• Understand the empirical field of corporate philanthropy and sustainable business in the pharmaceutical/health care industry in developing countries.
• Understand, apply and critically assess theories and frameworks related to sustainable business and corporate philanthropy in the pharmaceutical industry in developing countries.
• Understand, apply and critically assess methodologies for calculating the social, environmental and financial impacts and efficiency of corporate philanthropy and sustainable business models in the pharmaceutical industry in developing countries.
• Understand and critically assess the various financing models that can be brought to bear in connection with MNCs providing access to medicine in developing countries.
• Understand and critically assess the role of digital solutions to sustainable business and corporate philanthropy challenges in the pharmaceutical industry in developing countries

Pharmaceutical multinational corporations (MNCs) face a number of ethical, strategic and organizational challenges in developing countries, where there are huge un-met needs for health solutions and technologies but also limited purchasing power in large segments of the population and limited state capacity to deliver solutions. 

Sometimes these challenges are addressed through Creating Shared Value approaches (Porter and Kramer, 2011) or sustainable business models (Osterwalder and Pigneurare, 2011). At other times, challenges are addressed through corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate philanthropy (Bluestone, 2002). Whatever strategy is adopted, pharmaceutical MNCs typically rely on broad partnerships with host governments, impact funds, NGOs and industry players to provide access to medicine in developing countries (Widdus, 2017).

This course will, with the point of departure in literatures on International Business (see e.g. Khan et al, 2015), Sustainable Business Models (see e.g. Smith, 2016), Corporate Social Responsibility (see e.g. Droppert and Bennet, 2015), Impact Investing and Finance (see e.g. Ngosong et al., 2015), Corporate Philanthropy (see e.g. Bluestone et al, 2002), and Digtial Solutions  in development (see e.g. Blaya et al, 2010), try to understand the strategic, organizational and technological challenges and dilemmas that face pharmaceutical MNCs when they roll out activities in developing countries.

Among the questions addressed in the course are:

- How can pharmaceutical MNCs most effectively reach the poorest and most vulnerable segments in developing countries?

- How can MNCs position themselves between sustainable business models and philanthropy in developing countries?

- How do contextual factors influence the effectiveness of different MNC strategies to provide access to medicine?

- How can MNCs finance access to medicine in developing countries?

- How can pharmaceutical MNCs organize their value chains in developing countries to provide effective access to medicine?

- How can MNCs measure and communicate access to medicine activities in developing countries, e.g.in connection with ESG and SDG reporting

- What are the kinds of technologies and digital solutions that best support sustainable business models and philanthropic activities in developing countries?

The course will provide insights from a number of pharmaceutical companies operating in developing countries. In particular, cases and evidence from the Novo Nordic-Roche partnership on Changing Diabetes in Children (CDiC) will be used extensively, and practitioners from Novo Nordic and Roche will participate in the teaching.

Beran, D., and John S. Yudkin (2006). “Diabetes care in sub-Saharan Africa”. The Lancet. Vol. 368. November 11, 2006.

Blaya, Joaquin A., Hamish SF Fraser, and Brian Holt. "E-health technologies show promise in developing countries." Health Affairs 29.2 (2010): 244-251.

Bluestone, Ken, Annie Heaton, and Christopher Lewis. Beyond Philanthropy: The Pharmaceutical industry, corporate social responsibility and the developing world. Oxfam, 2002.

Carroll, A.B. Carroll’s pyramid of CSR: taking another look. Int J Corporate Soc Responsibility 1, 3 (2016).

Droppert, Hayley, and Sara Bennett. "Corporate social responsibility in global health: an exploratory study of multinational pharmaceutical firms." Globalization and health 11.1 (2015): 1-8.

Elkington, J. (2018). 25 Years Ago I Coined the Phrase “Triple Bottom Line.” Here’s Why It’s Time to Rethink It. Harvard Business Review, June. 

Khan, Zaheer, Yong Kyu Lew, and Byung Il Park. "Institutional legitimacy and norms-based CSR marketing practices: Insights from MNCs operating in a developing economy." International Marketing Review (2015).

Kramer, M.R., Agarwal, R. & Srinivas, A. (2019). Business as Usual Will Not Save the Planet. Harvard Business Review, June, 1-9.

Osterwalder, Alexander, and Yves Pigneur. "Aligning profit and purpose through business model innovation." Responsible management practices for the 21st century (2011): 61-76 .

Porter, Michael E., and Mark R. Kramer Shared Value. HBR 2011

Schaltegger, Stefan, Florian Lüdeke-Freund, and Erik G. Hansen. "Business cases for sustainability: the role of business model innovation for corporate sustainability." International journal of innovation and sustainable development 6.2 (2012): 95-119 .

Scheyvens, R., Banks, G., & Hughes, E. (2016). The Private Sector and the SDGs: The Need to Move Beyond ‘Business as Usual’. Sustainable Development, 24(6), 371–382 

Smith, N. Craig. "From corporate philanthropy to creating shared value: Big pharma's new business models in developing markets." NIM Marketing Intelligence Review 8.1 (2016): 30.

Widdus, Roy. "Public–private partnerships for health: their main targets, their diversity, and their future directions." Global Health. Routledge, 2017. 431-438.