HWZ Schriftenreihe für Betriebs- und Bildungsökonomie Herausgegeben von HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich Band 8
Georges Ulrich Repositioning of a Stakeholder Issue applied at Pfizer Switzerland Haupt Verlag Bern Stuttgart Wien
Dr. Georges Ulrich, a graduate of the University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich (HWZ), and MBA of the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), was awarded his doctoral degree in stakeholder management and communication by Prof. Dr. Sybille Sachs and Prof. Dr. Bruce Millet in a cooperation project of the USQ and HWZ. Dr. Ulrich regularly publishes articles in the daily press. He is CEO of the gfs field services plc (www.gfs-bd.ch), board member of the Swiss Association of Practical Social Research and president of the alumni HWZ. 1. Auflage: 2009 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen National bibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. ISBN 978-3-258-07514-3 Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Copyright 2009 by Haupt Berne Jede Art der Vervielfältigung ohne Genehmigung des Verlages ist unzulässig. Umschlaggestaltung: René Tschirren nach Konzept von Typisch GmbH, Atelier für Mediengestaltung, Bern Redaktion und Satz: Autor Printed in Switzerland www.haupt.ch
Abstract How can a company implement its stakeholder orientation in the interaction with its stakeholders via the media? The study is a descriptive analysis of the starting point for a campaign-oriented approach using Pfizer Switzerland as a case study. In this paper, a framework is developed on the basis of the stakeholder and the campaigning approach. This allows a company to identify how its declared stakeholder orientation is perceived within the company, by the population and the media, in order to initiate a comprehensive stakeholder communication and encourage the stakeholders to communicate with the company in appropriate fields of interaction. To achieve this, the socialeconomic survey research was used as a process instrument. This is generally accepted as an objectification function. On a comprehensive structural level, it should enable management to understand its environment pertaining to a specific issue, and to communicate in such a way as to achieve the desired effect. The framework was applied to the issue of trust at Pfizer. The study concludes that the role of the media, in its primary function and in its role as a platform for initiating dialogues on appropriate interaction fields, contains potential for Pfizer. At the same time, a distinction was made between the relevance of the media, and the difference between the reports published by the media and the actual perception in the population. In particular, political orientation appears to be significant for the question of having trust in Pfizer. The framework, developed on the basis of empirical opinion research, has contributed toward the management of Pfizer seeing how the company is actually perceived in the population, thereby providing a basis for further critical reflection and decision making. V
At Pfizer, one is convinced that the media play an important role in the communicative implementation of a stakeholder-oriented vision. Challenges need to be met so that in the future a direct and mutual exchange with the relevant stakeholders will lead to the goal of actually being perceived by the population as a trustworthy company. VI
Acknowledgements I would not have succeeded in writing this dissertation if I had not been able to count on the support of my parents, Walter and Elisabeth, who have the patience of Job, my sisters and brother, Bea, Denise and Rolf, my sister-in-law Barbara, my friends and, in particular, my wife Michèle Ulrich-Hamann. I want to thank Prof. Dr. Ronel Erwee and Dr. Bruce R. Millett for giving me the opportunity of submitting this study to the University of Southern Queensland. I am also grateful to be the first candidate to benefit from the cooperation of this university with the HWZ (Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich). This combination enabled me to complete an ambitious doctorate while continuing to work, and at the same time, to widen my horizon both professionally and personally. VII
I want to thank Prof. Dr. Sybille Sachs and Prof. Dr. Edwin Rühli for the initial idea for my doctorate and for their excellent supervision. I owe particular thanks to the research group of Prof. Dr. Sybille Sachs for the active exchange and input, especially from Irene Perrin, Dr. Thorsten Schäfer, Prof. Dr. Ruth Schmitt, Dominic Käslin, Veronika Mittnacht and Dr. Isabelle Kern. Special thanks also to Prof. Dr. Ed Freeman and Prof. Dr. Patricia H. Werhane at the Center for Applied Ethics at the Olsson Business Center of the University of Darden, Virginia, for the exciting stay in Charlottesville, and for what was for me a totally new form of instruction. I want to thank Prof. Dr. Jacques Bischoff and Prof. Dr. Urs Dürsteler for the opportunity to break new ground, and the confidence that they and the Zurich School of Business put in me at all times and on many different levels. I also thank Alexia Böniger, and in particular the Board of Directors of the HWZ alumni for their continual enthusiasm, for giving up a lot of their free time and for their efforts to invest in the idea of an efficient network on various levels for future students. Special thanks also to Dr. Petra Danielsohn and Dr. Hans Groth, as well as the Management Team of Pfizer Switzerland, for giving me the opportunity of applying the model I developed at such an interesting and cooperative company as Pfizer Switzerland. On the professional level, I want to thank Dr. Victor Erne and Prof. Dr. Iwan Rickenbacher, as well as Marc Pfirter, Dr. Peter Spichiger and Claude Longchamp, who accompanied me on my professional path, in their capacity of members of the board of directors of the gfs Research Institutes (gfs.bern, gfszürich and gfs field services), according to the principle support and challenge, and who shared the responsibility for this study. In particular, I also owe VIII
thanks to the Management Team of the gfs field services, Albert and Marcel Amrein, Remo Valsangiacomo and Maya Amrein for their active and loyal support during the time I carried the double load of doctorate and profession. My thanks also go to Christina Hug, Anna Oetliker, Christine Luisi, Chris O Reilly and Heather Déverin, who supported and accompanied me with feedback and suggestions, and who read through the text numerous times. Thank you so much! Zürich, December 2008 Georges Ulrich IX
Table of Contents Abstract Acknowledgements V VII 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Background and position of the study... 1 1.1.1. Comprehensive control of communicative instruments... 2 1.1.2. PR campaigns for implementing a global vision... 4 1.1.3. Society demands responsibility and a right to be heard... 5 1.1.4. Conditions for stakeholder-oriented communication... 7 1.1.5.Opinion research as an element of an interactive communication concept... 8 1.2 Research problem... 10 1.2.1. The starting position for Pfizer Switzerland... 10 1.2.2. Between cost pressure and creating trust... 11 1.2.3. The central research question... 14 1.2.4. The detailed research questions... 15 1.2.5. Schools of thought in the literature... 18 1.2.6. Contributions... 20 1.3. Justification for the research... 20 1.4. Methodical procedure... 22 1.5. Outline of the dissertation... 27 1.6. Definitions... 31 1.7. Limitations of scope and key assumptions... 32 1.8. Conclusion... 35 2. Literature 39 2.1. Literature Review... 39 2.2. Theoretical starting position... 46 X
2.3. Stakeholder approach... 49 2.3.1. Perception instruments: descriptive, instrumental or normative... 52 2.3.2. Reasons for the choice of the descriptive perception... 56 2.3.3. How do I tell my stakeholder?... 62 2.3.4. Application of present study... 64 2.4. PR approaches in communication science and an introductionto campaigning.. 67 2.4.1. Arguments of campaigning 70 2.4.2. Definition and application of campaigning 72 2.4.3. The limitations of campaigning 77 2.4.4. Limitations of one-time campaigns 78 2.4.5. Limitation of integrated communication 78 2.4.6. Differences of campaigning in politics and companies 79 2.4.7. Limitation to classic health communication 80 2.4.8. Limitation of campaigning and stakeholder approach 81 2.5. Combination of stakeholder approach and campaigning... 83 2.5.1. The importance of the media 84 2.5.2. The role of survey research in the media 87 2.6. The special context of Pfizer Switzerland... 92 2.7. The research question and its limitations... 94 2.8. Sub-problems as basis for the empirical starting position... 97 2.9. Conclusion... 105 3. Methodology 107 3.1. Research design and methodology... 107 3.2. The empirical mix of quantitative and qualitative methods... 117 3.2.1. Qualitative study; perception Pfizer (secondary analysis) 118 3.2.2. Univox; the media channels for health topics (secondary analysis) 130 3.2.3. Quantitative public poll; perception public (primary analysis) 132 3.2.4. Media content analyses; published opinion (primary analysis) 143 3.2.5. Interim assessment 145 3.2.6. Workshop Pfizer; Communicative areas of activity 145 3.3. Validity and Reliability... 148 3.4. Limitations... 149 XI
3.5. Recommendations... 150 4. Results 151 4.1. Assembly of results... 151 4.2. Company... 153 4.2.1. Issue Building Trust for Pfizer s value creation 155 4.2.2. General Benefit and Risk Potentials 155 4.2.3. Relevant stakeholders 157 4.2.4. Stakeholder networks and benefit and risk potential 158 4.2.5. Results of explorative inquiry 161 4.3. Media... 161 4.3.1. Univox 161 4.3.2. Results of Univox analysis 163 4.4 Newspaper as medium... 163 4.4.1. Univariate evaluation 164 4.4.2. Bivariate analysis of the articles, according to the newspaper 166 4.4.3. Results of media analysis 170 4.5. Population... 171 4.5.1. Question 1): Which pharmaceutical companies do you know? 171 4.5.2. Question 3a): If Pfizer not mentioned: Do you know the company Pfizer? 174 4.5.3. Question 2a): Where do you know the name Pfizer from? 175 4.5.4. Question 2b) What do you associate with the name Pfizer? 177 4.5.5. Question 2c, 2d: how credible/trustworthy do you consider Pfizer to be? 177 4.5.6. Bivariate model for credibility and/or trustworthiness 178 4.5.7. Multivariate model for credibility and/or trustworthiness 181 4.5.8. Result of population inquiry 184 4.6. Answers to the empirical research questions... 185 4.7. Conclusion of descriptive empirical results... 186 XII
5. Implications 187 5.1. Implications of the results from the company-oriented point of view... 187 5.1.1 Top-down and bottom-up communication 188 5.1.2. Communication to the media 188 5.1.3. A conservative attitude to communication 189 5.1.4. Difference between attitude and behaviour 191 5.2. Medially communicative operating fields in the campaigning approach... 193 5.3. Outcome of the workshop... 196 5.3.1. Conclusion 198 5.4. Value of the symbiosis of the campaigning and stakeholder approaches... 199 5.5. Conclusion and outlook... 202 5.5.1. Answer to the research question 203 5.5.2. Future research and research desiderata 205 References 206 Appendix 223 A.1. Case Study Protocol... 223 B.1. Use of the daily newspaper... 227 C.1. Information-oriented use of media... 228 D.1. Preferred subject: health... 229 E.1. Satisfaction with the medium newspaper... 229 F.1. Code list for media contents analysis... 230 G.1. Code book and questionnaire for population survey... 235 H.1. Univox questionnaire (only questions without statistics)... 240 XIII