AstraZeneca plc
| AstraZeneca plc | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Industry | Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Area Served | Worldwide |
| CEO | Pascal |
| Chairman | Leif Johansson |
| Products | Biopharmaceuticals |
| Market Value | 81.492,6 m$ |
| Employees | 51,500 (2014) |
| Website | www.astrazeneca.com |
Contents
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a global innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company which specialises in the whole process, from discovery to all stages of development, manufacturing and marketing of a medicine. The company primarily focuses on Cardiovascular and Metabolic disease (CVMD); Oncology; and Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity (RIA), while the Infection, Neuroscience and Gastrointestinal (ING) disease areas are also areas of interest.
Engagement in Cultural Diplomacy
In the area of human rights, AstraZeneca is a signatory to the UNGC, and recognizes the commitment with its principles in the company’s Code of Conduct. In addition, the company is involved in a series of community investment projects such as the “AstraZeneca Young Health Program”, a long-term investment program aiming to improve the health of adolescents in marginalized communities worldwide. Furthermore, AstraZeneca has contributed to the field of arts and sports through the sponsorship of events and institutions such as the Opera Delaware and it is one of the main sponsors of the Nobel Prize Ceremony. As part of a sustainability plan, the company’s objective is protection of the environment by minimizing the impact of their and their suppliers' production processes. The goal is to reduce the carbon footprint and natural resource demands. Therefore, leveraging programs such as LEAN and responsible procurement to improve AstraZeneca's efficiency and sustainability are applied.
Employment Policy
Within its responsible business plan AstraZeneca has a section in which diversity and inclusion targets and commitments of the company are outlined. In order to create medicines that are valued by different societies, understanding the diverse needs and perspectives is a focal point of the company’s business plan. Therefore, the diversity of the communities where AstraZeneca operates has to be present in the workforce and leadership teams, on the local and global level. To reach this goal, 56.5% of the company’s employees come from Europe and North America, whereas the other 43.5% of its employees are reported to come from Central and South America, Middle East and Asia, China, Japan, Russia and other Asia Pacific countries. Moreover, the increase of the percentage of women at SET level, Board level, Directors of the Company’s subsidiaries level and across the global workforce is promoted. According to the 2013 performance, 25% of AstraZeneca’s Board Directors and 24% of Directors of the Company’s subsidiaries are women. A total of 50.4% of AstraZeneca’s global workforce are women.
Cultural Exchange Programs
AstraZeneca offers the “Insight Exchange program” which works as a cultural exchange program among AstraZeneca’s employees with the main aims of furthering reflection, learning between AstraZeneca employees and therefore developing the company’s leadership culture and pipeline. The Insight Exchange program is based on the shared goals of the AstraZeneca Global Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee and the Global Talent Management strategy. The goals are achieved by learning pairs of employees coming from different geographies, leadership levels and functional areas work together for a year. 22 countries and 24 AZ locations are represented in the program.
Education
International Internship Programs
AstraZeneca offers several student opportunities and study programs worldwide such as “The Operations and IT Global Graduate Program” or the “Global Commercial MBA” held in Japan. These programs give young graduates the possibility to boost their professional careers through exchanges within an international and culturally diverse organisation.
Grants and Scholarships
AstraZeneca offers several research scholarships in order to help young researchers and students in the scientific fields of Chemistry, Biochemistry or Cell Biology, carry out their research in important scientific institutions worldwide. A relevant example of this investment area is “the Fulbright-AstraZeneca Scholarship” or the “Fulbright-AstraZeneca Research Award”.
Notable Activities
Activities in the Field of Humanitarian Aid
The most prominent activity in the field of Humanitarian aid that AstraZeneca conducts goes side by side with the aid and health relief that the non-profit health organization AmeriCares develops to reduce chronic illnesses in developing and developed countries around the world. In this sense, donating health aid in the form of investment in medicines and innovative disease treatments AstraZeneca contributes to improve the health situation in developing countries. On 28 October 2014 AstraZeneca launched the Healthy Heart Africa program to improve the hypertension problem in Africa. The goal is to offer education, screening, treatment and control in order to increase awareness of the symptoms and risks. The program was designed in cooperation with non-governmental and community based organizations, international organizations, health experts and governments. Initially launched in Kenya, the perspective of the program is to expand throughout the continent.
Promoting Human- and Civil Rights
AstraZeneca is a signatory of the UN Global Compact and has a responsible business plan in the area of Human Rights. This responsible business plan activity is also supported in other official corporate documents such as the company’s code of conduct which makes reference to an important internationally-recognized framework agreement in the area of Human and Labour Rights such as the ILO core conventions. All these facts, alongside the targets and objectives established in the company’s “Responsible Business Plan” account for the strategic importance that AstraZeneca places on the promotion of Human Rights when conducting its business operations.
Supporting Music and Visual Arts
To support music, AstraZeneca has been mainly focused on the promotion of music halls and institutions such as the OperaDelaware in the US or the Göteborg Opera in Sweden. In the area of visual arts, the company has invested principally in scientific exhibitions worldwide such as “The AstraZeneca Human Edge exhibition” celebrated in 2013 in the Ontario Science Centre, or the collaboration between the corporation and company Nobel Media with the mission to spread information and knowledge about the Nobel Laureates.
Supporting Sports
Some of the most salient activities that AstraZeneca has carried out in this field are a sport sponsorship program in which AstraZeneca employees volunteer for children’s amateur sports teams. Moreover, since 2011 AstraZeneca has sponsored the National Senior Games in the context of the National Summer Senior Games in Houston, event which is the largest multi-sport event in the world for men and women who are at least 50 years old.
