Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd - Healthcare Solutions, Risk Management, R&D, And Essay.

Company Overview

Question:

Illustrate Concepts of Risk and Risk Management of your Choosen Organisation and  analyse Risk Perception and how this affects Risk Management.

Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd is a consumer healthcare company which was established in the year 1997 in Singapore. The organization serves residents and patients of Singapore by manufacturing generics, animal and consumer health products. The organization focuses on Research and Development and provides therapeutic solutions to customers in multiple arenas which include central nervous system, thrombosis diseases, oncology, and rheumatoid arthritis, internal medicine which treats prostatic hyperplasia, cardiovascular diseases and vaccines for viral and bacterial diseases.  The manufacturing units of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd are located in Japan, Continental Europe, United Kingdom and the United States. The organization is affiliated to global healthcare organization Sanofi. The vision of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd is to be a diversified service provider in the healthcare industry by focusing on the needs of patients. The organization also improves the knowledge, skills and professionalism of employees by organization training and development programs for them. Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd stays focused to boost profit and sales by improving value for shareholders. The organization also serves the noble purpose of providing medical education to patients and healthcare workers of Singapore (sanofi.com.sg 2017).

The risk management framework can be divided into a master plan of risk management. The corporate team of risk management of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd develops the master plan of risk management for the organization. The Risk management Project Plan is also an important part of the risk management framework of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd The management of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd ensures to manage risks in an effective way. The pharmaceutical projects of the organization are guided by a model of decision making under risky situations. Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd adopts an analytical approach to manage risk and the risk management framework of the organization is structured well. The members of project team of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd are involved in the process of risk planning. The tools of the risk management process of the organization should be adaptable and flexible (Sadgrove 2016). Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd adopts similar approach (sanofi.com.sg 2017).

The R &D division of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd is committed to conduct biomedical research and the innovation of research and development projects of the organization focused on controlling infectious diseases. These pharmaceutical projects of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd are uncertain and highly complex and a substantial amount of organizational resources are involved in these projects. Thus the risk management process for these complex projects have been quite challenging to implement for Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd. The projects for development of drugs have specific needs and challenges and the risk management process of an organization should address the risk (Kerzner 2013).  The organization also adopts a risk management framework across all primary activities of its value chain activities which include Supply Chain Management, Operations, Marketing and R&D. The work process of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd adopts a strong culture for risk management. The organization adopts a transparent work process for managing risks.  Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd adopts backward-looking view to analyze the types of risks. A forward looking view is adopted by the organization towards risks which are emerging and existing. The work-process adopted by Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd has developed a risk management framework which is in alignment with the corporate and business level strategies of the organization.  The information of risk is integrated with the work process and business process of the organization which helps in effective decision making under critical situation. The risk governance and organization process of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd has a well-defined structure. The responsibilities of the risk team of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd are clear and the risk teams of the organization works under guidance of members of Board of the organization (sanofi.com.sg, 2017).

Risk Management Framework

The Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd has developed relationships that are mutually beneficial among its stakeholders to communicate risks properly.  The involvement of community and transparency among stakeholders enabled the organization to manage its reputational risks.  The strategic roadmap of the organization adopted an integrated approach to link expectations of stakeholders and activities of the business process.  The organization maintained a high standard of ethical conduct while dealing with healthcare professionals. The talented pool of healthcare professionals of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd helped in the risk management process of the organization by providing insights and feedbacks about the products of the organization and conducted training programs of healthcare education for the employees of the organization. The organization has collaborated among partners, healthcare professionals and healthcare organizations to ensure greater transparency in its business process.  The future of research and development of new medicines is highly dependent on a transparent business process. Sanofi is a member of The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations and discloses information related to the value creation of healthcare industry like educational grants provided to healthcare organizations. The organization has renewed its partnership with the World Health organization and has partnered with International Diabetes Federation and Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) to ensure innovation of medicines.  The approach of the organization was aligned with the United Nations Global Compact and the Save the Children concept of UNICEF which developed the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (sanofi.com.sg 2017). Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd ensured to manage risk effectively by making data of clinical trial available to the research community. This sharing of information has helped the research community of the organization to improve public health, to conduct innovative research in medicine and science and to increase the level of knowledge and enhance trust among community members for the development of pharmaceutical drugs. The organization focused on five commitments which included sharing of data with researchers, enhancing access to Clinical Study Information among public, sharing of results with patients who participated in clinical trials, strengthening commitments to publish results of clinical trial and certifying the procedure of sharing the Information of Clinical Trial. The organization adopted an effective risk management framework to manage potential risks.

The manufacturing divisions of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd use a large amount of chemicals especially organic chemicals to manufacture medicines at bulk for customers. Thus the risk of accidents in the manufacturing units is a potential hazard identified by the organization. The employees of the organization are also exposed to health hazards in the manufacturing units. The drug manufacturing process of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd has a complex framework and involves hazards related to off-site and on-site environmental overheads. The emission of green house gases and generation of wastes are environmental hazards that are involved in the manufacturing and packaging of medicines. The medicines developed by the organization can pose hazards related to health of patients if the medicines are not clinically tested before launch. For a consumer healthcare company like of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd the identification of hazard-risk is of paramount importance because the organization is responsible for developing life-saving medicines for patients. The implementation of safety procedures, proper monitoring, control and surveillance and abiding by healthcare standards can minimize the hazard-risks of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd (Glendon, Clarke and McKenna 2016).

Research and Development

The risk analysis is the process of identification of and management of potential problems that can affect the business process and projects of an organization (Lin, Wen and Yu 2012).  In the process of risk analysis the identification of potential threats and the likelihood of occurrence of these threats are required to be analyzed (Lam 2014).  For proper risk analysis of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte gathers information about financial data, forecasts of the market, project plans and security protocols that are functional across various divisions and departments of the organization. The risks of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd can be categorized into operational risks like disruption of supplies or failures in the process of distribution. The procedural risks of the organization include failures of internal systems and failure of accountability. The financial risks of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd include inadequate supply of funds and stock market fluctuation(sanofi.com.sg 2017).The risks related to Research and Development (R&D) projects of the organization are issues with quality, improper allocation of resources, inadequate funding and failure to complete the projects on time. The risks related to human resource management are inability to maintain a talented pool of human resource and crisis related to diversity, communication gap, discrimination, biases and stereotypes. The market-related risks of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd include risks associated with inaccurate prediction of market demands and consumer needs and risk related to loss of reputation in the marketplace. The organization is also susceptible to risks of macro environment like changes of public opinion, tax barriers and government policies and risk associated with natural disasters. The risks of the organization can be estimated by determining the risk value which is multiplication of cost of event and probability of event (Hoyt and Liebenberg 2011).  A consumer health company has the responsibility to provide life-saving drugs to patients. Delay in supply of the drugs can lead to adverse consequence like loss of life of patients which is a potential risk that can be identified. There are risks associated with the Research and Development projects of Aventis Singapore Pte. Ltd like risk related to prioritization of projects, allocation of resources in the projects, budget related risks and risks associated with the technology which support the projects. Research and innovation is the core competency of Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd. Thus partnering with a talented pool of research partner is essential to ensure new product development and improvement of existing products. The process of clinical trials and testing of medicines involve risks and hazards and the medicines can’t be commercialized unless they undergo a robust clinical testing procedure (Lawrence et al. 2014). The commercialization of medicines of Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd are subjected to risk of the marketplace like laws and regulations of the country of operation, competitive pricing of medicines so that patients can avail medicines at affordable price , the risk related to prediction of demands of the marketplace and risks associated with development of new marketplace. The supporting activities of the value chain of Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd like the Human Resource management, Infrastructure and Information Systems are also subjected to risks. The organization can face risks related to unfair accounting practices. Ineffective corporate governance can lead to risk of fraudulent accounting practices which can tarnish the reputation of the organization (Mikes and Kaplan 2013).Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd is a global organization and thus is vulnerable to risks associated to ineffective management a cross-cultural global team. The management of diversity in a cross-cultural team which includes both surface level and deep level diversity is essential to mitigate the risk of biases, stereotypes and discrimination which are potential risks faced by cross-cultural teams(Garavan 2012.) The management of such risks is essential with adoption of an open communication model and development of a organizational wide culture in favor of diversity. The organization should manage risks associated with its supply chain by ensuring to partner with reputed suppliers, using multimodal transport system and centralizing its supply chain (Tang and Musa 2011). It is essential to manage the risks of the organization.  The risks of the organization can be managed adequately by avoiding risks, sharing risks and accepting risks (McNeil, Frey and Embrechts 2015).  The risks should be evaluated by ranking the risks according to the probability and consequences of the risks (Hopkin 2017).

Corporate Social Responsibility

Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd focuses on adopting safety practices across all its manufacturing division. There are many environmental risks involved in the process of manufacturing, packaging and distribution of medicines. Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd aims to minimize environmental risks like emission of green house gases and generation of wastes which are associated with its manufacturing divisions across the globe. The employees of the organization are robustly trained about the local laws of the countries. Sanofi- Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd is a global organization and operates in several countries across the globe. Thus, the familiarity of its employees with local laws and regulations enables employees of the organization to adapt to different consumer market related risks. Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd priced its medicines fairly and competitively to minimize risks from competitors (sanofi.com.sg 2017).The Research and Development team of the organization focuses on developing medicines after studying the needs and requirements of customers based in Singapore and across the globe. The quality and safety team of the organization is focused on surveillance of its products (Mollah, Baseman and Long 2013).Sanofi Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd is dedicated to comply with standards of occupational health and safety across all activities of its value chain. The organization conducts clinical trials to ensure that medicines are properly tested before they are commercialized in the marketplace. The supply chain process of Sanofi- Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd ensures that medicines are available to the customers at the right time and right place. To avoid risks in the Supply Chain Management process, the entire process of supply chain activities should be centralized and modern technologies like Supply Chain Management software should be implemented to ensure smooth flow of supply chain activities (Ho et al. 2015).  Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd has suppliers and distributors across the globe and the intermodal transport system of the organization helps to handle risks associated with the logistics management.  The centralization of the supply chain management process also enables to predict the demand and supply factors of the marketplace accurately so that the Bull-Whip effect of the supply chain is reduced (Sodhi, Son and Tang 2012). Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd also practice fair accounting practices and the sustainable accounting practices of the organization ensures to create profit for shareholders as well as creates long-term value for stakeholders (sanofi.com.sg 2017)

Conclusion

It can be concluded that identification of risks are of paramount importance for an organization. The risks of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd are of several types like risks related to R& D projects, risks associated with Supply Chain Management and operational activities, risks related to finance, accounting, human resource and marketplace. The risks of an organization should be quantified by determining the value of a risk. After evaluation of risks, proper strategies should be adopted to manage risks. The risks of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd should be accepted, avoided or shared. The impact of a risk can be reduced by taking preventive action. The activities which involve high risks should be experimented on a small-scale under a controlled environment. The preventive actions that are undertaken by Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd are training workers of manufacturing units about material handling, health and safety to handle hazards related to manufacturing and packaging of medicines.  Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd adopts a robust and structured framework for risk management.

Manufacturing Hazards

The risks of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd can be treated in three ways.  The first method that can be suggested is to avoid the risk; the organization can do so by avoiding highly risky business ventures.  A “What If” Analysis will be essential for the organization to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of a risky venture. The risks of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd can also be shared with third parties and teams and people of partnering organizations. The organization should accept risks when there is no option available to prevent the risks or mitigate the risks. Sometimes the cost of insuring against a risk is more than the loss associated with a risk. An impact analysis should be conducted to understand the consequences of the risks. A contingency plan should be developed by the organization for coping with the consequences of risks.

In a global organization like Of Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd there should be several partners for procurement of raw materials and distribution of medicines, the supply chain management process should be centralized and upgraded by installation of modern software and a multimodal transportation system should be adopted to mitigate the risk of not supplying life-saving drugs to patients in proper time.

It can be recommended that Sanofi-Aventis Singapore Pte Ltd should adopt detective measures like installation of sensors to identify defects of products, double-checking of financial reports and preventive action like fire-wall protection on corporate servers.

It is recommended that the organization should adopt an innovative human resource policy to ensure there is availability of a talented pool of resources for Research and Innovation, and transparency, flexible structure, open communication and support from organizational leaders can help in managing risks related to cross-cultural diverse teams.

Reference Lists

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Glendon, A.I., Clarke, S. and McKenna, E., 2016. Human safety and risk management. Crc Press.

Ho, W., Zheng, T., Yildiz, H. and Talluri, S., 2015. Supply chain risk management: a literature review. International Journal of Production Research, 53(16), pp.5031-5069.

Hopkin, P., 2017. Fundamentals of risk management: understanding, evaluating and implementing effective risk management. Kogan Page Publishers.

Hoyt, R.E. and Liebenberg, A.P., 2011. The value of enterprise risk management. Journal of risk and insurance, 78(4), pp.795-822.

Kerzner, H., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Lam, J., 2014. Enterprise risk management: from incentives to controls. John Wiley & Sons.

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Mikes, A. and Kaplan, R.S., 2013. Towards a contingency theory of enterprise risk management.

Mollah, H., Baseman, H. and Long, M. eds., 2013. risk management Applications in Pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing (Vol. 4). John Wiley & Sons.

Sadgrove, K., 2016. The complete guide to business risk management. Routledge.

sanofi.com.sg. 2017. sanofi. [online] Available at: https://www.sanofi.com.sg/l/sg/en/index.jsp [Accessed 7 Nov. 2017].

Sodhi, M.S., Son, B.G. and Tang, C.S., 2012. Researchers' perspectives on supply chain risk management. Production and operations management, 21(1), pp.1-13.

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