Essay Example on Bayer Company: 150 Years of Health Science, Pharmaceuticals & Agriculture Success

Bayer Company is a pharmaceutical giant that has been in existence for one and a half centuries. Headquartered in Leverkusen Germany, the company was established in 1863 with aspirin as its first product. The company has enjoyed success in areas of health science, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural products. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, spreading its operations to other countries (Reisch, 2002). The successes of Bayer Company can be attributed to its well-structured management, policies, and responsibilities. This paper explores the roles of the board, its structure, and responsibilities in the management of Bayer Company.

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The corporate structure of this company begins from a 20-member supervisory board mandated with the responsibility of supervising and overseeing the operations of the board of management. The latter is involved with the immediate operation of things while the former drafts policies and fundamental decisions that contribute to the vision, mission, and responsibilities of the company. Constant communication between the supervisory board and the board of management ensures the smooth operation of activities (Bayer, 2018). The company conducts its responsibilities as per the bylaws or statutory requirements of the local authorities of the countries in which it is located. The company unreservedly adheres to the global corporate compliance policy and enforcing this by withdrawing from any transactions that appear to violate its principles of compliance. The current bylaws align well with the supervisory board as well as the management board because all are guided by the company's vision and mission (Reisch, 2002). While it appears that there is no need for an update of the current bylaws, adjustments or changes in the requirements by the local authorities can call for adjustments. The policies regulating the activities of the board, such as transparency and compensation policies can be applied rather than changing policies, but that cannot be enough due to the magnitude of operations of this company.

Apart from specific roles of members, the supervisory governance board is organized into committees such as the presidial, audit, human resource, innovation, nominations, and Glyphosate litigation Committees which all contribute in particular roles in creating sustainable company value for all the stakeholders as well as the investors. Through this organization, the customers are well served, the workforce is well-sourced and compensated; the partners, suppliers, communities, and the environment benefit substantially through various responsibilities of Bayer Company in general. The supervisory board of governance has set all committees to comply with the German stock corporation act as well as the German corporate governance code (Bayer, 2018). The presidial committee, comprising of the chair and vice chairperson of the supervisory board, acts the mediation team as far as the German codetermination act is concerned. It also submits various proposals to the board for considerations. The audit committee oversees the transparency of the financial processes and statements while the human resources committee oversees hiring and compensation processes of the workforce. The nominations committee is mandated with suggesting suitable candidates that can be stockholder representatives in the board when elections are about to be conducted. The innovation committee handles innovation strategies, management, and protection of intellectual property. Glyphospate litigation committee monitors the glyphostate litigation strategy and consults the board of management on the same while also making recommendations on the best strategies to use.

The relationship that exists between the supervisory board and the chief executive officer (CEO) is one-directional. However, for the board of management, the CEO (Werner Baumann) is the chairperson and coordinates the company's principles of corporate policy. The CEO looks forward to the meetings of the board of management because he is the chairperson (Keown, 2016). Conflicts between the CEO and the c-suite is handled by the board members depending on the level as either supervisory or management board.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Bayer Company has enjoyed its success over the years due to its well-structured governance and the commitment to achieving its core objectives to every spectrum in which its responsibilities are needed. The supervisory and the management boards are core to the activities that increase the enterprise value of this company in many ways.

References

Bayer. (2018). Annual Report 2018 (pp. 6-276). Bayer. Retrieved from https://annualreport2018.bayer.com

Keown, A. (2016). Bayer AG Confirms Strategy Chief Werner Baumann as New CEO | BioSpace. Retrieved from https://www.biospace.com/article/bayer-ag-confirms-strategy-chief-b-werner-baumann-b-as-new-ceo-/

Reisch, M. (2002). Bayer Trades On Wall Street. Chemical & Engineering News Archive, 80(4), 12. doi: 10.1021/cen-v080n004.p012