Glaxo Smith - Case Study

Question 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?

Answer

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.

My first reaction to Glaxo's approach was not positive; being the sixth largest company in the world, the company has certain corporate social responsibilities towards people. It is not always fruitful to be capitalistic since it can harm the company's customer base. Operating in the health sector, it is always profitable for the company 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 (Trusov et al, 2009).

In addition, the move can be a marketing ploy to show that the company cares and it's helping the researchers find a cure for it. On the other hand, my reaction to this marketing approach would be negative since I believe that Glaxo is lacking on its social responsibilities that will harm the company's position in the market.

Question 2

What role could a social media tool like Facebook play in supporting this initiative? What information could Galxo and the volunteer researchers share on face book to speed up the process of finding a cure for malaria?

Answer

The unprecedented growth of social media has changed the way businesses operate. 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. Social media have transformed the way businesses operate, and there is no going back. It truly marks an evolution in the marketing industry and this evolution is the biggest of its kind. ...