* New unit seeks fivefold volume increase in 5 years
* Remit is 50 percent business, 50 percent reputation
* 2012 sales expect to double to around 150 mln pounds
By Ben Hirschler
LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Can you mix corporate do-gooding
and hard-nosed business? GlaxoSmithKline thinks so.
The British drugs giant is having some early success with a
novel “hybrid” approach in Africa that is focused on improving
drug access by cutting prices for a continent with 24 percent of
the world’s health problems and just 1 percent of the budget.
Its goal is to increase volumes fivefold in five years.
Rivals like Sanofi and Roche are also
adopting “tiered” or differential pricing to open up developing
world markets, but GSK has gone further by melding its business
and corporate responsibility goals in a single operating unit.
Traditionally, companies have kept charitable giving
separate from their profit-making activities.
Continued…
