IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/298400.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceptions of Board Members on the Presence of Pharmacists as Strategic Leaders of Manufacturing Pharmaceutical Companies Operating in South Africa: A Qualitative Study

Author

Listed:
  • Mayimele, Nsovo
  • Demana, Patrick
  • Keele, Mothobi

Abstract

Life-saving medicines are produced by manufacturing pharmaceutical companies (MPCs) with operations worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unequal access to vaccines, which led to advocacy around health rights and MPCs needing to prioritise saving lives over profits. This study aimed to determine the perceptions of board members of the largest listed MPCs in South Africa regarding the presence of pharmacists in the strategic leadership of MPCs, as custodians of medicines. A snowball sampling method was used to identify board members of the listed MPCs on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). The board members were approached and requested to participate in their capacity. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Transcription, coding and narrative thematic analysis was applied under five (5) themes with emerging themes identified. A theoretical framework was developed to describe pharmacists at the strategic leadership of an MPC. The data collected were from five (5) respondents (80% male and 20% female), with a mean age of 57 years (SD±=2,24), from medical, business and pharmacy professional backgrounds. The respondents indicated a limited presence of pharmacists in the strategic leadership of MPCs, especially the larger ones. The reasons for the limited presence included the narrow diversity of corporate and leadership skills necessary to lead at a strategic level by pharmacists. Some of the barriers to entry into strategic leadership by pharmacists included the lack of recognition of pharmacy specialisations by the regulator of the pharmacy profession, a mismatch of skills of a graduate and what the industry needs and inadequate governance of the pharmacy profession in South Africa. The respondents agreed that having a pharmacist with ambition, business skills, and experience would benefit the MPC and users of products manufactured. The role and need for pharmacists in the strategic leadership of MPCs was established. It is clear, however, that while pharmacists have value in the leadership of MPCs, their entry should be supported by diversifying their skills in business, leadership and corporate management to extend their value beyond the technical level.

Suggested Citation

  • Mayimele, Nsovo & Demana, Patrick & Keele, Mothobi, 2023. "Perceptions of Board Members on the Presence of Pharmacists as Strategic Leaders of Manufacturing Pharmaceutical Companies Operating in South Africa: A Qualitative Study," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 87-98.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:298400
    DOI: 10.21272/bel.7(2).87-98.2023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/298400/1/Mayimele-Perceptions-of-board-members.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.21272/bel.7(2).87-98.2023?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Franco Malerba & Luigi Orsenigo, 2015. "The evolution of the pharmaceutical industry," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(5), pages 664-687, July.
    2. Modi Hlobo & Tankiso Moloi & Benjamin Marx, 2022. "Framework for Screening and Evaluating the Competencies and Qualities of the Board of Directors in South Africa’s State-Owned Companies," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Gizelle Willows & Megan van der Linde, 2016. "Women representation on boards: a South African perspective," Meditari Accountancy Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 211-225, June.
    4. Belen Fernandez‐Feijoo & Silvia Romero & Silvia Ruiz‐Blanco, 2014. "Women on Boards: Do They Affect Sustainability Reporting?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(6), pages 351-364, November.
    5. Nina Smith & Pierpaolo Parrotta, 2018. "Why so Few Women on Boards of Directors? Empirical Evidence from Danish Companies in 1998–2010," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 445-467, January.
    6. Ezgi Demir & Peter M. Bican, 2023. "Patents and Sustainable Medical Treatment in Developing Countries: Lessons from COVID-19 Vaccines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mayimele, Nsovo & Demana, Patrick & Keele, Mothobi, 2023. "An assessment of positions, perceptions and valued leadership competencies of pharmacists that work in manufacturing pharmaceutical companies (MPCs) in South Africa," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(4), pages 66-79.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joanna Tyrowicz & Hubert Drazkowski, 2024. "Implicit gender quota in European boardrooms," GRAPE Working Papers 96, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    2. Patricia Laurens & Christian Le Bas & Antoine Schoen, 2019. "Worldwide IP coverage of patented inventions in large pharma firms: to what extent do the internationalisation of R&D and firm strategy matter?," Post-Print hal-01725229, HAL.
    3. Mitzi Cubilla‐Montilla & Ana‐Belén Nieto‐Librero & Ma Purificación Galindo‐Villardón & Ma Purificación Vicente Galindo & Isabel‐María Garcia‐Sanchez, 2019. "Are cultural values sufficient to improve stakeholder engagement human and labour rights issues?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 938-955, July.
    4. Hao Tan, 2017. "Making impact through industry-focused research: An Asia Pacific perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 487-503, September.
    5. Amondarain, Josune & Aldazabal, M. Edurne & Espinosa-Pike, Marcela, 2023. "Gender differences in the auditing stereotype and their influence on the intention to enter the profession," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    6. Daniel P. Gross & Bhaven N. Sampat, 2022. "Crisis Innovation Policy from World War II to COVID-19," Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 135-181.
    7. Juha‐Antti Lamberg & Mirva Peltoniemi, 2020. "The nanoeconomics of firm‐level decision‐making and industry evolution: Evidence from 200 years of paper and pulp making," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 499-529, March.
    8. Kahloul, Ines & Sbai, Hicham & Grira, Jocelyn, 2022. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility reporting improve financial performance? The moderating role of board diversity and gender composition," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 305-314.
    9. Nurshahirah Abd Majid & Amar Hisham Jaaffar, 2023. "The Effect of Women’s Leadership on Carbon Disclosure by the Top 100 Global Energy Leaders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-26, May.
    10. Qaiser Rafique Yasser & Abdullah Al Mamun & Irfan Ahmed, 2017. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Gender Diversity: Insights from Asia Pacific," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(3), pages 210-221, May.
    11. Paola Belingheri & Filippo Chiarello & Andrea Fronzetti Colladon & Paola Rovelli, 2021. "Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicatorr," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-27, September.
    12. Camille Loir & Bertrand Groslambert, 2023. "The impact of innovation on the profitability of the biotech industry," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(3), pages 1286-1297.
    13. Tingting Hu & Kun You & Char-Lee Lok, 2025. "State ownership, political connection and ESG performance," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(1), pages 1-33, January.
    14. Asit Bhattacharyya & Mohammed Lutfur Rahman, 2020. "Values, gender and attitudes towards environmental policy: A study of future managers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2514-2527, September.
    15. Patrick Velte, 2022. "Does sustainable corporate governance have an impact on materiality disclosure quality in integrated reporting? International evidence," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1655-1670, December.
    16. Rita Goyal & Nada Kakabadse & Andrew Kakabadse & Danielle Talbot, 2023. "Female board directors' resilience against gender discrimination," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 197-222, January.
    17. Yusuf Babatunde Adeneye & Setareh Fasihi & Ines Kammoun & Khaldoon Albitar, 2024. "Does earnings management constrain ESG performance? The role of corporate governance," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(1), pages 69-92, March.
    18. Aladdin Dwekat & Elies Seguí‐Mas & Guillermina Tormo‐Carbó & Pedro Carmona, 2020. "Corporate Governance Configurations and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Audit Committee and Board characteristics," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2879-2892, November.
    19. Dina A. M. Miragaia & João J. M. Ferreira & Carla D. M. Costa, 2022. "What Are Workers’ Perceptions of Women’s Organizational Leadership?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(4), pages 3345-3363, December.
    20. C. José García Martín & Begoña Herrero, 2020. "Do board characteristics affect environmental performance? A study of EU firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 74-94, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Leadership; Manufacturing;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:298400. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.