Strategic Management: Bayer AG, Essay Example

Bayer AG is a manufacturing company that is based in Germany and it is mainly deals in pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Lenazun (2009) explains that the company has been acknowledged as the inventor of aspirin and many other drugs that could be termed as controversial for example Baycol, Ciproxin and heroin. The company is has four major divisions that it is known to operate and these are chemicals, healthcare, polymers and crop science. These divisions have different functions for instance; the chemical division includes specialty products and fine chemicals while healthcare has five sub-divisions which are customer care, animal health, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and biological products, the polymers division also has sub-groups which are fibers, rubber, coatings, plastic and polyurethanes while the crop science division is in charge of protection of crops.

Some of the major problems that the Bayer Company faced were caused by its choice of products produced which were very controversial because the manufacture and sale of these drugs was rated as a corporate crime. Its worst year was in 2001 when it was ranked as a top ten worst company of the year by Multinational Monitor. This resulted because of the series of problems the company seemed to offer the community. These vices were; the environmental pollution that was caused by its products, side effects of their drugs, the many cases of poisoning that had been reported, bringing up the idea of chemical warfare agents and the mere  fact that it responsible for both manufacturing and selling of Ciproxin, Baycol and Heroin.

The products that brought the controversies were manufactured not with an aim to harm people or even the environment but were made for a different worthwhile cause. The problems that arose against Bayer were not just false allegations and the management of the company should discuss about these issues and come up with possible solutions towards these problems. According to the reports given, the Bayer Company was seen to cause more harm than good to the society at large and evaluating the possible courses of action would be the best the best thing the management should consider doing. They should first analyze the benefits the company has to the public and the problems it has contributed to the society. This is where the management should derive their next action. For instance, the products that cause harm to the environment and people should be dropped or in cases of poisonous gases, they should device chimneys to prevent these gases from polluting the atmosphere and other simple precautions.

In business, there is a social responsibility role that every business owes its stakeholders for example, its employees, creditors, society, government, and the shareholders among others. These stakeholders benefit in one way or another and it is the company’s duty to ensure that it has done its best to attend to these stakeholders. One of the things the shareholders want from the company is returns from their investment while the community demands a different kind of responsibility where they would want the company to participate in social activities, and would not want a polluted environment among other things which if closely evaluated, they would sum up to the complete opposite of what the shareholder would want.

This is where the management comes in to help in deciding the best ways possible of maintaining a balance between the shareholders and the community. Novel Guide (2009) explains how Bayer managed to act as a good citizen. To show commitment to the society and the environment, the company works hard to produce products that are friendly to the environment. It also supports an initiative by the United Nations to achieve development that is sustainable, provides employment around the world and improves working conditions to ensure human rights. Being a good citizen serves the shareholders too because the company is able to relate with the community which contributes to the company’s profits. Bayer should also come up with ideas to produce more products that are less harmful to the environment and more profit generating ideas.

References

Lenazun (November 25, 2009). Crocodyl: Collaborative research on corporations. Retrieved on   November 29, 2009 from http://www.crocodyl.org

Novel Guide (2009).Bayer AG. Retrieved on November 29, 2009 from http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/cps_0