Comparing Pfizer’s Business Standards to the Global Business Standards Codex

Living in the United States of America can give us a false sense of comfort in our democratic system. At the core of the democracy system is the belief that the voice of the people, either directly or through representative, is the defining power within the country. Due to the freedom within our culture, our economy has grown at unprecedented rates and to levels that exceed almost all other countries. However, because of the growth and size of industry their voices are also being heard and followed within our democratic system. These massive companies have lobbying power and can directly impact this country’s economy in either a positive or negative manor. Therefore, it is critical that these large companies act in an ethical manor that is acceptable to this country’s population.

Within this paper the ethics policy of one of the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, will be analyzed. Pfizer’s policy on business conduct will be compared to the Global Business Standards Codex which was developed by Paine, Deshpande, Margolis and Bettcher (Pfizer, 2012; Paine, 2005). The codex consists of eight foundational principles that predict how a company will handle certain ethical situations. This codex will also be analyzed with respect to how it should be applied within the Christian world view. The codex principles are fiduciary, property, reliability, transparency, dignity, fairness, citizenship, and responsiveness; each of which will be analyzed individually.

Fiduciary

The fiduciary principle analyzes how effectively a company acts for the shareholders and stakeholders of the company. The fiduciary actions of the company officers and employees can take many forms from consistently working toward a ...

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... the pharmaceutical and testing industry.

It has also been shown that these codex encompass many of the biblical values Christians are expected to posses. A unique observation can be made when about the teachings of the Bible and the intent of the codex. Repeatedly the command to love your neighbor as yourself supported the objective of the codex principle. This supports the validity that Christian ethics are still applicable in today’s industry and should be the foundation of all our ethical decisions.

Works Cited

Paine, L., Deshpande, R., Margolis, J. D., & Bettcher, K. E. (2005). Up to code: Does your company’s conduct meet world-class standards? Harvard Business Review, 83(12), 122-133.

Pfizer. (2012). The blue book: Summary of Pfizer policies and business procedures. Retrieved from http://www.pfizer.com/files/investors/corporate/blue_book_english.pdf