Shire Plc: Competitive Status and CSR Study - Research Paper Example

The paper "Shire Plc: Competitive Status and CSR Study " is a perfect example of a research paper on business. In the contemporary global environment, the concerns for corporate social responsibility have ignited a competition among firms on the basis of doing extraordinary for the communities and societies. The matter has raised the consideration among businesses, where the corporations are taking Corporate Social Responsibility as a competitive edge over their rivals. As it is argued in the literature that the success or failure of corporate social responsibility has effects on the financial success or failure of the organizations (Swift & Zadek, 2002).

The compatibility between the competition and corporate social responsibility has been discussed by Quairel-Lanoizelée, (2011), where it is contended that “…the current academic literature only highlights the competitive advantage a CSR strategy represents for companies…” (Quairel-Lanoizelée, 2011, p. 68). However, it is not clear that there is true compatibility between the CSR strategy and achievement of competitive advantage. The purpose of this report is to investigate the competition status of a pharmaceutical company Shire Plc, and also the implications of corporate social responsibility strategy in the context of Shire Plc. 1.1 Introduction to Shire Plc, headquartered in Ireland, is a biopharmaceutical company, especially working in the fields of rare diseases, neuroscience, internal medicines, and gastrointestinal (Quenneville, 2015).

The achievement of the company rooted in their “.single-minded determination to focus on the patients and their willingness to adapt to changing environments…” according to (the Shire, 2015). The company was originated in 1986, with the aim of shifting the lives of patients significantly through collective effort and hard-nosed single-mindedness. The company had developed supplementary drugs for osteoporosis and such diseases while operating for two years, then they initiated some breakthrough programs to develop medicines for confronting diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and renal letdown at the last stage (the Shire, 2015).

After entering into 1992, Shire started to focus on strategic acquisitions that resulted in creative businesses and started new product lines in its business model, which was based on products delivered for doctors of specific domains earlier.