Repositioning of a stakeholder issue applied at Pfizer Switzerland

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University of Southern Queensland

Repositioning of a Stakeholder Issue

applied at Pfizer Switzerland

A Dissertation submitted by

Georges Simon Ulrich, BBA, MBA For the award of

Doctor of Business Administration,

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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 social-economic 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

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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

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CERTIFICATION OF DISSERTATION

I certify that the ideas, experimental work, results analyses, software and conclusions reported in this dissertation are entirely my own effort, except where otherwise acknowledged. I also certify that the work is original and has not been previously submitted for any other award, except where otherwise acknowledged.

--- --- Signature of Candidate Date

Georges Simon Ulrich, Switzerland

ENDORSEMENT

--- --- Signature of Supervisor/s Date

Dr. Bruce R. Millett, Australia

--- --- Signature of Supervisor/s Date

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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 fiancée Michèle 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.

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

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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, gfs-zürich and gfs field

services), according to the principle “support and challenge”, and who shared the

responsibility for this study. In particular, I also owe 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 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

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The Arena Model assumes that the varied interest groups are of different opinions concerning technologies and their risks, and that these different ideas of risk can be discussed and negotiated with the public by means of communication through the media, which are for all groups a more or less accessible arena. The media then function not only as a neutral mediator but exercise early warning, controlling and critical functions, i.e. they furnish a platform or a forum for the most varied social views (Bonfadelli 1999).

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Repositioning of a stakeholder issue applied at Pfizer Switzerland