Business Environment

Suggest at least three (3) ways the company could compensate the people and nation of Colberia for the use of its intellectual property and the damage to its environment.
The single greatest obstacle to economic development and the betterment of society is corruption. The operation of PharmaCARE in Colberia is manifest of the hyper-corruption prevailing in the country. The corruption of both regulating agencies in overlooking the behavior of the company and the companys conduct towards its employees and environment despite its brand results in injustices and extreme poverty for the many people in Colberia dependent on the company as a source of employment. This behavior diminishes the possibility of amicable co-existence with the community in which the company operates. In light of these considerations, it is imperative that PharmaCARE addresses its interactions with the environment and the Colberia people to achieve sustainability. The company must ensure that any individual within the vicinity of the plant or who works for the company and have suffered health related problems because of the emissions and toxic substances released by the industry is treated
. Thos that have suffered irreversible damage must get full compensation form the company.
The indigenous knowledge and the biodiversity of the people of Colberia is at risk because the current intellectual property laws protect cultural and community knowledge and wealth. Unlike the western culture that is based on individualism and commercial gains, the Colberia people have a more communal culture that encourage the sharing of information for the betterment of everyone in the community. The entry of CompCARE in Colberia, which is a subsidiary of PharmaCARE exploits natives of the country. The residents of the country readily share the biological products they have in the country with the company only for the company to commercialize the products without paying any compensation to the people. To ensure the company operates fairly, the indigenous community in the country must receive recognition for their contribution and knowledge in the production of PharmaCARE products. The communities must also share equitably form the benefits resulting in the use of these native knowledge and products.
Compare PharmaCAREs actions with those of at least one (1) real-world company whose creativity in skirting legal technicalities led to ethical lapses and financial loss.
PharmaCARE actions of marketing drugs without revealing the entire effect of those drugs on the human body is a common practice in pharmaceutical companies. Another company that suffered financial losses for marketing drugs for unapproved uses and without revealing the true effects of the drugs is GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The company recently paid a three billion dollar settlement in civil and criminal fines after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges related to the sale of Paxil and Wellbutrin antidepressants; and Avandia, a diabetes drug. The company misbranded the antidepressant drugs and sold them for uses not approved by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). These include the treatment of depression in children, anxiety, addiction, obesity, and ADHD. There is no concrete evidence that indicate the drugs are capable of treating these ailments, however, the company marketed the drugs despite numerous warnings about the increased risk of suicide for minors. The company also withheld information from the FDA about their diabetes drug Avandia. Clinical trials of this drug reveal that the drug increases increase the risk of developing heart related complications.
Many pharmaceutical companies do not adhere to compliance marketing and selling. In most of the cases, the executive is always under pressure from the stakeholders to perform. This translates to increasing the sales of drugs and reducing the production cost of the drugs. The executive results in unethical behavior, such as misbranding and poor working conditions for the low-end workers. To improve performs of the companies in the compliance marketing and selling issue, the companies must reveal the payment terms of sales representatives and when necessary fire employees who engage in misconduct.  Determine the success PharmaCARE and WellCo shareholders would have in suits against the companies.
CompeCARE is a subsidiary of PharmaCARE and operates in Colberia. The day-to-day operation of the subsidiary is far from the image the company portrays to the shareholders. PharmaCARE shareholders receive the wrong information about how the profits the company realizes each year are made. The environment conservation initiative that the company is so proud of is a public relation program with no real value of the ground. This environmental conservation hoax serves as a channel through which part of the companys money is lost because the project does not improve the environment nor does the company attempt to improve its operations. The shareholders can sue the executives for providing misleading information to the shareholders who would most likely not support the operation of the company and the use of their money in such a way.
The shareholders of WellCo could also easily sue the company for purchasing CompCARE with the full knowledge that the company does not operate in a sustainable manner. Purchasing such a company not only amount to poor investment decision by the executive, but also unethical investment because the operation of the company destroys the lives of the Colberia people. The shareholders of both PharmaCARE and WellCo could successfully sue for unethical behavior. The shareholders could also successfully sue on the ground of misleading information from the executives. The shareholders have the right to know how their money is spent.
Determine whether PharmaCARE lives up to its brand. Support the response.
PharmaCARE has a patient-centric brand that seeks to improve the lives of the patient as a stakeholder of the company. The employees who are also important stakeholders in the company do not get much attention. A close examination of how the company treats its employees reveal that the company treats the top executive very generously, however, the low-level employees, who are also the native citizens of Colberia, treatment is wanting. The company fails in achieving its brand goals because it the employees have neither comfortable working conditions, nor affordable healthcare. The major challenge facing PharmaCARE ability to deliver to the people of Colberia is because the pharmaceutical company is designed to operate in the high-end market where the profit margins are high and the consumers have the purchasing capacity. Because much of the population in Colberia is poor, the company does not bother to deliver the essential healthcare necessary to the people of the country despite the companys operation in the country resulting in the poor health of the residents in the country.
The patients who are the focus of the company also suffer from the incompetence of the company. The company is accused of supplying harmful drugs to the market that increase the possibility of cardiac arrest in a patient. The purported environmental stewardship initiative that the company operates is a public relation gimmick with no real results on the ground. The lobby groups in Colberia are opposed to the operation of the company in the country because of the company operates in an unethical and social unacceptable manner. Therefore, the company has no moral authority to spearhead the environmental conservation efforts because the health of its workers continues to deteriorate despite the efforts that the company purports to put towards the conservation of the environment.
Recommend at least three (3) changes PharmaCARE can make to be more ethical going forward.
PharmaCARE must take responsibility for its actions and ensure that the health of the employee is a priority. CompCARE, which PharmaCARE subsidiary in the country must take responsibility of the health of the workers and ensure their prompt treatment. After ensuring the health of the employees is taken care of, the company must change it practices to ensure it no longer exploits the environment or employees in an unsustainable manner. The employees must receive salaries that are commensurate with the tasks they handle at the company. The company must also initiate an environment cleanup program that will seek to reverse the effects the company has had on the environment and restore it to its previous state. The employees affected by the poor decisions of the management must receive compensation for the suffering they had to go through because of bringing their plight to the attention of the management. Finally, the company must compensate the community that lives around the plant for the harm caused to not only the people but also other organisms that the people around the area depend on. The company must have community initiatives that seek to improve the live hood of the people around the plant by contributing to the major economic activities in the area. Such activities will not only enable the company to operate sustainable within the community, but also will make the company part of the community in which it operates.  The company must operate in an ethical manner and ensure that the local people get credit for their products and knowledge. The western intellectual property laws do not cover cultural and communal knowledge and wealth. This creates a loophole for unethical companies to exploit and profit from poor communities that lack the ability to commercialize their knowledge. Although it is not a legal requirement for the company to give credit to the local people for their knowledge and products, the company must live up to its brand name and provide compensation to the people of Colberia. Colberia is the source of the drugs and products that reveal pain and suffering in other parts of the world, however, the people of Colberia suffer from diseases that the drugs produced by the company at treat but they cannot afford. The company must ensure that their products are available to the people of Colberia by providing subsidized products as part of the compensation.


References
Andersen, B. (2004). Bringing business ethics to life: Achieving corporate social responsibility. Milwaukee, Wisc: ASQ Quality Press.
Switzer, C. S., & Bulan, L. A. (2002). CERCLA: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. Chicago, Ill: Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, American Bar Association.
Werther, W. B. & Chandler, D. (2010). Strategic corporate social responsibility. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.