The Danish Model of Corporate Citizenship: The Novo Group

This chapter analyzes Danish pharmaceutical and healthcare corporation Novo Nordisk which is known for a model of management that integrates business ethics, stakeholder management, and the balanced scorecard in their strategy. The main product of Novo Nordisk is insulin to treat diabetes, but the corporation also engages in research to manufacture related medicines and to find a cure for the disease. Novo Nordisk is a company that considers good corporate citizenship and CSR as fundamental for a management strategy. The company also works with stakeholder communication as important for corporate self-perception in order to improve the balanced scorecard. In many ways, Novo Nordisk promotes itself as a virtuous corporation that is able to deal with business dilemmas in a constructive way. Balance is considered as a vital aspect of organizational culture to create the right atmosphere and a tool to build corporate identity, image, and self-perception. Moreover, values of balance are also connected with external stakeholders in the sense that they contribute to the formation and identification of ethical integrity as a central component of organizational identity. Novo Nordisk is a large multinational corporation with approximately 20,000 employees, operating in more than 75 countries, and selling its products in nearly all countries in the world.