Pfizers miljö- och ansvarsblogg

CSR training session at SWETIC

Kategorier:

Yesterday I participated in a CSR-training session at SWETIC (Swedish Association for Testing, Inspection, and Certification). SWETIC’s own presentation of the session can be found here.

After a brief introduction by Magnus Davidsson from SWETIC, Mattis Bergquist from Only R, gave some introductory remarks to CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) as a concept.

Mattis presents CSR as a concept

After the introduction to CSR from Mattis, I presented Pfizer’s sustainability platform, as a business case for CSR. If you have followed my blog over recent years you have become fairly familiar with our work. If you have not, I recommend that you follow these links:

- Pfizer’s corporate webpage, “Doing business responsibly”

- Pfizer’s Swedish webpage, where you will find information on our sustainability initiatives (in Swedish) in three levels:

– Level 1: “Pfizer och Ansvarsfullt företagande”

– Level 2: “CSR- och miljöarbete - en central del av vårt ansvarstagande”

– Level 3: “Hållbarhetsarbete i praktiken”

You could also read my two blogposts from October 11 back in 2009. There I give general information on our CSR and environmental initiatives under the title “Pfizer and Corporate Responsibility, Part 1” and “Pfizer and Corporate Responsibility, Part 2“. Somethings have of course developed since then, but the general idea still holds true.

Mattis entered the stage again after my presentation, and he went into more details on the different standards, rules, legislative tools etc. within the field of CSR.

Different rules, standards etc on CSR

Regardless of which system a company chooses to base their CSR-program upon, management commitment is of course crucial. Johannes Ingerby from The Information Company presented tools to secure management buy-in, commitment, and focus.

CSR as an opportunity or a risk...

Johannes, who has a great deal of experience in the field, told us that unfortunately still most management teams look upon CSR as “a risk to be managed”. Hence, it is rather being controlled than being used as a strategic business objective. He nevertheless presented balanced score cards for using CSR as a strategic business measure, in addition to a control card where CSR-issues are one of many measures to follow.

Johannes Ingerby from The Information Company

We then got the opportunity to listen to Åsa Edman from the governmental procurement investigation. The investigation, which should be reported no later than June 28, 2012, will review both financial as well as political perspectives of public procurement. Within the frame of “political considerations”, both social and environmental criteria will be looked upon. Åsa then gave the word to Lisa Sennström från Miljöstyrningsrådet, MSR, (in English: The Swedish Environmental Management Council). MSR have developed several guidance documents for social and environmental criteria in public procurement. One of the areas where such criteria have been developed is for pharmaceuticals. You can read my reflections on this matter in a number of my previous blog posts. Read for instance my blog post from Sept 8 this year, and follow the links within that blog post for further details.

The training session ended with further discussions on ISO 26000, and whether or not it will be certifiable, verifiable or nothing of that kind at all… The discussion was led by Dag Sjöholm from SP who acts as chairman on “SIS‘ verifying group of ISO 26000″. Read more regarding my views on this debate in the blog post from Nov 26, 2010, and via the links within that blog post.

Thanks SWETIC for interesting discussions on several aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility!

The Swedish Innovation Strategy and Social Innovation

Kategorier:

Ministry for Enterprise, Energy and Communications arranged a breakfast seminar today on social innovation and entrepreneurship. The seminar is part of ongoing activities within the framework of the development of a Swedish National Innovation Strategy, which is to be presented in 2012.

Håkan Ekengren, State Secretary at the Ministry, welcomed us all and gave a brief introduction on social inovation in general and the connection to the National Innovation Strategy specifically. He stressed the importance of both social innovation and social entrepreneurship, and hoped that the introductory lectures by Eva Engquist (from Malmö University and “Mötesplatsen för Social innovation och samhällsentreprenörskap“), myself, and Lars Jannick Johansen (President and founder of “Den Sociale Kapitalfond” in Denmark), and the following work-shop should result in several good ideas and experiences to bring into the development of the Innovation Strategy.

The panelists of today

Eva Engquist gave us her insight in the whole area of social innovation and social entrepreneurship. She saw three drivers for the strong focus on social innovation presently:

1. Ongoing financial crises in US and Europe, on the same time as the societal needs and demands upon society probably never have been larger. Ageing populations, unemployment rates, increasing poverty, and environmental problems are just a number of challenges facing societies.

2. Increasing pressure from NGOs, e.g. environmental organizations

3. The Social Media revolution

Some of the areas where Eva told us Malmö Univeristy and “Mötesplatsen” are focusing are perspectives of management and organizational issues of social innovation, but also financing issues and the need for development of new business models.

In my lecture I fully agreed with Eva on the need for development of new business models in order for social innovation to become successful. I gave examples from health care and the pharmaceutical industry, of which you can read more via this links:

- “Prevention of illnesses and creation of wellbeing”

- “Social innovation and social entrepreneurship”

- “4 steps to a sustainable use of pharmaceuticals”

- “CSR - en intregrerad del av affären”

Lars Jannick Johansen described the huge potential he sees in social enterprises and social innovation. Just bear in mind that the social economy is roughly 10% of the total GNP in Europe. That is a large market… He told us that Sweden has a lot to learn from e.g. UK when it comes to “financial innovations” which would help social innovation and entrepreneurship to further develop.

We then divided up into 6 work groups and discussed e.g.:

- what social innovation actually means

- which parties are involved and which ones are not but should be involved

- experiences to be shared

- in which areas we feel that social innovation is of extra importance for Sweden

Some of the common conclusions from the discussions were

- the need for both social innovation and entrepreneurship. The innovation needs a business case in order to be successful

- collaboration between all different parties in society is crucial for success

- areas of extra importance to Sweden include the ageing population and the healthcare sector, environmental matters, youth, and integration.

It was a very good breakfast seminar and I hope this was just a start of a very interesting process!

Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Media, and Worldfavor

Kategorier:

CSR Sweden arranged a breakfast meeting today regarding communication of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) in general, and the usage of social media for communication purposes specifically. I have written about social media use, especially within the pharmaceutical sector, several times here at the blog. See for instance the blog posts from Oct 6 2011, Aug 24 2010, April 5 2010, and Nov 24 2010 for details and my views.

The meeting started with an initial discussion around the table where CSR Sweden’s different member companies shared some of their experiences with social media (from the Pfizer perspective those experiences were this blog of course (www.ansvarsblogg.se), the “Can you feel my pain initiative” (on e.g. facebook and flickr), and the Dizza Tobak project). The floor was then given to Daniel Liljendahl and Andreas Brodecki from Worldfavor.com.

Andreas and Daniel presents Worldfavor

I must say that the Worldfavor platform is very interesting, and it could be a very useful tool for both a company and its different stakeholders. The idea is that companies should present their sustainability efforts on the platform and stakeholders commenting upon the information given or commenting on gaps in the information. But of course also ask direct questions to companies and being able to compare and benchmark different companies to one another.  Anyone who has used facebook would feel home. High interactivity and extremely transparent. The platform uses the requirements (the “shall sentences”) in ISO 26000 as the expected CSR performance. This of course enables direct comparisons to be made between companies, within a sector as well as between sectors.

As I said, a very interesting initiative, and it will be exciting to see if Worldfavor manages to bring companies as well as all different stakeholders to the platform. It seems to be powerful and it is free of charge, so the possibility for success should definitely be there!

And you have to like the ambition/vision presented by Daniel and Andreas:

“By the year 2020, all companies will communicate their CSR programs via Worldfavor.com, and the public will be able to influence those programs and thereby contributing to a better world”

CSR-discussions with NMC

Kategorier:

I have been a member of NMC (Näringslivets Miljöchefer, or in English “the Swedish Association of Environmental Managers”) for several years. Participation in NMC’s meetings is a good opportunity to learn more within the field of sustainability, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and environmental matters. It also presents a brilliant way to build your network.

Today I participated in an NMC full-day training course on CSR. Roughly 20 environmental managers from several different companies and organizations gathered together at the ÅF (Ångpanneföreningen) office at Frösundaleden 2. Mattis Bergquist from OnlyR guided them through the day.

Mattis Bergquist, OnlyR

Mattis had invited me to discuss for an hour with him and the course participants on CSR in general, on green pharmaceuticals and green economic incentives specifically, and on this blog as a novel, interesting interactive communication tool.

I am talking about CSR-issues

I used my blog post from yesterday to described different parts of a CSR-platform for the pharmaceutical industry. We had a good discussion on possible reasons why the pharmaceutical industry has not been very successful in telling their CSR story to its stakeholders. One reason of course being the fact that we are not allowed to talk about our products (i.e. the prescription medicines) with the general public. Nevertheless the industry seems to have stronger product brand names than corporate brand names. Personally you may know if you follow this blog, that I feel that the industry have been a poor communicator. We have been very slow in adopting modern communication tools, e.g. social media, and to me it is very surprising that there are still recommendations to stay away from social media… Does not feel like 2011, does it? For more on the issue please read my blog post from Nov 24 last year.

We also had a good discussion on potential negative environmental consequences of the Swedish generic reform, where the pharmacy is forced to substitute the prescribed pharmaceutical with the “product of the month” (in Swedish “periodens vara”), i.e. the cheapest generic. And this regardless of any environmental profiles. This of course took us to the discussion on green pharmaceuticals and green economic incentives, that you know I am very engaged in. To read more on the topic, read my blog post from Oct 3, 2011, and follow the links within that blog post for details.

Thanks NMC, Mattis, and all very engaged course participants for very good and intense discussions. I enjoyed it very much!

I will work half-time at the LIF Office during 2012

Kategorier:

It has now been announced that I will work half-time at the LIF Office (the Association for the Research Based Pharmaceutical Industry in Sweden) from Dec 1, 2011, until Nov 30, 2012. See the announcement from LIF below:

“New to LIF’s Office by December 1: Bengt Mattson

Working half time, in charge of CSR, parts of the national pharmaceutical strategy and committee responsible for the LIF Environmental Committee

The LIF Office further strengthens its resources and tries a new form of operating by borrowing colleagues from the member companies. First up is Bengt Mattson, who is head of CSR and Environmental Affairs at Pfizer, and chairman of LIF’s Committee on Environmental issues. Bengt will work half-time at LIF during the period December 1, 2011 to November 30, 2012 and part-time at Pfizer. Bengt will be the project manager for LIF’s work on part of the National Pharmaceutical Strategy (to “Encourage voluntary control of discharges from pharmaceutical factories”) and he will also have overall responsibility for CSR issues at the LIF Office. Bengt will also be the LIF Office responsible person for LIF’s Environmental Committee and hence leave the function as Chairman during this period.”

I think this will be very interesting. I will as you see in the announcement work on e.g. environmental issues related to the National Pharmaceutical Strategy and also on CSR matters in general. Regarding the environmental issues and the national pharmaceutical strategy, you already know parts of the work which needs to be done if you have followed my blog over the recent months. There are four activities identified within the scope of intervention area number 7 “Reduce effects on the environment by pharmaceuticals, locally and globally”:

7.1. Investigate if the environmental aspects should be considered when decisions on subsidy for a pharmaceutical are decided (Lead: Ministry of Health and Social Affairs): Review of possibilities to – within the context of the national reimbursement system - increasingly take environmental considerations.

7.2. Encourage voluntary control of emissions from pharmaceutical factories (Lead: LIF): Introduction of a voluntary environmental labeling of pharmaceutical products.

7.3. Investigate what further measures can be taken at national level to reduce wastage of medicines or in other ways limit the environmental impact of use of pharmaceuticals (Lead: Läkemedelsverket): Investigation of the causes of wastage and propose measures to reduce wastage of medicines. Implementation of joint information efforts to encourage patients to return leftover medicines.

7.4. Promote the possibilities for environment considerations during production and use of medicines (Lead: Cabinet Office): The Government on June 9, 2011 took the decision (M 2010:04) to give the All Party Committee on Environmental Objectives the additional task of developing a strategy for Sweden’s work in the EU as well as internationally for a non-toxic environment. The strategy should also encompass the impact of pharmaceuticals on the environment.

As you probably understand I will be the project manager for the work related to point 7.2. This project will of course require very close connections to the work described in point 7.1, which to most people is known as “the Sofia Wallström review“. To be successful with point 7.2, it will be crucial that Sofia W comes to the conclusion that environmental considerations should be taken within the framework of the pricing and reimbursement system. Read more about green economic incentives and the pricing and reimbursement system in my blog post from Sept 28.

As you could read in the LIF announcement I will also have an overall responsibility for CSR issues at the LIF Office. The aim will be to develop a CSR platform for the industry association. And actually, a lot of its ingredients are already in place. Important parts of the CSR platform are initiatives such as:

- The ethical rules, with agreements for all collaborations with health care professionals and patient advocacy groups, and a very strong self regulation system with the LIF Compliance Officer, NBL and IGM

- The LIF Policies, e.g. on the use of animals in research and development

- Patient Safety initiatives

- Fass.se, with factual information on pharmaceutical products to health care professionals as well as the public (including the world unique collection of environmental data for pharmaceutical substances)

- The environmental programs

- The Swedish Drug Insurance Scheme

- The initiatives related to the fight against counterfeited pharmaceuticals, including 2D-coding

- Financing of the healthcare system and pharmaceuticals, including “our welfare in the future” and “the healthcare of tomorrow“

- Prevention and health promotion initiatives, such as the ones I have discussed here at the blog previously

- Equal healthcare and access to medicines and adequate healthcare

- The pharmaceutical industry and the developing world, with several good examples as the ones I described here at the blog in October last year (e.g. Oct 24, Oct 21, Oct 20, and Oct 19).

To me this looks very promising. We are doing the right things, but sometimes it seems like we are not able to communicate successfully… I would like our stakeholders to know about the initiatives, and to interactively debate the initiatives with us. I personally of course also believe that we deserve a better reputation than what have been found in several surveys over the years. See for instance the results from the Swedish survey Sustainable Brands, where the pharmaceutical industry was ranked very poorly 2011 (see my comments to the report via this link). But perhaps things have slowly starting to change, at least in certain countries. I was very happy when I read the “Sustainability Leadership Report” from Brandlogic and CRD Analytics. In this survey, virtually all pharmaceutical companies measured are rated Leaders, both when it comes to actual ESG performance (Environmental, Social, Governance) and to perception. The countries covered in the survey were China, Germany, India, Japan, UK, and US. This does look promising! Could a more clear and visible CSR platform help the pharmaceutical industry in Sweden to receive a better recognition and reputation? I hope so, and I hope I can contribute to such a journey through my work at LIF during 2012!