Ethical and Responsibility Challenges and Opportunities arising from the COVID-19 Crisis. Focusing on the Pharmaceutical Sector the Example of the Bayer AG

Table of Contents

Statement of Word Count

List of Abbreviations

1 Introduction

2 Main Concepts
2.1 Triple Bottom Line
2.2 Business Ethics
2.3 Corporate Social Responsibility

3 Coronavirus Pandemic
3.1 Social Impact
3.2 Environmental Impact
3.3 Economical Impact

4 Health System and Medical Research
4.1 Ethical Decisions
4.2 Pharmaceutical Sector

5 Case Study: Bayer AG.
5.1 Ethical and Responsibility Reaction
5.2 Change in Behaviour
5.3 Company’s Reputation and Consequences

6 Conclusion
6.1 Critical Assessment
6.2 Method Critic

List of Literature

Statement of Word Count

Pages 9

Words* 2,160

Characters (no spaces)* 11,859

Characters (with spaces)* 13,977

Paragraphs* 64

Lines* 195

*only net text (without footnotes) of the main part of this scientific essay

List of Abbreviations

3Ps Triple Ps

AG Aktiengesellschaft

cf. confer

COVID-19 coronavirus disease 2019

CSR Corporate Social Responsibility

e.g. exempli gratia

Ed. editor

EU European Union

f./ff. following

i.e. id est

ibid. ibidem

IMF International Monetary Funds

MFA market failure approach

n.d. no date (reference)

n.p. no page (reference)

p./pp. page/pages

ROI return on investment

SARS-CoV-2 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

TBL Triple Bottom Line

1 Introduction

This scientific essay will deal with the topics of the module Business Ethics. The term will be described further in the following chapters, especially in chapter 2.2. This paper will describe, explain, and assess how the coronavirus pandemic of 2019 have shaped the world in the areas of ethical and responsibility challenges and opportunities, on the example of the German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG.

Firstly, the core concepts are described and elaborated in the following. Secondly, the pandemic and its impacts based on the Triple Bottom Line are outlined. Lastly, the paper will deal with a case study on the example of the Bayer AG.

The main questions in this connection are:

- How does the Bayer AG react onto the pandemic on an ethical and responsibility base?
- How did the behaviour of the company change due to the pandemic?
- What was the reaction of the public onto the company’s performance, especially the effect on its reputation?

2 Main Concepts

This chapter will deal with the three main concepts considered in this paper: the Triple Bottom Line, Business Ethics in general, and Corporate Social Responsibility in special.

2.1 Triple Bottom Line

The Triple Bottom Line (hereinafter referred to as TBL) is an accounting framework which focusses on the social and environmental aspects as it does on the company’s profits, i.e. the financial aspects.¹ Instead of the company’s traditional single bottom line, i.e. profits, it expanded to three, which is caused by the increasing sustainable thinking in business.² Due to this, the TBL expands the traditional accounting frameworks what leads to the Triple Ps (hereinafter referred to as 3Ps): Profit, People, and Planet.³ The 3Ps can be defined as follows:⁴

- People: Impact on the company’s stakeholders;
- Planet: Impact on the environment;
- Profit: Impact on the local, national, or international economy.

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¹ Cf. Kenton, W., TBL, 2020, n.p.; Slaper, T. F., Hall, T. J., TBL, 2011, pp. 4 f.

² Cf. Kenton, W., TBL, 2020, n.p.; University of Wisconsin (Ed.), TBL, n.d., n.p.

³ Cf. Kenton, W., TBL, 2020, n.p.; University of Wisconsin (Ed.), TBL, n.d., n.p.; Slaper, T. F., Hall, T. J., TBL, 2011, pp. 4 f.; Kraaijenbrink, J., TBL, 2019, n.p.

⁴ Cf. Kraaijenbrink, J., TBL, 2019, n.p.