Adoption of mobile pedigree as an anticounterfeiting technology for pharmaceuticals in developing countries

Abstract

One major challenge facing the pharmaceutical industry is counterfeiting, which is more prevalent in developing countries. Combating counterfeiting requires various technological approaches, and the most hailed technologies, including RFID-based ePedigrees, are too expensive for developing economies. However, mobile pedigree, which utilizes mobile phones and SMS communication, is a highly affordable, readily available, and user-friendly alternative technological approach. This research seeks to explore factors that influence the adoption of the mobile pedigree in the pharmaceutical industry in developing countries and offers a case study of four companies in Ghana using the Technology-Organization-Environmental (TOE) framework. The findings establish influencing factors as relative advantage, complexity, and compatibility; strategic direction and management support; pressures from partners, competitors, associations, and regulator; and legal framework and counterfeiting threat. These factors provide guidelines for research, practice, and policy, while the study could be extended to include consumer views, other industry types and developing countries.