the AIDS crisis in Africa

“One of the most important recent developments in business strategy is the realization that nonmarket
actors — governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the court of public opinion —
can be as important as competitors, customers and suppliers in determining firm performance. In the
core strategy class, we study these problems in the context of the pharmaceutical industry’s response
tothe AIDS crisis in Africa and two main impacts. First, the availability of medications to combat
communicable diseases has tremendous consequences for public health and economic development in
all nations of the world. Second, the pharmaceutical industry’s response may be critical to its own
long-term prospects, as the AIDS pandemic continues to cause governments and NGOs to question
the virtues of systems for protecting intellectual property rights for human therapeutics.”
■ University of Vermont, Fundamentals of Legal Environment of Business (Core Course)
Of three social impact sessions in the course, one focuses upon “social, moral and ethical”
considerations related to the strategy of “pricing…AZT AIDS drugs.”University of Stellenbosch, Strategic HIV/AIDS Management (Elective Course, last offered 2004)
“The general aim of this course is to acquire a basic knowledge and understanding of HIV/AIDS as a
strategic business issue, and to enable students to take proactive steps to manage the risks effectively
in order to reduce the economic impact of the epidemic. At completion of the module, students will
be able to apply this knowledge and insights in generating a HIV/AIDS strategic plan for a particular
company.”
■ Emory University, Customer Behavior (Elective Course) d dddddddddddddddddddddddddd
“Students do a social marketing project. This project requires that the students come up with a
marketing campaign for a social marketing initiative or sensitive issue. The instructor positions the
subject by having students read a case about AIDS and the failure in curbing the spread of the disease,
and then the success of ad campaigns dealing with the promotion of condom use for the prevention of
AIDS. The key points for students to take away from this case and use in their subsequent projects are
to think about who they might offend, who might be opposed and how they can gain ‘buy-in’ from
these groups.”