
Novo chief executive ranked ‘world’s best’
pharmafile | October 14, 2015 | Appointment | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | Harvard Business Review, Lars Rebien Sorensen, Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk chief executive Lars Rebien Sørensen has been named the best-performing in the world by the Harvard Business Review.
Sørensen came top in the HBR’s chart of the 100 best-performing chief executives, “not just for his company’s financial prowess, but also under environmental, social and governance measures.”
Since Sørensen joined Novo in 2000, the diabetes-focused company has delivered more than a ten-fold return to shareholders’. Its market capitalisation has grown by $169 billion, and has now reached than $356 billion.
All those numbers put Sørensen in 6th place in the financial rankings, of the 907 chief executives analysed. To compile the list, the authors looked at companies that at the end of 2014 were in the S&P Global 1200, an index that comprises 70% of the world’s stock market capitalisation and includes firms in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. We identified each company’s chief executive as of April 30, 2015.
For several years, the Danish firm has reported its results in light of a ‘triple bottom line’, which attempts to measure Novo’s performance as environmental caretakers, as an employer and as a corporate citizen.
Sørensen believes paying attention to softer measures delivers returns in the long term. He says: “Corporate social responsibility is nothing but maximising the value of your company over a long period. In the long term, social and environmental issues become financial issues.”
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