HR practices on diversity: Evidence from the US pharmaceutical companies’ subsidiaries in CEE region

• Published in: International Entrepreneurship Review 2018-09, Vol.4 (3), p.413
• Main Authors: Velinov, Emil, Dobrzański, Paweł, Bobowski, Sebastian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Competitive advantage; dimensions; Disability; diversity; Employees; Ethnicity; Gender; HR practices; Initiatives; Leadership; Minority & ethnic groups; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Pharmaceutical industry; Sexual orientation; US pharmaceutical companies; Workforce
• ISSN: 2658-1841

This paper investigates the diversity management in pharmaceutical multinational companies and specifically of their official entities in Central and Eastern Europe. It argues that diversity management measures vary between headquarters and subsidiaries as the country regulations on diversity are different across Europe. Data was gathered on diversity management through secondary information of top ten US-based pharmaceutical companies’ corporate websites (listed in Fortune 2000) and their code of conducts. The covered US pharmaceutical companies possess operations in the CEE region. It is employed descriptive statistics showing that the local subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe refer mainly to the HR practices and code of conduct of the parent company without having their own code of conduct. The results of the paper demonstrate that diversity management measures differ widely between headquarters and subsidiaries and that many of the diversity dimensions (e.g. visible and non-visible dimensions e.g. gender, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, ethnicity, minorities, religion and education background) are not covered at all in the subsidiaries in the CEE region.