Pharmafile Logo

Is MINT the next BRIC?

April 2, 2015 | BRIC, MINT 

In 2001, British economist Jim O’Neill coined the now ubiquitous acronym ‘BRIC’, to stand for the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which he suggested were all poised for massive economic growth. Earlier this year, O’Neill came out of retirement to generate buzz about ‘MINT’ – that’s Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey to the uninitiated – as the next generation ‘ones to watch’ in the coming twenty years.

So what does this mean to the healthcare market and to us as market researchers?  With almost 40% of studies conducted by Research Partnership last year having included at least one emerging market, we are well aware that growing economies often translate to growing spend on healthcare and pharmaceuticals – and therefore increasing interest from our clients.  And we in the Emerging Markets team recognise that emerging markets are much more than BRIC, having conducted research in 28 other emerging markets in the last year (including Mexico, Turkey and Indonesia). 

While we were initially surprised at Nigeria’s inclusion, according to the 2012 UN World Population Prospects report, its population is predicted to surpass that of the US by 2050.  As we have seen in markets like India, the sheer number of people can mean countries can be important players even when only a tiny fraction of the population can afford premium-priced pharmaceuticals. 

In the context of healthcare, however, applying a broad-brush approach and assuming that economic growth automatically results in huge opportunity for the pharmaceutical industry may overlook important demographic, socio-political and healthcare system differences that may influence market potential.  For example, the population of Indonesia is overwhelmingly young, so it has a very different disease profile from some of the other emerging markets in the region, such as China. If we look back at the trends we have seen in the BRIC markets since they were so-named, the pharmaceutical industry has faced different challenges in each of them. For example: governmental promotion of generics in Brazil, heavy pharmaceutical marketing restrictions in Russia, controversial patent legislation in India and the recent clampdown on industry corruption in China. 

Among the MINT markets, the political conflict in Nigeria’s Northern States remains fragile, the Mexican drug war is an ongoing drain on the economy, while both Turkey and Indonesia have struggled with conflict arising from Islamic extremism in recent years).  We in the Emerging Markets team have recently seen stronger interest in the traditionally less-feted markets of Vietnam, Colombia and Saudi Arabia.  

Therefore while MINT undoubtedly provides an interesting indication of where future work may come from and where we can consider developing our capabilities, we by no means see it as an exclusive or definitive list of emerging markets that will prove important for healthcare market research in the coming decades.

We will continue to monitor the MINT market, and aim to examine each of the markets in more detail in future blogs – watch this space!

Research Partnership is one of the largest independent healthcare market research and consulting agencies in the world. Trusted partner to the global pharmaceutical industry, we use our expertise and experience to deliver intelligent, tailor-made solutions. We provide strategic recommendations that go beyond research, helping our clients to answer their fundamental business challenges. 

Research Partnership is one of the largest independent healthcare market research and consulting agencies in the world. Trusted partner to the global pharmaceutical industry, we use our expertise and experience to deliver intelligent, tailor-made solutions. We provide strategic recommendations that go beyond research, helping our clients to answer their fundamental business challenges. Find out more here: http://bit.ly/1F7qLGR

This content was provided by Research Partnership

Company Details

 Latest Content from  Research Partnership 

Review of Disease Promotion Campaign using Facial Analysis

Our client had developed a visual and emotion-invoking, online disease awareness campaign aimed at challenging physicians’ current perceptions of treatment. Research was required to understand physicians’ reactions to the campaign...

Emotional Recognition using Facial Analysis

Do you have a poker face or does your expression give you away?  According to psychologists, a lot of emotional information can be drawn from our facial expressions, which is...

Living with NASH: An Unexpected Diagnosis

Published in eyeforpharma November 2017 by Mariel Metcalfe

20 questions: Round 7

As it's our 20th year anniversary, we invited our employees to play our version of 20 questions - this month "What project or event has been most memorable to you at RP?"Watch...

Innovation, sustainability and prosperity: Japan’s healthcare vision for the future

The vision for Japan 2035; A healthcare system that delivers unrivalled health outcomes, providing secure and responsive care for all members of society, sustainable, and contributing to prosperity in the...

Tools to action your segmentation

Our tools for ensuring a successful segmentation rollout

Research Partnership launches new patient Living with Atopic Dermatitis (US) 2017 report

Living with Atopic Dermatitis (AD) is a study conducted amongst 100 adults and 50 caregivers  in the US. The report will consist of 45-minute quantitative and 30-minute qualitative interviews with AD...

The value of design thinking: Incorporating creative and graphic design into pharma market research

How do we keep research design fresh and interesting? How do we ensure that we’re inspiring our respondents to give us enlightening new insights, and encourage new ways of thinking?There...

Research Partnership launches new patient Living with Psoriasis 2017 (EU) report

Living with Psoriasis is a study conducted amongst 615 patients in Europe. The report will consist of 30-minute online interviews with 600 patients and 15 qualitative interviews. It can be purchased...

Deep Dive – MINT: opportunities in ‘frontier’ markets?

According to British economist Jim O’Neill, MINT is the new BRIC. What is MINT? An acronym he coined for the ‘frontier’ markets of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. These are...