences and fully use the firm’s accumulated market-based assets for increased launch performance.

The study extends knowledge on the role of strategic orientations in launch performance by highlighting the significance of relationship orientations and providing novel knowledge on the key mediating mechanisms between strategic orientations and launch performance.