Main Subject - Business

It's a brave new world. Effective management now means more than how you handle your staff. Management also includes how you manage your social reproducibility to others in your community. "There is no way to avoid paying serious attention to corporate citizenship: the costs of faili

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

ng are simply too high. There are countless win-win opportunities waiting to be discovered: every activity in a firm's value chain overlaps in some way with social factors - everything from how you buy or procure to how you do your research - yet very few companies have thought about

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

this.

The goal is to leverage your company’s unique capabilities in supporting social causes and improve your competitive context at the same time. The job of today’s leaders is to stop being defensive and start thinking systematically about corporate responsibility.”

Mich

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

el Porter, Professor, Harvard Business School, at the April 2005 Business and Society Conference on Corporate Citizenship, sponsored by the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management

Most agencies will probably agree that they have a moral obligation to serve as a contribut

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

ng member of their community. What many are not sure of, however, is exactly how it is done.

I was visiting with an agency recently about the idea of adopting more socially responsible business practices. This particular owner expressed his personal view - "Our agency is here to wri

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

e business and take care of our clients, not the entire community."

After talking with this owner, I began looking into the idea of social responsibility to better understand an agency's place in their community. I discovered a new buzz word working its way into the 21st century def

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

inition of doing business. The term is "CSR - "Corporate Social Responsibility".

It seems that a growing body of evidence suggests that social responsibility is a sound business strategy, and worth every agency investing their time to learn more about.

What Is Social Respon

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

ibility?

According to Wikipedia,

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that organizations, especially (but not only) corporations, have an obligation to consider the interests of customers, employees, shareholders, communities, an

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

ecological considerations in all aspects of their operations. This obligation is seen to extend beyond their statutory obligation to comply with legislation.

CSR is closely linked with the principles of Sustainable Development, which argues that enterprises should make dec

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

sions based not only on financial factors such as profits or dividends, but also based on the immediate and long-term social and environmental consequences of their activities.

Christine Arena, author of "The High-Purpose Company", says "more businesses are using CSR n

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

t just for feel-good philanthropy or to polish their public image, but as long-term corporate strategy." In particular, this corporate strategy includes increased profitability because the buying public is becoming more and more demanding of the people they do business with. CSR is a

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

n excellent opportunity for independent agents to create a unique place in their markets.

What Can You Do?

Certainly, the opportunities for an independent agent to be a high-purpose company differ significantly from the major corporations Christinie Arena writes ab

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

ut in her book. But the reality is that the idea of CSR is hitting a chord in the American public.

Here are some ways to bring the idea of a high-purpose company to your agency:

First, establish a clear vision for your agency

To be a "High-Purpose" agency you must

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

first have a vision. Establishing a clear vision is more than a statement you carve out and put on your wall. Communicating why your agency is in business and where it is going provides staff and customers something to believe in, and buy into.

Invest in your community
tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen
g>

In almost 100 agencies I have visited in the past 12 months, I can count on one hand the number of agents that make investing in their community a regular part of how they do business. Do you want your community to invest their trust in your agency? Be the first one to invest. He
t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel
e are some suggestions:

Scholarships
Provide scholarships to your local high schools
CERT Programs
CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) are under the direction of FEMA, and provides community resources during disasters
<
ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust
li>Support Road clean-up and maintenance
This is may seem like a small contribution, but the roadside signs announcing who is responsible for a stretch of road are read by virtually everyone in the community.
Create eco-friendly offices

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products
ave you considered how "green" your agency is, and how you can become even more ecologically responsible? Maximizing natural light, controlling the thermostat and recycling are just a few ways to create a more eco-friendly agency.

Provide an annual CSR report to your clients
.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

If you are going to make a commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, then also make a commitment to let your customers know how you value your community. Provide your clients, and possibly even your prospects, with an annual CSR report that outlines your contributions
elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip
for the year, and your plans for the future.

One of the most significant challenges we face as independent agents is communicating the customer's need for an agent. Corporate Social Responsibility can be an effective way to increase profits, and gain the confidence of your community

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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Main Subject - Businesses Become More Socially Concious

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