MANAGERS ON MANAGEMENT:NOTHING IS guaranteed to raise eyebrows among globalisation's sceptics more than multinational companies talking about their undying commitment to corporate social responsibility, writes Peter Cluskey
When you put that scepticism though to Dr Aurora Berra, general manager of pharmaceutical and healthcare giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Ireland, and ask her if she understands it, the disarming thing about her response is that it is yes.
“Yes, absolutely, of course I understand it,” she replies, “and I also realise that, unfortunately, the pharma industry has been seen as something of a bad boy for many years now.
“However, we as a company have set out to prove through our actions that we are different. I personally believe we constantly demonstrate that.”
GlaxoSmithKline’s commitment to corporate social responsibility is perhaps most associated with Jean-Pierre Garnier, who retired as its charismatic chief executive last May, handing over to Andrew Whitty.
A regular visitor to Africa, Garnier – often very personally – drove the company’s part in global alliances to eliminate the killer disease lymphatic filariasis, to eliminate malaria in Kenya and to combat HIV/AIDS.
“I have been with GSK for 13 years and I can absolutely assure you that corporate social responsibility, specifically commitment to the global healthcare sector, is a core value for this company,” Berra says. “It is at the heart of everything we do.
“I would say that the impetus to get involved and to make a difference arises from our deep understanding of the role we play as a global company working in such a crucial sector and the responsibilities we believe this understanding imposes on the way we do business.
“As a result, GSK has taken a strategic decision to form partnerships with our local communities and with society in general because we believe we should give something back – and I mean sitting down at the same table and getting more deeply involved than simply handing over the occasional cheque.”
It is company policy, for instance, that every one of GlaxoSmithKline’s 110,000 employees around the world can work one day a year – paid for by the company – for the charity of their choice.
“We could put a monetary value on that, but we don’t,” says Berra. “That would be to miss the point completely.”
What does this ethos mean in management terms?
“When I arrived here to run GSK in Ireland last May,” Berra says, “I brought that commitment with me as one of my own core management values as well because this has to be driven from the top.
“It means that our staff, at every level, work with not-for- profit organisations in a setting in which they know we want the benefits to flow both ways: yes, we want to help those organisations, but we want to learn from them as well; we want to learn how we can make a difference.
“It also means that if this commitment is adopted by staff at every level, people will feel better about their work and proud of the company they work for. Those have got to be worthwhile management goals.
“It is worth pointing out,” Berra adds, “that for the past six years, GSK has been voted by its employees as one of the 50 best companies to work for in Ireland.”
GlaxoSmithKline is listed on the New York and London stock exchanges, with sales of £22.7 billion in 2007, generating profits of £7.8 billion. So as a senior GSK manager, Berra is certainly no wide-eyed idealist.
“I would say we need to achieve the right balance between being a company that is run in the best interests of our shareholders and being a company that wants to ensure that the right medicines get to the right patients, especially in developing countries.
“In management terms, we prove every day that the two are not incompatible.”
Name:Dr Aurora Berra.
Company:GlaxoSmithKline (Ireland) – www.gsk.com
Job:general manager.
Management advice:corporate responsibility should be an integral part of a company's business, not just an add-on
Next week: Alan Nuzum, chief executive Skillnets, on the importance of targeted investment in training.
