Pharmed Out

By Ted Dieck | Recruiter’s View - Business Climate | Sep 24, 2022

Major pharmaceutical companies moved production overseas, long ago.  It’s an apparent cost savings during times of international harmony. 

Some of these companies have also secured funding, endorsements, and easy regulation by coordinating with the U.S. government.  (Similar to the defense industry, this arrangement can get complicated.)

How much can be farmed out, before there’s no control left?    

What would you do if your business suddenly received…

  • advance payment for product development;
  • fast-track approval;
  • hundreds of millions of guaranteed customers;
  • price protection;
  • total indemnity against any liability; and
  • expedited delivery to end users.

Would it take more than a year for your major stockholders to become billionaires?

Adding Leverage

Would it help your sales to have an intense marketing campaign across all media?

  • It could emphasize the moral necessity of buying your product immediately.
  • No proof of claims necessary.
  • And no need for disclaimers or warnings.

What if we could eliminate your competition?

  • Maybe ban, reclassify, or outlaw any alternate products.
  • Disable any discussion of those products. 
  • In fact, anyone discussing alternates to your product might lose their job.

That could work.

Increasing Control

In your wildest dreams, could you imagine the government telling your customers that failure to use your product could cost them…

  • their jobs,
  • medical care,
  • access to stores and restaurants

Would you even have the nerve to ask that

  • negative reports should be concealed, and
  • need for your product could be overstated?

That would be great.

And, since we’re just having fun, how about repeat orders?
We could require a user to come back again and again.
Wait.  How about they have to make repeat purchases for life?

That’s incredible.

Back To The First Question

What would you do?

It’s a tough question. 

More and more CEOs will have to decide about something similar.

Welcome to Public-Private Partnerships

That lovely sounding phrase acknowledges that

  • Companies can do things that the government is not allowed to do.
  • Governmental agencies can do things that companies cannot.

Combined, they can do anything.

Anything. 

Three Kinds Of Companies

Big Pharma is just an example.
Big Tech, Energy, Manufacturing, Defense, Finance, and many other industries are deep into similar strategies. 

There are at least three classes of companies, now. 

The first is my idea of a normal company.  This is an endangered species.  They simply want to serve customers, make a profit, and grow.  That’s a good way to get stomped out. 

The second is the ESG crowd.  They’re selling protection, exactly way a mob boss would.  New members in ESG come from the “Normal Company” group.  They arrive, looking for protection.  They develop an appetite for power at the expense of profit.  Intimidation becomes the essence of their business plan.  Customer interests are less than secondary. 

And, finally, the third group…  ESG companies are designed to morph into public/private partnerships.  Aligning with government interests provides maximum power with minimum downside.  

You’ll likely be working with one of these classes. 

Choose carefully. 

Recruiter’s View

Companies invested in China must alter their values, in order to collaborate with the Chinese Communist Party.
Failure to comply puts their supply chains at risk.  And worse, the CCP could seize all their financial and physical assets.
Even worse than that, the CCP also seizes people.
Corporate leaders must know that. 

Meanwhile, U.S. companies engaged in ESG and public/private projects have another set of conflicts.
Failure to comply can get really personal. 

It makes me wonder who’s running these companies.
When Black Rock takes over the Board, weird things begin to happen.
(For example, Big Oil is leaving the oil business.)

Is the CEO just a messenger? 

I’m following companies that seem to be resisting ESG.
I want to avoid putting Candidates in a nasty situation.

For comparison, here’s a major push-back story… Miners Dig-In Against ESG.

-TD