Johnson and Johnson - Ethical and Unethical Behaviour

Johnson and Johnson - Ethical and Unethical Behaviour

Overall Rating:

6.5/10

Johnson and Johnson is constantly striving to practice good work ethics. Although Johnson and Johnson has dark spots in its past, clearly through their bright actions and positive impact, the company recognizes that in order in continue to be successful, ethical practices must be a priority. For the companies very long history the company also has maintained a very good reputation and has continued to work in developing countries to strive for a better world

Generating Revenue

Works Cited

ttp://www.csrwire.com/members/13226-Johnson-Johnson

http://www.ethicssage.com/2011/12/what-ever-happened-to-ethics-at-johnson-johnson.html

http://i-sight.com/resources/our-credo-j-and-j-ethics-oath/

http://i-sight.com/resources/crisis-management-and-ethics-best-practices-johnson-johnson/

http://www.kilmerhouse.com/

http://www.jnjcanada.com/explore-our-company?show=cmpare

Johnson and Johnson is currently a huge company that is known worldwide. It generates millions of dollars each year through:

- sale of medical devices

- sale of consumer packaged goods

- pharmaceuticals

- investors

- stock shares

Johnson and Johnson: Ethics

• Johnson & Johnson published their own form of an “ethics oath” entitled “Our Credo“, as a way to communicate the mission, vision and accountability that Johnson & Johnson holds itself to for a variety of groups- doctors, nurses, patients, mothers, fathers, employees, those in the communities they operate in, as well as the global community and company stockholders.

• Robert Wood Johnson, a member of the founding family of the Johnson and Johnson Company, created our Credo in 1943. It was created just before the company became a publicly traded entity and long before the term “corporate social responsibility” was used for accountability in the workplace. On the Johnson and Johnson corporate website, they state that:

Johnson and Johnson: Ethics Continued

• “Our Credo challenges us to put the needs and well-being of the people we serve first. Our Credo is more than just a moral compass- we believe it’s a recipe for business success. As a key player in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, Johnson & Johnson understands the responsibility they have when it comes to providing safe products to their consumers, as the risks tied to faulty products within this industry are particularly sensitive.”

• A long history of recognition and awards has positioned Johnson & Johnson as a brand that represents commitment to transparency and consumer protection. It was ranked #2 on the Barron’s World’s Most Respected Companies list, a survey ranking the world’s largest companies on strength of management, business strategy, ethical practices, competitive edge, shareholder orientation and consistent revenue/profit growth.

Johnson and Johnson

History: Continued

1931: Johnson and Johnson creates the first prescription contraceptive gel, the beginning of its family planning products

1932: Robert Wood Johnson II, son of co-founder, takes over leadership role of the company and transforms the organization global superpower

1937: Company expands to Brazil and Argentina

1944: Johnson and Johnson grow bigger and with more publicity, with a listing on the New York stock exchange

1957: Johnson and Johnson expands to India

1959: Johnson and Johnson create Tylenol, the first ever prescription aspirin pain reliever on the market. Tylenol becomes the pain reliever that doctors and pediatricians recommend the most.

1970s & 1980s: Johnson and Johnson opens its doors to new medical care products including vision care and diabetic care. The company opens operating companies in Egypt and China.

1990s & 2000s: Johnson and Johnson expand the company worldwide, including areas in Europe, Africa and Asia. The company creates medicine that deals with the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Johnson and Johnson sponsors and creates several

Johnson and Johnson: Ethical Code

Johnson and Johnson: Ethics Continued

Our Ethical Code

It is our fundamental responsibility to place the well-being of the patient first by appropriately balancing risks and benefits and to ensure that the best interests of patients and physicians who use our products receive utmost consideration.

It is our responsibility to help ensure access to our products in the communities where we develop them if the need for the product persists.

It is our responsibility to apply Credo-based values and judgment regarding the design, conduct, analysis and interpretation of clinical studies and results.

It is our responsibility to adhere to the principles of good clinical practice.

It is our responsibility to ensure all Company-based, medically relevant product information is fair and balanced, accurate and comprehensive, to enable well-informed risk-benefit assessments about our products.

It is our responsibility to understand differences in values across cultures and to adapt our behaviors in keeping with our ethical principles.

It is our responsibility to challenge each other regarding medical and ethical concerns.

• Working Mother Magazine included Johnson & Johnson in its list of the “2010 Best Green Companies for Children.” Johnson & Johnson was recognized as a leader in addressing climate change challenges and for its philanthropy and sustainability.

• Johnson & Johnson appears on these lists, and many others, every year. This year it holds position #29 on the Fortune 500 list, ranking America’s largest companies, as well as securing a place just shy of the top 100 on the Fortune Global 500 rankings- J&J is #103.

Ethics: Continued

1. On December 21, 2011 it was announced that Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest health products company, must defend a lawsuit claiming it misinformed investors about quality control-failures at manufacturing plants that led to recalls of the popular over-the counter drug, Motrin. Apparently, top executives made misleading statements about details of the recalls leading to stock losses after the true reasons for the recalls became public.

2. Earlier in 2011, a lawsuit filed by a group of consumers claiming Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo includes potentially cancer-causing chemicals was allowed to go forward, based on a single chemical ingredient found in the shampoo: methylene chloride, which is banned by the Food and Drug Administration for use in cosmetics.

• Johnson & Johnson has always been ahead of the CSR and ethics trend, beginning with the efforts taken when faced with a massive Tylenol recall in the early 80’s. :

“The gold standard for corporate crisis management remains Johnson & Johnson’s response to the Tylenol scare in 1982. Seven people were killed after some loony placed cyanide-laced capsules in packages on store shelves. Although the deaths were limited to the Chicago area, J&J immediately recalled all Tylenol nationwide — 31 million bottles — at a cost of about $100 million. The company also launched a public-awareness campaign to protect consumers.”

• Following disclosure of the tainted product, J&J swiftly removed the product from the shelves of supermarkets, provided free replacements of Tylenol capsules with the tablet form of the product, and made public statements of assurance that the company would not sell an unsafe product. The company became a model for how to handle an ethical crisis.

• “It’s our responsibility to ensure all Company-based, medically relevant product information is fair and balanced, accurate and comprehensive, to enable well-informed risk-benefit assessments about our products.”- Johnson & Johnson addresses the fact that not all of the necessary information can be gathered from tests conducted through computer simulation and test tube methods of research. Therefore, in order to ensure product safety and identify the side effects, Johnson & Johnson resorts to animal testing only when necessary. The company has also strongly supported nonprofit organizations involved in advancing alternatives to animal research and was one of the first corporations to put in place the “3 Rs” principle of animal use: replacement (of animals used), refinement and reduction (in the numbers of animals used).

Ethics: Continued

3. In January 2011, it was announced that J&J might have to shell out up to $1 billion for lawsuits concerning its subordinate DePuy Orthopedics and the metal-on-metal hip implants that were found to shed minute metal particles into a patient’s bloodstream over time. Lawsuits over the ASR implant have piled up across the country, accusing DePuy of manufacturing a defective product, failing to warn patients and doctors of problems with the implant and negligence in designing, manufacturing and selling the product.

It is worth noting that J&J hiked its product-liability reserves to $570 million at the end of 2010 and selected $280 million for medical costs of patients directly affected by the recalled hip implants.

4. Women who have suffered serious injury and disfiguration have filed suit against J&J subordinate Ethicon, claiming that vaginal mesh manufactured by Ethicon caused them life-altering complications. Upon investigation, a number of doctors and scientists have concluded that J&J Ethicon vaginal mesh and bladder slings do not meet reasonable safety standards. The FDA issued Public Health Notifications regarding the use of vaginal mesh products to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence in October 2008, in February 2009, and in July 2011.

Johnson and Johnson: History of the Company

1886: Three brothers – Robert Wood, James Wood, and Edward Mead founded the company in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

1880s & 1890s: Johnson and Johnson create and begin their business with pre-made ready to use aid products, which dramatically help treatment of infection and disease. Johnson and Johnson also introduce the first “First-Aid” kit in addition to maternity kits in order to make childbirth less dangerous. Johnson and Johnson create sanitary products for women, a huge step not only for the company but furthermore for the rights and freedom of women. The company

1924: Johnson and Johnson expand overseas in the United Kingdom.

1930-1931: Johnson and Johnson expands company to Mexico, South Africa and Australia

Social Responsibility:

Social Responsibility: Continued

- Johnson and Johnson take their products and work seriously, from making there products the best they can be to help benefit costumers health and making the right prices for people to keep buying their products.

- Johnson and Johnson doesn’t just focus on the whole nations population to make a good brand of medicine they take the time to make the right product for every human that could ether be a 12 year old girl or a 52 year old man, Johnson and Johnson will help you in your life to get back into yourself and help you become physically fit.

- As everyone knows about Johnson and Johnson as a company that makes medicine, there not just greedy people that just sit at their office chairs counting money, they bring themselves Socially all over the world like helping third world countries build better health for there people and even open organizations where people can donate a dollar to help them change peoples lives to provide community education, safe drinking water, and help build shelters and improve people’s health to make everyone feel that someone’s always looking out for them and Johnson and Johnson have the power to achieve such goals.

- Johnson and Johnson doesn’t just put out all the effort for nothing and keep making the same product every year they like to hear feed back from their costumers to know if most of there costumers where happy about their outcome or they should change some things back, so there goal is to be social with everyone and build themselves a good reputation.