Corporate social responsibility to improve access to medicines: the case of Brazil

The relationship among corporate social responsibility, sustainability and organizational performance in pharmaceutical sector: a literature review

Purpose

This study aims to review the extant literature in pharmaceutical sector on corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability and organizational performance to explore if a relationship exists among these three elements.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 301 research articles were collected from online databases. A new ECG framework representing environment, community and growth was used to classify the collected literature under the three elements: CSR, sustainability and organizational performance.

Findings

Key findings under the identified categories are: A) Environment: Strict legislation and green chemistry have revolutionized the pharmaceutical sector by decreasing manufacturing costs, minimizing the environmental footprint and improving compliance with regulations. B) Community: Community goodwill and organization’s image have gained importance under the influence of external and internal stakeholders. C) Growth: A weak relationship exists between CSR and organizational performance but increases engagement in sustainability practices which has led to increased market performance. Effective integration of social and environmental goals with strategic business processes could result in long-term profits.

Originality/value

This study focuses on the extant literature to identify the significance of CSR and sustainability on the organizational performance of the pharmaceutical sector. The propositions developed in this study will help in identifying the interdependency of the aforementioned three elements opening further possibilities of in-depth sector specific studies.

Perspective sur la responsabilité de l’industrie pharmaceutique dans la promotion de la recherche pédiatrique et dans l’accès aux médicaments essentiels

Resumé :

L’industrie pharmaceutique a permis à de nombreux patients d’améliorer leur santé. Mais elle reste critiquée à cause d’un certain désengagement envers les maladies dans les pays en voie de développement et notamment les maladies pédiatriques. Considérant le cercle vicieux de la pauvreté et de la maladie affectant les enfants dans ces pays, il apparait primordial que les multinationales pharmaceutiques impliquent leur responsabilité à plusieurs niveaux : par la mise en place d’actions concrètes pour mener plus de recherches sur les enfants, vu leurs besoins ; puis en rendant les médicaments accessibles à un plus grand nombre d’enfants.

The effect of internal corporate social responsibility practices on pharmaceutical firm's performance through employee intrapreneurial behaviour

Purpose

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between employee perceived internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and pharmaceutical firms' performance with the mediating role of employee intrapreneurial behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

The study sample consisted of 607 employees at pharmaceutical firms in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. The data was analysed by a structural equation modelling (SEM).

Findings

The results revealed that the model fitted well into the empirical data considering the goodness-of-fit measures. The estimates results revealed the significant total effects of employee perception of internal CSR practices on pharmaceutical firms' performances through the influencing mechanism of employee intrapreneurial behaviour.

Practical implications

Employee welfare is a fundamental factor for organisational performance. Ethical organisations might yield prosperity through innovation employee behaviour. Firms should build the structure and mechanism to implement internal CSR and support the commitment of intrapreneurship.

Originality/value

The study investigates how employees respond to internal CSR practices and contribute to firm performance through employee intrapreneurial behaviour.

Access to innovative medicines by pharma companies: Sustainable initiatives for global health or useful advertisement?

Research & Development on new medicines plays an important role in life and well-being, making pharmaceutical companies important players in global health. Accessibility and financing new medicines, however, poses challenges for governments and patients around the world. Due to pricing and aggressive patent policy issues, pharma companies started to adopt access to medicines as a strategy to not only improve their public image but also to increase their economic performance. More than a useful institutional advertisement to attract new business, initiatives to improve access to medicines must be socially responsible and sustainable. Using content analysis methodology from CSR reports, the present study evaluated how 44 global companies are positioning themselves regarding access, whether these initiatives are aligned to existing access programmes and whether the actions disclosed on behalf of access are sustainable. We have identified 13 major access to medicines approaches that were classified into intrinsic, potentially sustainable and robust actions. We concluded that companies overvalue the term access to medicine. This can generate initiatives focused on advertisements rather than long-term actions and highlights the need for clear global criteria for companies and programmes that want to effectively publicise access to medicines as a social responsibility strategy.

Impact of Emotional Harassment on Firm's Value

The activities and consequences of workplace bullying and harassment have been widely explored in the literature but mainly studied within the scope of individuals or at the team level. Taking a holistic approach, we associate the concept of bullying with firm-level performance as well as stakeholders' responses in the market. In this paper, we examine whether and how market investors react to the news of corporate harassment by top officials of publicly listed firms in Korea. Using a standard event study methodology and multiple regression analysis with matched sample, we find significantly negative stock price reactions to news of corporate bullying. We also find that the impact is more salient if emotional bullying is involved and discuss both the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Management training in global health education: a Health Innovation Fellowship training program to bring healthcare to low-income communities in Central America

Background: Interprofessional education is increasingly recognized as essential for health education worldwide. Although effective management, innovation, and entrepreneurship are necessary to improve health systems, business schools have been underrepresented in global health education. Central America needs more health professionals trained in health management and innovation to respond to health disparities, especially in rural communities.

Objective:  This paper explores the impact of the Health Innovation Fellowship (HIF), a new training program for practicing health professionals offered jointly by the Central American Healthcare Initiative and INCAE Business School, Costa Rica. Launched in 2014, HIF’s goal is to create a network of highly trained interdisciplinary health professionals in competencies to improve health of Central American communities through better health management.

Methods: The program’s fellows carried out innovative healthcare projects in their local regions. The first three annual cohorts (total of 43 fellows) represented all health-related professions and sectors (private, public, and civil society) from six Central American countries. All fellows attended four 1-week, on-site modular training sessions, received ongoing mentorship, and stayed connected through formal and informal networks and webinars through which they exchange knowledge and support each other. CAHI stakeholders supported HIF financially.

Results: Impact evaluation of the three-year pilot training program is positive: fellows improved their health management skills and more than 50% of the projects found either financial or political support for their implementation.

Conclusions: HIF’s strengths include that both program leaders and trainees come from the Global South, and that HIF offers a platform to collaborate with partners in the Global North. By focusing on promoting innovation and management at a top business school in the region, HIF constitutes a novel capacity-building effort within global health education. HIF is a capacity-building effort that can be scaled up in the region and other low- and middle-income countries.