Title: Corporate social responsibility strategies aimed at the developing world: perspectives from bioscience companies in the industrialised world

Authors: Jocelyn E. Mackie, Andrew D. Taylor, Abdallah S. Daar, Peter A. Singer

Addresses: Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health, Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, 88 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L4, Canada. ' Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health, Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, 88 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L4, Canada. ' Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health, Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, 88 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L4, Canada. ' Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health, Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, 88 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L4, Canada

Abstract: Bioscience companies have started to implement Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mechanisms aimed at the developing world because many companies feel they have a moral responsibility to give back to society instead of only focusing on profits. This research team went to the source and interviewed over 100 managers and executives of bioscience companies to uncover what ethical issues they face and what mechanisms they are using to address these issues. This paper reports on six CSR mechanisms that the companies studied are using to address global health problems in the developing world: (1) Drug Donation Programmes, (2) Pricing Strategies, (3) Building Local Health Capacity, (4) Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs), (5) Benefit Sharing and (6) Charitable Foundations. Each mechanism is described in detail with examples from the companies studied followed by a preliminary analysis of some cautions that should be considered before each mechanism is implemented. These empirically based mechanisms offer ideas and models from which other companies can learn.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; CSR; pharmaceutical industry; biotechnology industry; bioscience industry; developing countries; ethical decision making; bioindustry ethics; health problems; drug donation programmes; pricing strategies; local health capacity; public–private partnerships; PPPs; benefit sharing; charitable foundations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBT.2006.008967

International Journal of Biotechnology, 2006 Vol.8 No.1/2, pp.103 - 118

Published online: 09 Feb 2006 *

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