A Measurement System Of Corporate Social Responsibility In The Pharmaceutical Industry Of The Region

Recently, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been adopted by many business sectors in the world including pharmaceutical industry. The orientation to social and environmental issues in business operations became a subject of much different research since the development of the stakeholder theory. The stakeholder theory emphasised social responsibility because a company’s performance and business in general could not be measured solely by gaining profit. Shareholders and managers should be responsible for all others who «directly or indirectly affect or are affected by a firm's activities». Much attention has been devoted to this concept in the researcher’s analysis in a range of sectors, but CSR research has been limited in the pharmaceutical sector. Measurement system is especially insufficiently analysed in relation to outcome measures to overall stakeholders. Thus, the purpose of the research is to analyse pharmaceutical industry in the Region (some of the ex-Yugoslavian countries - today Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia) which have developed a social responsibility concept in their renowned pharmaceutical enterprises. The research objectives are to investigate the CSR measurement system and make conclusions through critical analysis of the used indicators. The objective is to make a differentiation between pharmaceutical enterprises in using indicators to present economical, environmental and social issues. The final aim is to unify the approach to CSR in the pharmaceutical sector in the Region, as there is no agreement between relevant stakeholders and pharmaceutical industry about socially responsible pharmaceutical companies. The used research methods are: scientific analytical methods, interview, desk research, statistical methods. Research results: based on detailed analysis of the measurement system in the main pharmaceutical companies in four countries in the Region (a total of 12 in the sample) a model of a socially responsible pharmaceutical company is set up