We know that sustainability is much wider in its remit than Corporate Responsibility, and we're developing a new sustainability strategy that takes these broader challenges into account.

Shire has had a corporate responsibility ('CR') strategy since it first began business-it just wasn't referred to as that. While our basic CR principles remain constant (and we set these out in detail on our dedicated CR website, www.shirecr.com) the focus and emphasis of our strategy has gradually evolved over time. This has been particularly noticeable in the last two or three years, as issues of climate change and sustainability have moved into the mainstream, and pressure has grown for companies and governments to take more concerted action.

Like many other companies of our size and prominence, we're finding that CR issues are becoming more and more closely integrated into the way we manage the Company day-to-day. We're not alone in this, but the pharmaceutical sector as a whole has particular challenges it needs to address, and many of the changes we're making to our corporate strategy and way of working at Shire are either in response to this, or, in some cases, in anticipation of it.

We have never wanted to be like 'big pharma', and most of the people who work at Shire do so for exactly that reason: they want to be part of a Company that has an agile entrepreneurial culture, and where their personal efforts can make a real difference. The whole Leadership Team is passionately committed to retaining that spirit. This is one reason why our new purpose statement is to 'enable people with life-altering conditions to lead better lives': the core of our raison d'être is to help patients and their families.

We believe that this is what CR really means for a company like Shire. We want to be a responsible and ethical business, but also one that leads the way in its industry, and delivers strong returns for shareholders. In our view this is a sustainable business model in every sense of the word.

From CR to sustainability
We're also looking seriously at what 'sustainability' means for Shire, and the implications of the new drive towards corporate sustainability which has gained so much ground in the last year. We know that sustainability is much wider in its remit than CR, and we're developing a new sustainability strategy that takes these broader challenges into account. For example, it's clear to us that the sustainability agenda in our own industry is evolving from one focused on the direct impacts of operational activities, like drug safety and animal welfare, to a much wider remit covering the whole value chain, as well as an even broader range of social issues including healthcare systems, patent rights, and access to medicines. We see this new focus on sustainability as an evolution of what we're already doing, even if it might lead to some fairly revolutionary thinking in one or two areas. We want to know if there are changes we should be making in the way we operate, or new approaches we should consider that other companies are benefiting from. We also need to think about how we measure what we do more effectively, and set realistic and appropriatetargets. This will be an important project for 2009.

A successful transition, and a new corporate brand
There have been many changes at Shire in the last year, not least the appointment of Angus Russell as the new CEO, and Matt Emmens' transition to Chairman. The process was managed extremely successfully, partly as a result of a comprehensive internal communications program. This has included a number of innovations such as a new employee blog by Angus Russell, the first online chat session, during which Shire employees all over the world had the chance to ask questions. Another important appointment was that of Tatjana May to the position of Chair of the CR Committee, which acts as a strategic steering group for all the Company's CR activities. There were also a number of new members who joined the Committee this year, including Anne Marie Conway (R&D HGT), Susan Gavigan (Procurement), Ferdinand Massari (R&D HGT and Medical), Craig Lewis (US Commercial).

With the business embarking on the next phase of its overall business strategy in 2008, it was also felt to be a good time to review our overall mission, purpose and corporate brand. The aim was to reinforce our employees' commitment to our objectives, and ensure that everyone in the Company is aligned behind the same goals.

The new corporate brand captures the special character of the Shire culture in its aspiration to 'be as brave as the people we help'. This focuses quite deliberately on the patients and carers who rely on Shire's treatments, many of whom are dealing with life-threatening diseases, or conditions that can disrupt an entire family. 'Brave' has proved to be an extremely powerful unifying idea, from its initial launch at the strategy workshop for Shire's top 100 managers in September, to its wider roll-out to all Shire's employees across the world.