CARING AND
CURING IN OUR
COMMUNITIES
Novartis Pharmaceuticals’ goal is to
improve the health and wellness of
people by discovering, developing
and marketing innovative medicines
to prevent and cure diseases. Good
corporate citizenship is considered both
the right thing to do and good business
sense. “One of the best things about
working at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation is our
long tradition of giving back to the communities in which
we live and work,” says Alex Gorsky, CEO, Novartis
Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NPC) and Head of US Pharma.
Patients: Novartis puts patients first. In 2006, access-to-medicine programs reached 33. 6 million patients
around the world with medicines valued at $755 million.
This included free leprosy and tuberculosis treatments;
access to the anti-malarial drug Coartem® without
profit to patients in the developing world; and support
programs to patients who lack medical insurance or can’t
afford treatment. One of the most far-reaching patient-assistance programs ever implemented on a global scale
is in place for the cancer therapy Gleevec/Glivec®.
People and Communities: Around the world,
Novartis strives to provide the safest possible workplace,
to promote the health and well-being of its associates
and to contribute to the stability and prosperity in its
communities through volunteerism and philanthropy.
Each year, Community Partnership Day provides an
opportunity for associates around the world to express
their personal commitment to corporate citizenship,
with more than 10,000 associates participating in 2007.
U.S. associates of NPC painted, repaired and landscaped
facilities, gathered coats for the homeless and assembled
backpacks with school supplies for children with
AIDS. In addition, NPC sponsors the Black and Latino
Achievers Corporate Mentoring program, an educational
partnership with a local YMCA providing a weeklong
corporate mentoring experience for high-school students,
while an on-site Mentoring program provides students
from a nearby grade school the chance to be tutored by
employees every week. Other volunteer initiatives include
The Community FoodBank, which receives monthly
visits from employees and their families who sort and
pack pallets of food for distribution to needy families
throughout local communities.
Socially Screened Mutual Funds Rising
$200
Total Assets (Billions)
$160
$120
$80
$40
Number of Funds
250
200
150
100
Number of Funds
50
$0 $12 $96 $154
1995 1997 1999
Source: Social Investment Forum Foundation
$136
2001
$151
2003
$179 0
2005
(and more than $9 trillion globally), according to the
Social Investment Forum, this is a constituency that
no public company can afford to ignore.
Consider how investors have already had
an impact on the sexual-orientation policies
of businesses. “Fifteen years ago, responsible
shareholders knocked on the doors of corporate
America and asked companies to add ‘no
discrimination on sexual orientation’ to their human-resources policies,” says Timothy Smith, senior
vice president of Boston-based Walden Asset
Management and chair of the board of the Social
Investment Forum. “Today, 99 of the Fortune 100
companies have included this in their policies.”
What’s more, socially responsible investors have
pressed companies for years to diversify their boards
of directors and to publicly release their diverse
employment records. “There’s a clear business
case that being a leader in diversity and eliminating
discrimination is good for the company and good
for profits,” says Smith. “It’s also clear that socially
responsible shareholders have made a difference in
companies’ thinking, behavior and policies.”
After all, CSR is about affecting change. And
when a corporation makes social responsibility part
of its overall business strategy, remarkable things will
inevitably be accomplished. ❚
© 2007 DiversityInc ®. This advertising-supported special section
was written by Bob Trebilcock under contract to DiversityInc.
Content is the property of DiversityInc. For more information or
to order reprints, please contact gzoppo@DiversityInc.com
