Branding.

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tools, it has become possible to organise the workday more sensibly and e.g.
work three concentrated days and take the next four days off. Weber's bureaucracy
ideals are brought out, polished and served in a lighter version.
The basic idea is still Weber's classical one: there has to be rational and measurable
criteria for work and advancement. Exams have once more become
the criteria for getting a position after a period where companies sought
people that matched the company spirit, culture and values. The tasks have
become increasingly specified and are performed on the basis of formalised
rules and guidelines. All are treated equal. That is the most just and the most
effective - and self-management is not a subject that is being discussed.
Another consequence of the rational wave is division of work.
Unemployment isn't an optimal condition for the society, especially when
many are overworked. Hence, advanced calculations are made for how much
each has to work through his or her life. There are obviously some rules to
prevent you from depositing all your work in your most unproductive years.
It is e.g. possible to counterbalance overtime, but not to save up 'undertime'.
Health expenses are reduced this way, since stress used to be a common
cause of death.
Branding in 'The Logic of Great Solutions'
The years around 1990-2005 were dedicated to soft values and the big stories.
In the years leading up to 2013, a new movement takes place, and out of the
rubble of the dream society, new communities are growing. The focus is on
rational solutions for rational people. Stress has long since reached the top of
WHO's list of the greatest health dangers, and this has necessitated functional
solutions for the complexity-burdened human being. The technological development
is still the driving force.
Branding as internal company tool
Corporate Branding thrives best when the externally emotional expressivity
is toned down in favour of the company as a meaningful system for the
employees. Branding directed internally contributes to create a distinction
between 'us' and 'them'. It creates a sense of belonging and is increasingly
used as a pedagogical tool for supporting the feeling of community. It is of
course expected that words are followed by action. A happy employee is an
innovative and productive employee. Employee care thus increasingly
extends to include the employee's family, which is involved more in the company's
life - just as the company is involved in the families' lives.
Holism is a key word, and the philosophy of CSR (see page 7) is increasingly
incorporated in practice. It is e.g. not uncommon for companies to
provide financial support for family therapy if there are problems. In this
way, the company plays an increasing role in the civil society, and responsibility
for the employee in his or her entire life situation is becoming common,
as per the traditional Japanese model. Markets in growth are the markets
for safety, stability and comfort, with solutions as the central parameter.
External Corporate Branding becomes obsolete
Corporate Branding increasingly becomes obsolete in the public spaces - at
least where it refers to the company that has created the product and hence
guarantees the quality and communicates comfort and recognition. Digital
agents can effectively scan the market and find the products that best fit the
price. Consumer trust has thus moved from trust in brands to trust in the
digital agent. The agent is seen as an extension of our self. We thus increasingly
reject marketed emotionality and staging of the individual's life situation.
Digital agents may be analytical, but they can neither feel nor act intuitively.
LUNDBECK IN 'THE LOGIC OF
GREAT SOLUTIONS' 2013
Lundbeck is still a quoted company,
but today the state owns the
majority of the stock because of a
desire to support and guide promising
private research. We now
have a politician as the chairman
of our board of directors. We have
entered into strategic alliances
with companies that have pharmaceutical
drugs with supplementing
indicators on our products -
you can thus buy a 'three in one'
package that deals with all symptoms
and side effects. The target
group is still doctors and specialists,
who come to multi-conferences
where they can also meet
Lundbeck's former competitors.
The big pharmaceutical companies
now work together to combat
competition on generics. At the
same time, they divide the market
between them and thus create
therapy monopolies.
Lundbeck has chosen to purchase
smaller research-based
companies, partly to keep on growing,
partly to expand the product
portfolio of partial solutions to
symptoms. Our branding activities
still have a corporate profile, but
more in relation to creating alliances
with global representation.
Lundbeck has been awarded the
most rational state-within-the-state