Features of the clusterization method application in marketing research of the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine

Abstract

The aim of the article. The purpose of this study is to group companies operating on the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine, using clustering methods based on sets of statistical indicators of their activities for the period 2008-2022, with the aim of the isolated groups further evaluating in terms of perspectives for the development of their marketing activities in this market.

Analysis results. The article is devoted to the features of the cluster analysis using with the aim to distinguish groups of pharmaceutical enterprises operating on the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine based on the use of a unified system of performance indicators. Key features of the clusterization methods application are given, which will allow to form groups from individual elements of the studied population based on scientifically proven approaches and to develop productive managerial solutions in the field of their marketing activities in accordance with the obtained results. The current state and key trends in the development of the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine are analyzed. Cluster analysis was implemented using the Sklearn library in the jupyter notebook environment. The Silhouette method was used to determine the number of clusters. At the final stage of clusterization it is necessary to profile the selected clusters by describing their key parameters and characteristics. As a result, three clusters were obtained, which are conventionally named as "Leaders", "Average" and "Outsiders" in accordance with the revealed characteristic features and indicators of market activities performance of the studied enterprises.In this way, the method cluster analysis makes it possible to consolidate a large number of competing enterprises fairly quickly by a set of indicators important for researchers, which have different natures, measurements, sources of their generation, as well as different frequencies of relevant calculations. In turn, the visualization of the results of this method application allows to visualize the promising directions of a more in-depth marketing analysis of the features of the market activity of competing pharmaceutical enterprises.

Conclusions and directions for further research. Clustering of enterprises operating on the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine allows to visualize their current market positions on the basis of the consolidation of both the observation units themselves and the key indicators of their activities. It also allows to identify the main features and characteristics of their marketing activities, which is a valuable resource for further competitive benchmarking by those pharmaceutical companies that claim to strengthen their own market positions based on the development and practical application of effective marketing strategies and tactics of their activities in conditions of increased competition on the market and a number of negative trends currently taking place on it.

Keywords: marketing research, cluster analysis, pharmaceutical market, indicators system, population units, k-means method

DOI: 10.15276/mdt.7.1.2023.1

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