Abstract
BackgroundAs pharmaceutical firms experience increasing civil society pressure to act responsibly in a changing globalized world, many are expanding and/or reforming their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. We sought to understand how multinational pharmaceutical companies currently engage in CSR activities in the developing world aimed at global health impact, their motivations for doing so and how their CSR strategies are evolving.MethodsWe conducted a small-scale, exploratory study combining (i) an in-depth review of publicly available data on pharmaceutical firms’ CSR with (ii) interviews of representatives from 6 firms, purposively selected, from the highest earning pharmaceutical firms worldwide.ResultsCorporate social responsibility differed for each firm particularly with respect to how CSR is defined, organizational structures for managing CSR, current CSR activities, and motivations for CSR. Across the firms studied, the common CSR activities were: differential pharmaceutical pricing, strengthening developing country drug distribution infrastructure, mHealth initiatives, and targeted research and development. Primary factors that motivated CSR engagement were: reputational benefits, recruitment and employee satisfaction, better rankings in sustainability indices, entrance into new markets, long-term economic returns, and improved population health. In terms of CSR strategy, firms were at different points on a spectrum ranging from philanthropic donations to integrated systemic shared value business models.ConclusionsCSR is of increasing importance for multinational pharmaceutical firms yet understanding of the array of CSR strategies employed and their effects is nascent. Our study points to the need to (i) develop clearer and more standardized definitions of CSR in global health (2) strengthen indices to track CSR strategies and their public health effects in developing countries and (iii) undertake more country level studies that investigate how CSR engages with national health systems.
Highlights
As pharmaceutical firms experience increasing civil society pressure to act responsibly in a changing globalized world, many are expanding and/or reforming their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies
This study highlights the increasingly important role that corporate social responsibility is playing in large pharmaceutical firms, and by extension in the health sectors of low- and middle-income countries
While the United Nations (UN) suggests that “CSR offers real opportunities for the governments of middle and low-income countries to change the terms on which they interact with business [...] and to leverage additional resources through partnership” [13], the public health community is a long way from understanding how best to go about this
Summary
As pharmaceutical firms experience increasing civil society pressure to act responsibly in a changing globalized world, many are expanding and/or reforming their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. We sought to understand how multinational pharmaceutical companies currently engage in CSR activities in the developing world aimed at global health impact, their motivations for doing so and how their CSR strategies are evolving. Businesses and corporations in many sectors are initiating programs and strategies aimed at enhancing social welfare, protecting the environment and defending human rights. The recent United Nations (UN) Global Compact on Corporate Sustainability seeks to align objectives and interests of the business world and global community to develop innovative policies aimed at harnessing and leveraging the momentum of CSR [2]. A number of papers have explored whether pharmaceutical companies are living up to their human rights obligations [6-9], this
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