Find a firm\'s statements on ethics or codes of conduct from corporate Websites.

Question

Find a firm's statements on ethics or codes of conduct from corporate Websites. You may choose a company
with operations near your residence or the company that produce your favorite brands. Visit both the Website of Social Accountability International (www.sa
-intl.org) and the Website of Transparency International
www.transparency.org to learn more about the international business ethical standards and current status of countries in corruption.

Then, describe your opinion on the ethical standards and behavior of the company in association with the
criticisms which have been levied against MNCs in the past regarding their activities in less-developed countries.

Please Cite your sources

Explanation / Answer

I have selected "CIPLA" a pharma company to discuss its ethical standards and behavior of the company in less developed countries.

Introduction to CIPLA: It is an Indian based Multinational pharma company. It produces medicine to treat various diseases. It is the 42nd largest Indian company by its market value.

Code of conduct : first let us look at the statement by Mr. Umang Vohra, the CEO and MD of the company.

"We follow the philosophy of “Caring for Life” and our Credo reflects a set of beliefs and timeless principles that strongly influence the way we live and the way we work. This core philosophy is embedded in Our Code of Conduct."

the Cipla's code of conduct mainly focuses on following things:

caring for people

caring for shareholders & company

caring for community

caring for brand

the above things covers almost all the ethical issues of the company. eg: quality, data privacy, human rights and no harassment etc.

Now let us look at the ethical issues of pharma industry in less developed countries and how Cilpa is dealing with these issues.

According to Sophia Zyga there are three ethical issues a pharma company must take care of

Informed consent: it means the customers have full right to know about the products that they are using and it is the company’s responsibility to educate the customer about the product. In western part of the world this is followed strictly but in the developing and less developed countries it is still a major problem. Till now we haven’t found any case on Cilpa in this issue but there are companies following these wrong practices. In the code of conduct Cipla mentioned that it’s one of the objectives is to take care of the customer. In our responsibilities column Cipla clearly mentioned that it takes informed decisions to add value to the customers.

Standard of Care: if a developed country is sponsoring the research, then care on the customer should be of same standard that the developed country customers are getting offered. Otherwise it comes under the exploitation of the people.. In the case of Cipla , as it is already a company from developing country it has to follow the strict rules formed by the government in case of research.

Research Committees: according to WHO every country should encourage to have committees to take care of ethical issues. Cilpa has been a part of many institutions which are showing greater concern on the quality of medical services.

sources i have used to write this answer:

ethical issues in pharmaceutical industry ; an analysis of US news papers

code of conduct of cipla

Cipl's website

Health care research in developing countries: ethical issues

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