ABSTRACT
The differing and contradictory needs of external stakeholders lay a more fundamental and honourable truth that is arguably unique to the life sciences industry: all stakeholders share the ultimate goal of saving or improving human life. All companies in all industries have external stakeholders but the complexity and difficulty of external-stakeholder relations varies with their products and their markets. Companies such as Starbucks, who sell simple products directly to consumers, have a relatively simple task, to use an extreme example. In addition to the traditional targets of external relations, such as investors and the media, the life sciences industry must consider a number of other constituencies too. The simple “charismatic communicator” picture seems a totally inadequate description of what Life Science Leaders must do when they engage with external stakeholders. An obvious potential cause of tension between a life science firm and its external stakeholders lies in the heterogeneity of the latter and the fixed nature of the former.
