Has prescribed the drug being surveyed

OTHER DOCTORS

High

Medium

Low

PRESCRIBING VOLUME FOR ANY ONCOLOGY DRUG

RELEVANT SPECIALISTS

Has not prescribed the drug being surveyed

Each circle represents one doctor.

99

31

INFLUENCE INDEX

INFLUENCE INDEX

BRIDGES

PRIORITIZING

CONNECTIONS

POSITIONING

INFLUENCE INDEX

SPECIALISTS

Certain physicians seem to form key links between clusters. That could make them good targets for marketers.

In a complex cluster like this one, there are many interrelated physicians, all at similar prescribing levels. A marketer may decide it would be inefficient to prioritize all of them, instead pinpointing only a few.

Doctors based in a Northeastern U.S. community who have prescribed, or are potential customers for, an oncology drug.

mean that doctors share more than a certain number of relevant patients in common — patients whose condition could make them potential users of the drug being surveyed.

Although currently a low-volume prescriber, this doctor is in a key central position to sway others. Marketers would be likely to single him out.

The software can assign each doctor an “influence index” based on his or her connectedness to others. This gives marketers a simple way to prioritize their potential targets, but critics argue that it puts too much emphasis on social connections, while ignoring more important values like proper prescribing practice.