One Business' Commitment to Society
On the way home today, I read a McKinsey interview with Klaus M. Leisinger, President of the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development. The foundation, created in 1979, is the non-profit arm of Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Novartis. It works with the UN and NGOs to tackle Third World health and poverty-related issues. The great work and enlightened leadership Novartis seems blessed with is a testament to what can be accomplished when businesses incorporate sustainability into their DNA.
In the interview, Leisinger comments on the benefits to his parent company from his foundation's work:
Related reading:
In the interview, Leisinger comments on the benefits to his parent company from his foundation's work:
An awareness of alternative realities makes the company more competent socially. We provide an early-warning system on a number of social or political issues because we are in touch with shifting expectations about corporate responsibility and can help analyze what they mean.Leisinger gives an example of a poll that was done in Germany recently, where the question posed was, what if a pharmaceutical company developed a lifesaving drug and most of the population in some third world country couldn't afford it, what would they they expect the company to do? Those polled said they expected the company to give the drug away for free. Leisinger comments that he doubts the managers in pharmaceutical companies would share that opinion.
[However,] if we are regarded as part of the solution, we will have a different reputation and regulatory environment than we would if we are regarded as part of the problem.None of this should be enlightened. When does thinking about our neighbours, our society, our environment, become enlightened? How did the people running businesses go so astray, that sustainability is viewed as enlightened? We should all be as enlightened as Leisinger and Novartis. It is our world. It is our society. They are our customers. They are our future. They are us.
Related reading:
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