Global Citizenship

Citizenship Reporting External Commentary

Joseph Hotchkiss Director - Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability

Joseph H. Hotchkiss is Professor and Director of the School of Packaging at Michigan State University and Director of the Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability. Earlier, he was Professor and Chair of the Food Science Department in the Institute of Food Science at Cornell University, and also served in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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Packaging is a technical system used to distribute, market and facilitate the use of products. Nutritional and pharmaceutical products would not be available without packaging. However, packaging is resource intensive -- and it’s likely that at some point many of the resources and materials currently used in manufacturing packaging will both decline in availability and increase in cost. Forward looking companies like Abbott are supporting research to address these issues for packaging.

The major challenges facing packaging are to develop new materials based on renewable resources and design new forms of packaging that provide the required performance using less material. Increasing post-use value and increasing recycling are inherent in these needs. Abbott is a founding member supporting basic research at Michigan State University’s Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability to address these issues. The center brings together researchers across the colleges of Engineering, Agriculture, and Business in order to provide integrative solutions to these problems.

Laurel Nelson-Rowe Managing Director - American Society for Quality

Laurel Nelson-Rowe is Managing Director at ASQ, a global community of experts and the leading authority on quality in all fields, organizations and industries. As a professional association, ASQ advances professional development, credentials, knowledge and information services, membership community, and advocacy.

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The need for continuous quality improvement in process, product, packaging and experience is more important, more transparent in industry and more visible to customers worldwide today than ever before. The basic tools of quality, such as mapping, assessing and fine-tuning processes, from the simple to the complex, can reduce time to market for manufacturers, while helping to deliver consistent, high-quality product to consumers in critical need – where they need it, when they need it – more rapidly. Quality tools and processes also can help manufacturers reduce costs.

Quality management systems and organizational performance excellence plans build upon the foundation of continuous improvement – extending it throughout the enterprise – from staff teams to leadership functions to executive management. Continuous improvement is a business and competitive differentiator, from the global supply chain to the global buy chain, influencing the brand, reputation and loyalty. When thoroughly and properly applied, the tools of quality and the ongoing practice of continuous improvement deliver innovations, results and impact – to the business, to the value chain and to society. Ensuring these results requires that quality tools and systems are consistently delivered, applied, and shared by people of experience and expertise. Additionally, companies seeking to differentiate themselves through quality must establish and constantly encourage a culture of quality throughout the enterprise.

Abbott sets a distinctive example in training, education, professional and career development in quality tools, techniques and systems, putting a premium on professional certification and credentials in its worldwide operations. ASQ is proud to have played a role in these efforts. At the same time, and to its credit, the company invests in its people – all employees, all roles and functions – in work with ASQ to develop awareness, understanding and use of basic quality techniques and compliance processes on a global basis, to produce improved outcomes for suppliers, stakeholders, partners and customers. In 2010, Abbott's quality systems were tested by two significant product recalls. The company's longstanding commitment to quality enabled it to recover from these challenges and to implement sound corrective and preventive action plans.

Chris Perceval Director, Corporate Relations - World Resources Institute

Chris Perceval is Director of Corporate Relations at the World Resources Institute, where he is responsible for overseeing WRI’s work with more than 70 companies across five programs. He works directly with staff and strategy leaders in the private sector to identify the best way they can partner with WRI and tap into relevant tools and key messages.

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Overall, the Abbott Global Citizenship Report is comprehensive and clear. It communicates the company's approach to reducing its footprint and responding to shared societal challenges. With a strong governance framework, clear targets and a joined-up global approach that is backed by public position statements, the report exemplifies the company's stated values to be "pioneering, achieving, caring and enduring."

Abbott made good progress in 2010, demonstrated by its moves to engage additional external stakeholders and to disclose data on carbon emissions across the value chain, and by its progress toward 2015 performance targets on a number of environmental metrics. However, if the company seeks to "redefine responsibility," as the title of the report suggests, or to be recognized as a leader, there are many ways to make even more significant progress. For example:

• On climate protection: Can the company explain the significance of climate science in determining the ambition set for the stated carbon reduction targets? Should the company update its climate change position statement in order to be more explicit about the need for smart and effective climate regulation in the U.S. and in other countries? After all, without a response that is based in the science and expressed through strong public policy, it seems unlikely that the global community will move alone toward a low-carbon economy.
• On water: It is excellent to see that the company is beginning to develop strategies to reduce dependence on the use of water in the most water-stressed watersheds, and that it is moving toward deeper understanding of how context, risks and trends in changes of water availability over time may impact its business. To go a step further, can the company develop a systematic approach to reviewing and managing risk, and extend its thinking to decisions about site location for new facilities? Also, stakeholders are likely to be left questioning the extent of Abbott's analysis of the problem of pharmaceuticals in the environment and water quality. The report could benefit from more details on proposed solutions, or more information on progress to date in addressing this challenge.
• On forestry: Efforts to encourage sustainable packaging, FSC printing paper and recycling initiatives by suppliers can help reduce the burden of wood extraction on forests. To go a step further, can the company place more emphasis on efforts to ensure that paper, packaging and wood-based products in the company value chain that have not been certified are from trees that were harvested legally? For example, it is now possible to check the species of wood in paper and packaging using simple lab testing, and to work with suppliers to avoid using paper or packaging that depends on pulp from protected species or areas in which there is a high risk of illegal logging.

Mark Rosenberg, M.D., M.P.P. President and CEO - Task Force for Global Health

Mark Rosenberg is President and CEO of the Task Force for Global Health in Atlanta. His prior experience includes 20 years of service with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including early work in smallpox eradication, enteric diseases and HIV/AIDS.

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The world of global health has been rapidly and dramatically changing over the past three decades. The big multinational organizations that dominated the landscape during the last half of the twentieth century – the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the World Bank – together now have smaller budgets for health than some of the new partnerships like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria; the Global Alliance for Vaccinations and Immunization (GAVI); and UNITAID. The number of organizations that now participate in global health has increased markedly, and it is now expected that, along with the big multinational organizations, recipient countries, bilateral aid organizations, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, foundations, and other donors will all participate in decision-making and program planning. Now, more than ever before, working effectively in this global landscape with so many players will require effective collaboration.

The Abbott 2010 Global Citizenship Report takes an important step forward with the statement that "We believe that the best way for our industry to innovate and to maximize returns on our R&D investment is to recognize that science is best practiced as a globally collaborative enterprise." When we think of science, we usually think about research and the discovery of new drugs, new biologicals, diagnostics or ways to prevent or treat serious medical problems. However, the report goes on to address ways that collaboration can enrich not only research or discovery, but also help with the development process and with the equally important area of delivery. In fact, placed along a spectrum that goes from discovery to development and finally delivery, collaboration can accelerate progress and improve the well-being of even those who are least well off, wherever around the world they may be.

By leveraging its donations, Abbott can also promote good collaborative practices among other players by supporting the training, discussions, planning and relationship-building that are critical elements of successful coalitions. In global health, there is a compelling need for what we call "real collaboration," the give-and-take of human beings who are so dedicated to a mission they will set aside the politics of organizations, share the difficulties and invent solutions together. Donors like Abbott can do even more to encourage real collaboration and improve impact beyond their important direct contributions of resources by:

• leveraging their grants to encourage collaboration within specific partnerships to which they contribute.
• adapting policies to strengthen support for infrastructure-strengthening in the countries in which they are working, building sustainable capacity for collaboration and improvement.
• supporting development of the leadership and management skills needed for effective collaboration.
• sponsoring forums for global health leaders to reach consensus on priorities.
• modeling collaborative behavior.

For many years the global health community has measured the good that corporations do in the world of global health by the amount of money or the number of pills these corporations donate. But the public health community will be selling the corporate community short and shortchanging the ultimate beneficiaries of their good work if we fail to recognize the important contribution that the private sector can make as good partners promoting real collaboration.

Jeff Sturchio, Ph.D. President and CEO - Global Health Council

Jeffrey L. Sturchio is President and CEO of the Global Health Council, the world's largest membership alliance of public health organizations and professionals, active in more than 100 countries on six continents.

Before assuming leadership of GHC, Sturchio served as Vice President, Corporate Responsibility, at Merck & Co., Inc.

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In an increasingly interconnected world – in which resource constraints affect developed and developing countries alike – health companies like Abbott face unprecedented challenges. The 2010 Abbott Global Citizenship Report is an excellent summary of the progress and outcomes of Abbott's many initiatives to address innovation, access and patient and consumer safety. As I read the report, three potential areas for further development came to mind: rethinking innovation, looking at new business models and embracing goals and metrics more systematically.

What do I mean by "rethinking innovation"? This report outlines the many contributions that Abbott scientists and clinicians continue to make in their own research, as well as in their efforts to seek out alliances and licensing partners. I'd like to suggest that Abbott take an even broader look at innovation. Instead of conceiving its role as mainly a discovery organization, what if Abbott focused also on what they could do to improve the delivery of health solutions to those who need them, wherever they live? In identifying partners for collaboration, why not look at emerging markets and developing countries not just as potential markets, but also as new sources of ideas and innovations?

Abbott already has experience, through the Abbott Fund, with developing delivery solutions to help ensure access to care, partnering with AMPATH in Kenya, the Muhimbili Hospital in Tanzania and Direct Relief International in Haiti and Bolivia. As Abbott and its partners learn more, they extend their collaborations in these and other areas.

But Abbott is a commercial firm, not a charitable organization. As important as Abbott's philanthropic initiatives are, an even more exciting opportunity exists to think in terms of new business models to deliver health solutions sustainably to underserved populations in emerging markets and developing countries. Imagine the impact that examples like those in Kenya, Tanzania, Haiti and Bolivia could have if developed across Abbott's entire business portfolio – in drugs, diagnostics, nutrition and vision care – and scaled up in a coordinated manner. By creatively adapting models of inclusive growth, Abbott could spark a revolution in the range and reach of the contributions they can make. For example, what if the new ARCHITECT HIV Ag/Ab combo assay tool was re-engineered to make it more affordable – and thus more accessible – for the tens of millions of potential patients who live in those countries where the risk of new HIV infection is greatest?

My third point is about goals and metrics. Stakeholders are asking companies like Abbott for more transparency and accountability in their global citizenship reporting. Abbott has provided the most information about targets and quantifiable progress toward those goals in the areas of environment, health and safety. The company has an opportunity to bring the same level of discipline to reporting in areas like innovation and access, by setting out clear, time-bound targets, then measuring and reporting on the progress it makes. This is admittedly a challenging task. But I would encourage Abbott to continue to develop its thinking and practices around quantitative goals and metrics. By adopting specific targets, benchmarking against other organizations working in similar areas and providing regular progress reports, Abbott will find new opportunities to build on its already impressive accomplishments and build trust with stakeholders at all levels.

Thomas Tighe President and CEO - Direct Relief International

Thomas Tighe is President and CEO of Direct Relief International, a nonprofit humanitarian medical organization funded entirely with private support. Since Tighe’s arrival, the organization has made cash grants of more than $30 million and furnished more than $1.3 billion of essential medicines, equipment, and supplies to support health services around the world.

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We understand that, technically, Abbott’s decisions are corporate decisions. But of course it is people at Abbott who make them. As a nonprofit organization, we also see that the benefits of one company’s thoughtful corporate leadership extend far beyond that company’s performance. That’s why we are so pleased to work with Abbott’s teams as they think through not only new business models but also new ways to tap business expertise and systems to bolster health, communities and organizations that serve the public good. There are two ways in which Abbott has been an especially strong partner with us:

Delivery System Innovation: Abbott’s scientific and product innovations speak for themselves, but Direct Relief’s humanitarian efforts have been bolstered profoundly by Abbott’s similarly innovative approaches in getting information, products, and services to people who live in hard-to-reach places and often confront the huge barrier of poverty.

Abbott has been a true partner in tackling tough health challenges in tough places, in the United States and around the world. For example, Abbott’s donation of rapid HIV tests has enabled literally millions of women in 69 countries to learn of their HIV status during pregnancy and, if needed, take action to prevent transmitting the virus to their children.

Capacity Building: Progress will not be made on the world’s most vexing challenges without the engagement of the world’s businesses, which are pushed each day to make better use of information and systems, become more efficient and improve quality in products and services. Our partnership with Abbott has allowed us to do each of those things for non-commercial but fundamentally important humanitarian purposes – and to help more people in areas where resources are exceedingly scarce.

Abbott was the first company to recognize and support the power of applying modern geographic information systems (GIS) tools for public health – in Bolivia, in Haiti, throughout the world with regard to HIV testing results and even in the United States. By mapping where patients can actually receive care and visualizing health-condition information and distribution channels, Direct Relief and governments can optimize resources and services – both for chronic disease and, importantly, to prepare for and respond to emergencies.

Joseph Hotchkiss Director - Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability

Joseph H. Hotchkiss is Professor and Director of the School of Packaging at Michigan State University and Director of the Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability. Prior to his appointment at MSU, he was Professor and Chair of the Food Science Department in the Institute of Food Science at Cornell University where he also taught and directed an active research program in packaging, food safety and quality.

His current research involves the development of new active packaging concepts and materials to enhance product quality and safety. He is particularly interested in using bioactive compounds and nanotechnology to improve packaging and development of new sustainable materials for packaging. He is also interested in the use and safety of ingredients and the occurrence of toxicants and anti-toxicants in consumable products. Prior to joining Cornell, Dr. Hotchkiss was a Public Health Service Research Fellow in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the US Food and Drug Administration where he conducted research on indirect food additives.

Dr. Hotchkiss is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists and has served on several committees and executive boards the Institute and is currently an advisor to the Culinary Institute of America and International Life Sciences Institute. He has served on the scientific advisory boards of a number of for profit companies and frequently consults on matters related to packaging and product safety. Dr. Hotchkiss is a former member of the Food Chemicals Codex Committee of the National Academy of Sciences and the WHO/FAO Joint Committee of Experts on Food Additives (JECFA). He recently served on FDA's National Food Advisory Committee.

Laurel Nelson-Rowe Managing Director - American Society for Quality

Laurel Nelson-Rowe is Managing Director at American Society for Quality, a global community of experts and the leading authority on quality in all fields, organizations and industries. As a professional association, ASQ advances professional development, credentials, knowledge and information services, membership community and advocacy on behalf of its more than 85,000 individual and nearly 50 Enterprise members worldwide. As champions of the quality movement, ASQ members are driven by a sense of responsibility to enrich their lives, to improve their workplaces and communities, and to make the world a better place by applying quality tools, techniques and systems.

Nelson-Rowe is responsible for overall business leadership and business results at ASQ, with special emphasis on membership, communications, Internet, brand and publishing management. Among other programs, ASQ administers the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Program Award and the International Team Excellence Award. ASQ also serves as administrator for the U.S. Technical Advisory Group for the ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility.

Nelson-Rowe is a seasoned marketing, publishing and association management executive with a comprehensive background in strategic planning, tactical implementation, product and service development, electronic commerce and content development. Prior to joining ASQ, she was a senior leader at Perot Systems Corp. and CMP Media/United Business Media/UBM. She holds a journalism degree from Marquette University.

Chris Perceval Director, Corporate Relations - World Resources Institute

Chris Perceval is Director of Corporate Relations at the World Resources Institute, where he is responsible for overseeing WRI’s work with more than 70 companies across five programs. He works directly with staff and strategy leaders in the private sector to identify the best way they can partner with WRI, tap into relevant tools and key messages. In particular, he spends his time developing strategic relationships and program and project partnerships, and further enhancing the WRI Corporate Consultative Group.

Perceval started his career in the oil and gas sector as a financial risk analyst. He then moved to Earthwatch Europe, where he led the Corporate Partnerships department, helping to make links between scientific field research and corporate environmental policy.

Among other accomplishments, Perceval led a joint publication among WRI, the World Business Council on Sustainable Development and Earthwatch entitled Ecosystem Challenges and Business Implications and an Earthwatch/International Union for Conservation of Nature paper for the European Commission’s High Level Conference on Business & Biodiversity. His work on corporate sustainability appears in the Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Sustain magazine and Corporate Citizenship Briefings.

Perceval holds degrees in Business (with Distinction) from Oxford University and in Natural Sciences from Durham University.

Mark Rosenberg, M.D., M.P.P. President and CEO - Task Force for Global Health

Mark Rosenberg is President and CEO of the Task Force for Global Health in Atlanta. His prior experience includes 20 years of service with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including early work in smallpox eradication, enteric diseases and HIV/AIDS. Rosenberg was instrumental in establishing CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and became its first permanent director in 1994, serving as Director for the Center and Assistant Surgeon General until 1999.

Rosenberg has researched and consulted widely on effective collaboration in global health and is the lead author of Real Collaboration: What Global Health Needs to Succeed (University of California Press, 2010). He also is the author of Patients: The Experience of Illness (Saunders Press, 1980) and edited Violence in America: A Public Health Approach (Oxford University Press, 1991).

Rosenberg is a member of the Institute of Medicine, where he served seven years on the Board on Global Health and co-chairs the Forum on Global Violence Prevention. Board certified in psychiatry and neurology and internal medicine, he serves on the faculty of Emory University School of Medicine, the Rollins School of Public Health and Morehouse School of Medicine. Rosenberg earned his undergraduate degree, as well as degrees in public policy and medicine, from Harvard University.

Jeff Sturchio, Ph.D. President and CEO - Global Health Council

Jeffrey L. Sturchio is President and CEO of the Global Health Council, the world's largest membership alliance of public health organizations and professionals, active in more than 100 countries on six continents.

Before assuming leadership of GHC, Sturchio served as Vice President, Corporate Responsibility, at Merck & Co., Inc., where he managed a portfolio of activities including corporate philanthropy, the Merck Institute for Science Education, the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, global health partnerships, HIV/AIDS access programs, corporate responsibility reporting, and the Merck Archives. He also served as President of The Merck Company Foundation.

During his time at Merck, Sturchio was centrally involved in the United Nations/Industry Accelerating Access Initiative to help improve HIV/AIDS care and treatment in the developing world. He was a member of the board of the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships in Botswana, as well as the private sector delegation to the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

In 2008-2009, Sturchio served as Chairman of the Corporate Council on Africa. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise at The Johns Hopkins University and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Widely published in the fields of global health and public-private partnerships, Sturchio holds an undergraduate degree in history from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in the history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Thomas Tighe President and CEO - Direct Relief International

Thomas Tighe is President and CEO of Direct Relief International, a nonprofit humanitarian medical organization funded entirely with private support. DRI provides medical material assistance to locally run health programs around the world. Since Tighe’s arrival, the organization has made cash grants of more than $30 million and furnished more than $1.3 billion of essential medicines, equipment and supplies to support health services for low-income people in 88 developing countries and all 50 U.S. states. DRI has been named one of America's Best 100 Charities by Worth magazine, has been rated by Forbes as being 99 percent efficient or better in fundraising since 2001 and has been ranked by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as California’s largest international nonprofit organization based on private support.

From 1995 to 2000, Tighe served as Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer of the Peace Corps, overseeing day-to-day operations of the agency's worldwide programs and a resurgent growth of the agency to a 27-year high. From 1993 to 1995, Tighe served as Associate General Counsel of the Peace Corps, negotiating bilateral agreements to initiate Peace Corps programs in South Africa and China. From 1989 to 1993, he served as Associate Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Tighe holds a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Hobart and William Smith Colleges.