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NOVO NORDISK INTRO

 Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company, BASED IN Denmark,

is a leader in the global insulin market.

 Nova Nordisk employs approximately 31,400 employees in 74 countries, and

markets its products in 179 countries. It has a sales turnover of over of €3,900
million. (Wikipedia, 2018)

 Considered a champion of sustainability, the company sold some of its

insulin products at a subsidized price in some of the poorest countries
in the world.

WHAT IS CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY?

 Generally CSR is a company’s responsibility taken for their environmental

and social impacts.

 Companies aim to promote social and environmental change or have

positive impacts on individuals, communities and ecosystems which are
affected by the company’s activities.

 It is a principle brands adopt on a voluntary basis.

 However, it is increasingly becoming a moral obligation in order to satisfy

stakeholder demands.
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THE MAIN ISSUES RELATED TO CORPORATE

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILTY (CSR) AND
SUSTANABILTIY AT NOVO NORDISK

1. In the year 2010, Novo Nordisk temporarily stopped the sale of its drugs in
Greece when the government asked for a 25% reduction in the prices of all
the medicines sold. The withdrawal affected nearly 50,000 people who
were using its products there.

2. Patients, the Greece government, and NGOs accused Novo Nordisk of

putting profits before its responsibility toward society.

3. Image of Novo Nordisk was tarnished where it was refuted as a company

that focuses on sustainability earlier.

4. The mere thought of patients being denied access to life-saving medicines by

pharmaceutical companies - either because the patients could not afford their
medicines or because the companies refuse to cater to a market as the
government demanding price cuts. NN was at a cross road. -- NN don’t like
the power the market vests on pharmaceutical companies.

5. The power the market vests on pharmaceutical companies which allows them
to, at times, give precedence to competitiveness over compassion. -
but it’s the power of the market that creates the therapies in the first
place.
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THE MAIN CHALLENGES FACED BY NOVO

NORDISK REGARDING THEIR OPERATIONS

SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT:

1. The challenge before the senior management at Novo Nordisk was to

strike the right balance between business and global health.

2. The tension - between access to drugs and incentives for drug discovery -
sits at the heart of the case.

3. Face with increased regulatory scrutiny and stakeholder activism.

4. The realization on the importance of keeping the interests of all

stakeholders in mind.

5. How can Novo Nordisk strike the right balance between compassion and
competitiveness?

6. To keep focusing on producing products which did not affect the health of
consumers and which were environmental friendly.

7. The importance of environmental protection and leads to its reinforcing its

commitment to sustainable development.

This case is a critical one as it raises a contemporary issue facing healthcare

companies - the compassion vs competitiveness dilemma. The mere thought of
patients being denied access to life-saving medicines by pharmaceutical companies
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- either because the patients could not afford their medicines or because the
companies refuse to cater to a market as the government there is demanding price
cuts - makes us very uncomfortable and fills us with outrage. NN don’t like the power
the market vests on pharmaceutical companies which allows them to, at times, give
precedence to competitiveness over compassion, but it’s the power of the market
that creates the therapies in the first place. The tension - between access to drugs
and incentives for drug discovery - sits at the heart of the case.

The case further raises the question whether firms with unique competencies
have special obligations and helps explore ways in which such companies can
strike the right balance between compassion and competitiveness.
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CONTRAST on philosophy, systems and

approaches

Deming Philosophy:

 Based in improving the products and services by reducing uncertainty

and variability in the design and manufacturing processes.

 Variation is considered the only reason for poor quality. Variations in parts
of pieces in manufacturing leads to wear and premature failure.

 Better quality leads to less rework, fewer delays and better use of factor
inputs. It includes profound knowledge consisting of four stages -
appreciation for a system, some knowledge of theory of variation, theory
of knowledge and psychology. Based on these four aspects Deming had
devised 14 points of quality management. (Chambers, Johnston, & Slack,
2007)

Juran philosophy:

 The Juran philosophy is based upon the company's current strategic

planning and minimum risk in rejections.

 He states in his quality management program that - top management holds

money as important and speaks in money terms, workers hold things as
important and mid management holds both the things and money as
important and can speak for in money as well as things terms.
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 His method of quality management focuses on the interdependencies of

functions of manufacturing, process control, testing and feedbacks and
that the quality system needs to be continuous and never ending.

 The three aspects of quality called quality trilogy are important -quality
planning, quality control and quality improvement. (Greasley, 2007)

Crosby philosophy:

 Crosby philosophy on quality management is based upon the absolutes of

quality management and basic elements of improvement.

 The absolutes of quality management are: quality is conformance to

requirements not elegance, there is no such thing as a quality problem,
no such thing as economics of quality, the only performance measure is
cost of quality, the only performance standard is zero defects, and the
basic elements of improvement include determination, education and
implementation.

SIMILARITIES:
GOALS OF QUALITY

WILLIAM EDWARD DEMING

 MEET/EXCEED CUSTOMERS NEEDS; CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENT

JOSEPH M. JURAN
 CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENT
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PHILIPS P. CROSBY
 CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENT BY SETTING DEFECTS
PRODUCTIONS