Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Insulin giant's chief is acutely aware the decisions he makes affect the lives of millions of diabetes sufferers.
The morality of business is a front page subject these days. From the paltry tax contributions of some multinationals to the ethics of high pay, doing the right thing has rarely been under such scrutiny. Lars Sorensen knows that more than most.
But while many businesses struggle with how to appear to be doing the right thing, Sorensen's challenges are altogether more serious. As chief executive of the world's largest insulin maker, the 58-year old Dane's decisions shape the margins between life and death for the world's 370m diabetes sufferers.
Being chief executive of Novo Nordisk, Scandinavia's biggest company with 35,000 people, is something of a moral minefield. What, for example, to do if customers cannot pay for medicines ? simply stop supplying? Or how to react if austerity cuts force health authorities to downgrade to cheaper medicines, leaving existing customers with inferior medical care? And the biggest tester of all, how hard to push to find a cure for an illness that keeps you in a job and rewards your shareholders?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ay-interview-Novo-Nordisks-Lars-Sorensen.html
The morality of business is a front page subject these days. From the paltry tax contributions of some multinationals to the ethics of high pay, doing the right thing has rarely been under such scrutiny. Lars Sorensen knows that more than most.
But while many businesses struggle with how to appear to be doing the right thing, Sorensen's challenges are altogether more serious. As chief executive of the world's largest insulin maker, the 58-year old Dane's decisions shape the margins between life and death for the world's 370m diabetes sufferers.
Being chief executive of Novo Nordisk, Scandinavia's biggest company with 35,000 people, is something of a moral minefield. What, for example, to do if customers cannot pay for medicines ? simply stop supplying? Or how to react if austerity cuts force health authorities to downgrade to cheaper medicines, leaving existing customers with inferior medical care? And the biggest tester of all, how hard to push to find a cure for an illness that keeps you in a job and rewards your shareholders?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ay-interview-Novo-Nordisks-Lars-Sorensen.html