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Business Case for Sustainability

Our business strategy is to create, produce and market innovative, high quality solutions for unmet medical needs, and has corporate responsibility at its heart. Since 1896 we had a simple formula: when we go about our business responsibly, we succeed. Here’s why:

  • We improve our reputation
  • We gain more trust in our products
  • We enhance our ability to attract, retain and motivate talented people. See Employees for more information
  • We build better relationships with stakeholders, which helps prevent conflict and create benefits for Roche, our stakeholders, society, and the environment
  • We gain greater access to new markets by increasing access to our medicines
  • We help shape the regulatory environment in which we operate though our relationships with legislators, regulators and healthcare payers.
  • We explain our business model in a way that allows us to sustain our licence to operate
  • We reduce costs through increased environmental efficiency

Quantifying CR Results

In order to provide accurate, quantifiable and verifiable information about what Roche does, and the effect our actions have, Roche is continuously progressing its ‘key performance indicator’ model that will enable us to measure and control the impact of sustainability activities.

The underlying idea of this approach is linked to Roche’s ‘value-added’ accounting model. In line with the corporate strategy, this model uses OPAC (operating profit after tax and capital charge) as the primary internal metric for measuring value creation because it corresponds closely with external performance indicators. Roche has identified the primary drivers for OPAC at Group and divisional level, and these are now used to set performance targets for all Roche managers.

In order to ensure that contributing to sustainable development is part of our daily work and increases the success of Roche’s business, our Corporate Sustainability Committee (CSC) has identified six areas of high importance to our business and our stakeholders:

  • Innovation Capacities
  • Value of Roche products and services
  • Pricing and reimbursement conditions
  • Access to Roche products and services
  • Relationship with stakeholders
  • Attractive and responsible employer

We have developed a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring progress in each area and for assessing how these aspects contribute to creating value for Roche and its Stakeholders. This will allow us to more effectively quantify the economic benefit of our sustainability strategy. We began to collect data for these KPIs in 2008. The CSC and the Corporate Executive Committee use these data to monitor and manage topics that are key to our long-term sustainability and success.

Sustainability and value creation - Roche contributes most by going about its business

Roche’s products and services are its most significant contribution to society. As we see it, the primary responsibility is to remain an active, forward-looking company developing differentiated solutions for the complex business of healthcare delivery. This will enable Roche to create superior value for employees, for patients and the medical profession, and for investors and the communities where Roche does business.

Perhaps it is inevitable that Roche views its responsibilities in this way. After all, our business – the discovery, development and production of innovative solutions to unmet medical needs – is inherently a long-term undertaking. It requires courage, determination and independent thinking to invest in new products which typically take up to 12 years to develop. The distinctive business model is based on highly skilled, independent and highly motivated employees; on an open and arms length interaction with the medical and scientific communities, and on transparent relationships with regulators, customers and suppliers.

Innovation - medically differentiated products that offer value to society

Changing customer needs, growing and ageing populations, increasingly empowered patients and mounting funding pressures will all dramatically impact on the healthcare of the future.  Roche’s business strategy has been formulated to ensure that Roche remains an industry leader in the face of these trends.

The core of Roche’s strategy for long-term success can be summed up in a single word: ‘innovation’. The mission is to bring tangible improvements to the health and quality and length of life of patients who use Roche’s products.  So that Roche can continue to fulfil this mission:

  • We will focus on developing medically differentiated products in therapy areas of high medical need.
  • We will use the evolving science of personalised healthcare as a source for developing medically differentiated products.
  • We will invest in emerging technologies that we identify as critical to securing our R&D pipeline.
  • We will use external innovation partnerships (commercial and academic) to strengthen and/or complement our areas of focus.
  • We will continue to build an innovation network by being the partner of choice.

With a business strategy focused on developing and marketing medically differentiated products and services that offer high value to patients and healthcare systems, Roche is well positioned to face a changing healthcare environment.