GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) is a British
pharmaceutical company that is headquartered in London and is currently the
world's sixth-largest pharmaceutical company. It is a research company with a
broad portfolio of pharmaceutical products that include anti-infective central
nervous system (CNS), respiratory, gastrointestinal / metabolic, oncology and
vaccines.
1.
What is your first reaction to Glaxo’s
approach to finding a cure for malaria?
Is it a legitimate initiative or simply a smoke-and-mirrors marketing
ploy to get the public to believe that it cares about so-called neglected
diseases in third-world countries?
Honestly
speaking, my first reaction to Glaxo's approach to find a cure for malaria was
not positive. Although the company has corporate social responsibilities to be
fulfilled, but it could harm the company's customer base and does not bring
good return to the shareholders. As a pharmaceutical company, it is always
profitable to research and come up with a cure, formulate a product and recover
the expenses with profits from the market. With regards to legal grounds, the
company will not be questioned since sharing the data for research is not a
problem until and unless there are prohibitions or rights against publicizing
the data.
Besides, Glaxo’s approach could be a marketing ploy to show that the company cares and it's helping the researchers find a cure for it. However, personally I think that this approach would not be successful because I think that Glaxo is lacking on its social responsibilities that will harm the company's position in the market.
2. What role could a social media tool like
Facebook play in supporting this initiative?
What information could Glaxo and the volunteer researchers share on
Facebook to speed up the process of finding a cure for malaria?
Social
media has made its growth to a level that everyone changed the way of
businesses operation. As a successful organization, each business wants to get
it noticed and develop a better understanding of its consumers. Social media
have changed the marketing, advertising, PR, promotion and research dynamics
for businesses. It has an impact on business processes, systems and
communication. Social media presence has become mandatory, and more companies
are convinced of the benefits accrued from it.
In GSK, the CDD
web service combines elements of a Facebook-like social network with an
Oracle-style database. Any researcher who registers on the CDD site will be
able to see graphical depictions of Glaxo's compounds and relevant chemical and
biological data. The database will allow them to upload their own data to be
viewed by other researchers. By having social media in applying in
pharmaceutical company, the researchers may share their ideas or constraints so
that others could have brainstorming in reaching improvements or solutions. Two
heads are better than one; ideas are circulated thru discussion and information
sharing so that process to find a cure for malaria could be expedited.
The service is
free of charge. If a researcher wants to combine the data with proprietary
information, CDD also offers a fee-based, secure version of its site that
allows researchers to lock up information they want to keep secret.
3.
Search the Web and find at least two sites
at which you can participate in “saving the world” through some sort of
crowdsourcing initiative. What sites did
you find? Who sponsors the site? What is the “save the world” focus?
UNICEF “Innovate
for Children”
The United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched its Innovate for Children platform, underscoring the agency’s
commitment to innovation for social change. The site allows users to offer
comments and feedback to challenges that UNICEF staff members submit to the
public. Users can also apply to get involved in projects that the agency is
currently working on.
This project is
sponsored by the members who are mainly the public’s donation. UNICEF’s work
focuses on improving lives for children and their families in a number of ways,
including better education, protection and development. This platform aims to
enhance UNICEF’s innovation process by encouraging dialogue and co-development to support
the successful delivery of end-user driven and innovative services, products
and systems.
Toyota Ideas
for Good
This is a
unique initiative centered on what Toyota has been doing for many
years—repurposing its innovative automotive technology to benefit society in
the non-automotive space. The campaign builds upon Toyota’s DNA of quality,
reliability and durability, as well as its commitment to innovation, by inviting
consumers to share their own ideas to improve quality of life beyond the
automotive world.
The
“Ideas for Good” initiative empowers people to imagine new possibilities for
Toyota technologies. The public is invited to share ideas on how to repurpose
Toyota technology through the “Ideas for Good” program sponsored by Toyota.
Consumers are challenged to find new, non-automotive applications for five
distinct Toyota technologies to ultimately benefit society. The public can
learn about Toyota’s technologies and how to share their ideas at their
website.
The
online hub will also host case studies and videos that highlight organizations
leveraging Toyota technologies to improve consumer experience and well being.
These organizations include NASCAR, Yellowstone National Park and Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical Center.
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