American Drug Companies Out of Sync With Public Opinion on Their Ethics, Opinion Researchers Report
February 23 2005 - 10:52AM
PR Newswire (US)
American Drug Companies Out of Sync With Public Opinion on Their
Ethics, Opinion Researchers Report PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 23
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Senior executives of US drug companies
have a high opinion about their business ethics, while a broad
sampling of the American public thinks just the opposite, according
to recent surveys by two national opinion research organizations.
This, the researchers warn, may be a leading indicator of
continuing tension between the pharmaceutical industry and the
public at large. That tension, they add, could further challenge
the corporate reputations of drug companies in an industry already
over-stressed by intense public scrutiny and ongoing controversy
across a range of issues-including the most recent questions about
the health risks of Cox-2 inhibitor pain killers. In a survey of
senior executives across the pharmaceutical industry late last
year, Rating Research LLC (RRC), a leading corporate reputation
rating agency, found that 65% of executives interviewed "agreed" or
"strongly agreed" on average senior leadership of the major drug
companies "adhere to ethical business practices." By contrast, in a
recent nationwide poll, the market research and advisory firm
Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) found that only 44% of the 1,000
Americans surveyed expressed confidence that the senior leadership
of major drug companies "engage in ethical business practices." ORC
reports further that respondents in the same survey ranked the
ethics of drug company managers below average for American
companies. Half of the respondents (50%) said they are "very" or
"somewhat" confident in the ethical behavior of senior leaders of
American companies generally. And looking at specific industries,
57% of the same respondents said they are confident in the ethical
behavior of electric power companies. The opinions of senior drug
company executives about their own industry are all the more
surprising in that most of the executives were interviewed after
drug maker Merck & Company withdrew its Cox-2 inhibitor Vioxx
from the market. That announcement triggered a flurry of media
attention and public concern over the drug testing and drug
advertising practices of pharmaceutical firms during the survey
period. 'Trust Chasm' Why the disconnect? Jeffrey T. Resnick,
Executive Vice President and Managing Director of ORC's Corporate
Reputation Management Practice believes that "industry executives
are taking a long-term perspective and are expressing confidence in
the future business success of their industry." Mr. Resnick, adds,
however, that "success of the industry will be bolstered if the
current 'trust chasm' created among the public can be successfully
addressed by the industry. Consistency between the 'promise' made
to the market and the behavior of corporate executives and the
firms they run is the most important element in bridging this chasm
over time." What's the impact of this? Professor Stephen A.
Greyser, Richard P. Chapman Professor (Marketing/Communications),
Emeritus at Harvard Business School, states that "There is an
obvious incongruence between the judgments of drug company
executives and the public's view." "Industry leaders either don't
recognize or don't want to recognize the extent of the public's
concerns," he says. "Either way, they would benefit from a better
grasp of the sources of the public's lack of confidence,
particularly as it may apply to concerns about their own firms.
Then they need to take actions to address -- or redress -- the
concerns. Otherwise their firms' own corporate reputations may
erode toward a state of reputational distress." About the
Methodology These findings are based on a telephone survey
conducted using Opinion Research Corporation's Caravan(R) Survey
among a national probability survey of 1022 adults from February 3
- 6, 2005. The possible sample variation for this survey is +/- 3%.
About Opinion Research Corporation Founded in 1938, Opinion
Research Corporation provides commercial market research, health
and demographic research for government agencies, information
services, teleservices and consulting. The company is a pioneering
leader in the science of market and social research, and has built
a worldwide data- collection network. About Rating Research LLC
RRC, a joint venture between The Ratrix Group and Opinion Research
Corporation (NASDAQ), assigns Reputation Strength Ratings and
Ethics Reputation Ratings to leading companies and publishes those
rating opinions as a public service DATASOURCE: Opinion Research
Corporation CONTACT: Jeffrey T. Resnick, , +1-609-452-5210, or
Loretta Nelson, , +1-609-452-5207, both of Opinion Research
Corporation Web site: http://www.opinionresearch.com/
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