Welcome to Bayer. We are a life science company with three key divisions; pharmaceuticals, consumer health and crop science. We were founded in 1863 by Friedrich Bayer and Johann Friedrich Weskott, alongside our first and best known product, Aspirin. Over 150 years later we are pleased to say we are now one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
When it comes to thinking and acting sustainability, we like to see this as an integral part of our day-to-day lives rather than a separate aim. At Bayer we are proud of our mission to use “Science to create a better purpose”, a purpose to take into account when considering the future and sustainability strategies of our company. Being sustainable and caring for the planet is vital, and it is not too late to still reverse the impacts of climate change. Six degrees: Our future on a hotter planet outlined what would happen if the temperature were to rise from 1 to 6 degrees. Outcomes ranged from animal extinction to “realm of dystopia”. The UN has created 17 goals known as the US Sustainable Development Goals (
Click here to find out more about the UN sustainability goals
These goals will help achieve a better and more sustainable future for everyone. Goals such as vaccination for all and reducing water waste are goals that Bayer hopes to help Germany as well as other less economically developed countries to achieve.
As a pharmaceutical company we rank in the top 15 companies worldwide (2017) based on prescriptions sales and research & development (R&D) expenditure. Our cashflow has been consistently strong and comfortable, enabling us to have the financial freedom to strategise, invest and expand into new initiatives. Having ranked as the 3rd most powerful brand in 2017, we believe our strong sales can be accredited to the strong brand portfolio we at Bayer have developed.
Having said that, we have recently encountered some negative publicity which threatens to adversely affect our strong reputation.
In September 2016, we offered a $66 billion dollar deal to Monsanto, which was agreed to. Monsanto is a company known for its genetically modified seeds for crops. With the world's population set to increase by a third in 2050, we believe that feeding the world's population poses a huge challenge, thus we hope that our deal with Monsanto can help tackle this . In June 2018, we acquired Monsanto and since then products have been marketed under the Bayer brand. Shortly after this, we at Bayer were faced with a serious claim from a Californian school groundskeeper, who announced that his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was caused from exposure to Roundup (glyphosate), and was later awarded $289 million in damages. Following the verdict, we have seen our share prices drop by $14billion, the largest price drop in 7 years. We are currently facing 8700 similar lawsuits, alleging that the weed-killer causes cancer, posing a serious threat for us at Bayer.
Now, over a year on after agreeing to the deal with Monsanto, we have seen a 26% decline in net profits from the previous year. Whilst we are aware that this was a one-off expense for the Monsanto deal, the result of this has meant having to cut stakes in other projects such as Covestro, in order to finance our investment into Monsanto.
At Bayer, we pride ourselves as being an internationally renowned company, with activities in almost every country. However, our transition to Africa has been slow due to several barriers. In the past we have traditionally focussed on large commercial projects, however on moving to rural areas a more individualistic approach of targeting small scale farmers has been required. Other hurdles include allowance of GM crops by African governments, recruitment and retainment of skilled workers and facilitation of local manufacturing.
In recent years we are concerned to have seen our number of employees decrease, particularly in 2016, where our employee numbers dropped below 100 000. We at Bayer, are already striving to rectify this, having made a large investment into the training and development of our valuable staff and employees.
Whilst Bayer has recently seen some challenges, we acknowledge that these come with several opportunities for us to grow sustainably. These challenges have formed the basis of our sustainability strategy.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Using our strong networks to build upon our small scale farming within Africa.
Buying power from strong supplier relationships and position in the industry should be used to maximise positive environmental impact in production and manufacture.
Research & education to promote sustainable behaviour, innovation and research.
Use AI to decrease long pipeline for drug discovery.
Partnerships will also enable development of agricultural techniques and maintain crop science industry leader profile.
Partnerships with Research Institutions that work locally to expand laterally with small scale work.
Become top 5 in the access to medicine index foundation (currently 16th) by expanding global health initiatives.
Develop technology primarily through acquisition and few partnerships.
Improve employee well-being.
Make public commitment to not enforce patents in developing countries.
Overcome negative Monsanto reputation by leading sustainable practice e.g. invest heavily in R&D for less harmful pesticides.
Use computer simulation and tissue models to prevent animal testing.
Avoid future big M&As and focus on development of crop sciences division.
The goal of sustainable crop and agriculture is to meet society's food demand without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs. In the next 10 years Bayer aims to focus on education, bees and sustainable agriculture.
Sustainability in consumer health is about transparency and honesty. Our next 10 years will focus heavily on honest marketing and clearly indicating side effects of medication. Additionally, Bayer will start donating more medicines to less economically developed nations.
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Bayer is foremostly a pharmaceuticals company, we want to continue to lead the ways in drug technology with the use of AI to speed up drug development, to help rid the world of disease.
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