How to implement ‘access to medicine’ AND enhance economic performance:business model options for global access

‘Access to medicine’ or ‘global access’ is at the core heart of corporate responsibility for pharmaceutical companies. Corporate responsibility, however, is not restricted to a philanthropic dimension (such as donations), which is often referred to as corporate citizenship. It also includes corporate social responsibility (in the narrower sense) and corporate governance and thereby paves the way for linking corporate citizenship – “to be a good corporate citizen and contribute to the community” – on the one hand and economic performance on the other hand. In the domain ‘access to medicine’ providing market access to the bottom of the pyramid is an instrument addressing both sides – corporate citizenship (”giving to the public”) and corporate responsibility to its (economic) stakeholders (”creating economic value”)