Exemplary Leadership

Exemplary Leadership

Introduction

Company Profile

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company which, along with its subsidiaries, engages in rigorous research and development, manufacturing and selling a wide variety of healthcare products. The company operates in three main markets, including consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices and diagnostics markets. For the 2012 fiscal year, Johnson & Johnson's subsidiaries operated in 139 manufacturing facilities. The area occupied by these subsidiaries amounted to 21.8 million square feet. In the U.S., Johnson & Johnson's consumer segment operates in 8 facilities, the pharmaceutical segment operates in 10, and the medical devices and diagnostics operate in 34. In June 2012, Johnson & Johnson acquired Synthes, Inc. In the consumer segment, manufactured baby care, skin care and other general healthcare products are distributed both to local retailers in the U.S., as well as foreign markets. Major brands in Johnson & Johnson's Skin Care franchise include Clean & Clear, Neutrogena and Aveeno. Johnson & Johnson has a considerable amount of brand value in the children's market through its Baby Care franchise. The pharmaceutical segment creates products in areas of anti-infective, antipsychotics, contraceptives, dermatology, pain management and vaccines, among other products. The medical devices and diagnostics segment distributes a wide variety of products to wholesalers and retailers. These products are most relevant to healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, therapists, hospitals, and diagnostic laboratories. Product distribution to health care professional markets depends on surgical supply and alternate distributors (Reuters, 2013). The tables below have been retrieved from Johnson & Johnson's annual Responsibility Report, 2011. Fig. 1 illustrates Johnson & Johnson's organizational scale, whereas Fig. 2 illustrates the quantity of products and services provided to local and worldwide markets. Johnson & Johnson will be the exclusive Official Healthcare Sponsor of the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2-13 and the 2013 FIFA World Cup Brazil. FIFA's marketing director, Weil commented that FIFA is honored to welcome a “global, broadly based and trusted company like Johnson & Johnson” on board (fifa.com, 2011).

Fig. 1 (Johnson & Johnson, 2011)

Fig. 2 (Johnson & Johnson, 2011)

Discussion

Company Leadership & Management Styles

Johnson & Johnson is a company that displays an exemplary leadership tradition, with a heritage of more than 125 years in the corporate world. The company is a leader in innovation through research and development, focusing on meaningful progress. Not only does the company excel at its business initiatives and leadership, but also takes on an array of social responsibilities, reflected in its commitment to the Millennium Development goals through various initiatives such as women and child health improvement programs and outreach.

The company's management style is based on decentralization. Decentralization refers to delegating authority and responsibility to lower levels of the hierarchal structure. Since Johnson & Johnson operates in numerous world markets, decentralization allows for greater freedom in proficient decision making at lower levels in immediate responses to consumer needs. The diversification of Johnson & Johnson's products and markets necessitates a decentralized management system (DuBrin, 2008). Because of its decentralized management system, Johnson & Johnson is able to successfully innovate ...