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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/