A Pharmaceutical Company: GlaxoSmith Kline - Essay Example

Topic: Profit Maximisation is not the common objective among organizations. Organizations have been accused of operating on profits alone without accounting for the social consequences of their actions. There is a belief that myriad enterprises make decisions based only on financial factors such as profits and dividends and limit their obligations to statutory obligations to comply with government legislation. Though the public links corporate goals and values solely to profit maximisation, it is evident from company behaviours and undertakings that financial success and social considerations are not treated as a zero-sum game. Companies are increasingly attempting to establish explicit statements reflecting their goals to take responsibility of immediate and long-term social and environmental consequences of their decisions. Businesses have developed a heightened interest in promoting awareness on ethical responsibility. Issues concerning environmental damage, improper work regulations and inappropriate employee treatments and faulty production of products which either cause inconvenience to customers or danger public safety are resolved through the links on their objectives and actions. Value-based decision-making through integration of clearly-defined values into organizational structures of numerous organizations proactively address a broad range of community dilemmas. These organizations which attach functional aspects of operations to public welfare include various companies ranging from pharmaceuticals, automobiles, consumer goods to services. Corporate social responsibility, described as the alignment of a company's activity to public expectations, governs organizations which clearly show that public concerns and not profit maximisation is the common objective among organizations. British organizations alone would prove that improving the quality of human life is the primary objective of their operations. Consider GlaxoSmith Kline, a pharmaceutical company established in London whose aim is to improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. The mission to contribute to the improvement of lives guides the company in developing innovative medicines and products that help millions of people around the world. It does research for medicines and vaccines for the World Health Organization's priority diseases that include HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The company shows its care to Third World countries where debilitating diseases affect millions of people by providing discounted medicines to let more patients acquire necessary cures. These cost reduction schemes applied by the company in its business operations entailed losses from probable profit collections. Actual earnings have been reduced as a result of the prospects that considered lowering of prices through discounts. The corporate strategy is indeed a way of the company to provide value to consumers and society notwithstanding the objective of financial advantages and profit maximisation (GlaxoSmith Kline, 2001). In the early part of the 21st century, the company made efforts to lower its prices on HIV/AIDS drugs for the benefit of developing countries in relation to their commitment to deliver ways to reduce costs and pass the savings to patients. As a result of their action, patients suffering from the illness in various developing countries were able to take medications and these constitute live of millions of individuals. Due to its desires to continuously improve access for healthcare products, the company gained international recognitions for its decisions that reduced barriers in the consumption of health products (Baker, 2003). In the pharmaceutical industry, social responsibility is not a practice of a single organization. Aside from the GlaxoSmith Kline, another international company with British operations that promotes global corporate social responsibility is Astra Zeneca. Corporate social responsibility is an integral part on how operations are run by the company (http://www.astrazeneca.co.uk). The company is a known global brand in the pharmaceutical industry. Its major objective is to be a valued member of the community by achieving sustainable development globally and locally (AstraZeneca, 2006). In the company's pursuits towards product creation, it ensures that resources are used responsibly. A manifestation of its commitment to the environment is the use of more expensive planet-friendly processes. Even if the processes would need more financial resources, it is a serious policy of the company to commit to the environment. Social sustainability covers a wide range of issues and concerns and the company has a deep consideration to the wider community. As a way of social participation, it helps the community through charitable donations, sponsorships and other initiatives that make a positive difference. Health education is also promoted by the company in line with its objective to provide a helping hand in the community programs. Undertakings of organizations consider responses of the public and management of normal operations include the possibilities of protecting the society while simultaneously conducting business functions. Companies involved in chemical researches could pose threats and hazards as a result of by-products coming from the materials used as the subjects of research. Firms involved in these kinds of activities understand the nature of their operations and conduct their pursuits in a manner that creates social protection. An interesting reference for this is the British company Imperial Chemical Industries. It is a company which is one of the major chemical producers in the world. The company manufactures and produces paints and specialty products for a wide range of markets including ingredients for foods, specialty polymers, electronic materials, fragrances and flavours (http://www.ici.com). Imperial Chemical Industries policies strictly adhere to sustainable business conducts which observes the responsible delivery of operations with respect for the interests of those affected by the business activities. It creates opportunities not only for a better and more enhanced quality of life but for positive influence in the community as well. Primary concern of the company is to provide its employees a work condition that provides protection for the health and safety of its employees. It has been made clear in the principles of the organization that the workplace is free from work hazards by putting investments that ensures the highest standards of health protection. Based from the company's reports, the goal of the workplace is to have a zero-harm environment wherein all injuries and illnesses are preventable. Minimisation of wastes is maintained by the company to produce products with the least possible environmental harm which actually goes beyond the regulations of the government and entails the use of much financial resources. New products are assured that it has been undertaken with scrutiny of consumer safety that would avoid possible harms and danger of consumers. Resources are utilized in the most efficient way to help protect the depletion of resources. The company also devote its finances to eliminate waste materials hazardous to the environment. As a company that is directed to enhance the quality of human living standards, it contributes to the efforts of several organizations in providing funds for the welfare of people that are not fortunate enough to provide resources on their own (Imperial Chemical Industries, 2001). Organizations conduct operations because there is an expectation of returns. The returns are measured in terms of financial success and performances of companies are judged based on how much resource is earned through operations. Such practice of organizations to operate for profits does not prohibit societal concern to take place. Since businesses operate in the concept of going-concern, it has been a common practice to include the community in its concerns for the operations of its business because of the understanding that operations extend beyond the interest of gaining income and maximising profits. It is not impossible for companies to contribute to the welfare of the community at large. The community itself benefits from the grants of corporations as a mere reflection of the satisfactory function and commitment to welfare of the enterprises. It is a must for organizations to earn because operations rely on profitability but among companies there governs the sense of altruism. Though altruism of organizations are seen to be a cover-up of certain misconducts, international reports would show that companies involved with community development are actually high-performing enterprises which only seek an enhanced standard of living for the society as a part of organizational principles. As a matter of consideration, it is noteworthy to mention the increasing involvement of organization to actions on corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility does use up much resources of a firm but corporations worldwide take active participation in efforts link to the improvement of the social arena. A common form of altruism for companies are charitable acts which entails multi-million worth of donations for projects that changes lives of numerous individuals notwithstanding the financial setbacks it might cause to the firms. It is very evident especially at present that companies run an arm of their organization to constitute activities geared towards the promotion of social welfare which is actually a part of organizational operations. If the common objective of organization is centred on profit maximisation, responsible business should have been limited only to the tenets of government regulations and legislations facilitating the functions of businesses. Investing on projects that help develop society takes much of financial resources but companies are observed to look beyond financial gains. British Energy responds to the broader interest through the performance of the fundamental functions interlinked with corporate social responsibility. The company operate nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom. Nuclear power operations are naturally hazardous if no proper investments for safety are undertaken. As a company, it has been operating with extensive use of modern equipments to support power stations in the United Kingdom without jeopardising the protection of the environment. There is a clear understanding of the responsibility to deliver safe and reliable electricity. It is a practice for the company to have a continuous commitment in price reductions of electricity to add more value to the people taking into consideration that electricity is increasingly becoming an important engine for economic growth and industrial advancement (http://www.british-energy.com) According to the company's third corporate social responsibility report, operations of the company takes into major consideration the effects of its action to people in the society and monitors performance to provide the necessary level of community protection (British Energy, 2005). As an organization involved with the nuclear industry, safety is a paramount. A huge part of financing are directed towards the maintenance of activities that scrutinize operations to go beyond the requirements of government regulations. The company assures that their overriding objective to prevent any event that would cause radiological release that may threaten the public and the workforce by ensuring commitment to the highest standard of health protection though it involves the use of hard-earned financial resources. Strict adherence to environmental performance is observed by the company and has been surpassing targets of environmental protection. Funds of the company have been directed towards the protection of nature. One of the projects of the company is to save the existence of skylarks from the decline on its population. It was able to work with other agencies to promote the rehabilitation of the bird specie, an action that clearly goes beyond the idea of profit maximisation. Objectives of organizations transcends far beyond the system of profit maximisation. What governs organizations actually is sustainability and responsible business practices. Contributions for community welfare are seen as part of operational success and it is the thing that organizations pride as an achievement. In the automotive industry, sustainability is remains to be the primary guideline for company operations. The Daimler Chrysler takes pride on having comprehensive views and actions on sustainability which constitutes their values for corporate social responsibility. Daimler Chrysler is a company which has been one of the world's leaders in automotive industry. Its vision is grounded on the concept of worldwide sustainability. Actions taken by the company to conform to their ideals could prove that profit maximisation is not the driver of operations but only a part of a larger end that makes up the entirety of organizational goals and ideals (http://www.daimlerchrysler.com). Since the principle of sustainability has become the practical guideline in everyday operations, it strategically secured and assigned key indicators to gauge and evaluate sustainability performance (DaimlerChrysler, 2007). A major indicator is its goals towards employees and society. As a world dominated by patriarchal values, the company commits itself to provide equal opportunities to women in the management and has actually been successful in this area. Women comprise a big bulk of the total workforce of the company and are treated as any other worker who could perform a job efficiently and effectively. There is also a great consideration for the welfare of the aging workforce which is reflected on the programs geared towards the empowerment of the sector. It has been a part of the company's goal to provide employees with the proper remuneration of services corresponding to their skills and a proper working environment entailing certain trade offs for the company. Another indicator observed by the company is their ability to produce products that protects the well-being of the environment. Throughout the years, the company has invested huge sums of money for research and development to have combustion engines that is cleaner and more fuel-efficient. The company has been decisive in its actions to provide engines that promote fuel savings. Vast amounts of money are being invested to have the best technology in fuel combustion that would reduce hazard in the environment. To complete the task of the company for a sustainable business practice, it provides donations and sponsorships for worldwide projects. The company is also involved in the struggle against HIV/AIDS which costs the company no less than millions of dollars. Profit maximisation of organizations would involve directing efforts towards growth of shareholder wealth rather than investments on projects that are actually not involved in business operations and are out of the range of core competencies. DaimlerChrysler is not the sole organization in the automotive industry with goals geared towards sustainability. Jaguar Cars, an automotive company established in the British lands, promotes responsible business operations as well (http://www.mallenbaker.com). Environmental protection on automotive manufacturing has had heightened interests in the company in which production standards are assured to conform on environmental standards. Another company that adds to the list with goals that is linked to sustainability is Lotus Cars. It is a British manufacturer of sports and racing cars famous for designing and building landmark race and production automobiles of extremely light weight and possessing legendary handling characteristics. The company invests on efforts that involve engineering processes that would create environmentally sustainable products (Lawrence, 2002). Investments on new production output entails much funds and does not directly improve the position of the company in the market and it shows that the objective of the company is not the case of sole profitability. Even for a company with business operations concerned with the manufacture of tobacco products, commitment to sustainability is shown to be essential. It is in the practice of the British American Tobacco that social reporting has been increasingly implemented to account for the issues surrounding their products (http://www.prwatch.org). As a company that holds a huge share in the market, being the second largest tobacco corporation in the world, responsible marketing is easy to look over. The company has been under the scrutiny of critics for long and as a response, it has shown a genuine commitment for sustainable operations (Burton & Rowell, 2002). The company spent hundreds of thousands of its financial resources for social responsibility reporting to show its serious commitment for sustainability. It has been improving in its promotional materials especially in marketing its products to the younger population even if it would probably lose potential consumers. It is a common knowledge that profits are the engine that drives organizations especially businesses in their pursuit of operations but to actually assert that the common objective among organizations is profit maximisation undermines the capability of organizations to pursue social responsibility. The practice of sustainability which revolves around the concept of corporate social responsibility is not confined to a few companies or in a few industries. 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