Words for pharma: a quantitative and qualitative analysis on vision, mission and values of multinational pharma companies.

Abstract

Introduction: Pharma companies deal with the same important challenges that humans face: to grow and stay healthy. The crucial role of pharma companies in preserving health would suggest that they might rank highly in the reputation indexes. However, this does not seem to be the case. Our aim was to collect, cluster and analyse the words used by pharma companies in their mission, vision and value statements as a base to identify areas of improvement in their corporate communication.

Methods: A total of 97 multinational pharma companies were selected based on their size and presence within major markets. Mission, vision and company values were captured from company websites and analysed. Word clouds were built to analyse the frequency of words in the statement. The influence of company size and location was also analysed.

Results: Most companies (90.7%) have a mission and 54.6% have a clearly stated vision statement, 71.4% mention values. “Life/lives” “patients”, “innovative”, “people/persons” are the most frequently used words. “Innovation” and “integrity” are by far the most common values, followed by “respect”, “ethics”, “responsibility” and “passion”. References to healthcare professionals, access to treatment and sustainability, open science, transparency and care for the environment are more scanty.

Conclusions: Most, but not all, pharma companies provide comprehensive statements focussing mostly on the innovation and its impact on patients. Topics such as role of health care professionals, economic sustainability and care for the environment are rarely listed. An in-depth analysis of their alignment with key needs and trending topics is warranted to further engage customers and build reputation and value. (Digital health)