1. 1936-By 1936, Novo had 56 employees, and 90% of its production was exported.

2. In 1936, Hagedorn and his colleague Norman Jensen discovered that the effect of insulin
could be prolonged by adding to it a protein called protamine
a. Nordisk was able to introduce a completely new, long-acting insulin product

3. By 1936 Novo was supplying insulin to no less than 40 countries.

4. 1937-In 1937, a pharmacist, Knud Hallas-Møller, joined Novo. He had an extraordinary

talent for research and management. “Crisis of leadership”

5. 1960’s- To cope with the growing sales, Hallas-Møller restructured the company at the
beginning of the 1960s, creating a dynamic, productoriented organisation that generated
further growth for Novo in the ensuing decades.

6. 1974-Nordisk also developed improved purification methods, and in 1974 it launched a

highly purified porcine insulin.

7. 1974-In 1974, this continuous growth culminated in the introduction of Novo’s B shares on
the Copenhagen Stock Exchange

8. 1974- Mission statement and vision-

a. The mission it expressed was to be an independent company working to meet

society’s need for medicine and industrial processes.
b. In addition, Novo aspired to base its activities on a high, ethical foundation in an
open and communicative environment.

9. 1974- Award and Employee motivation- employees were given the chance to become
part-owners of their company by purchasing employee shares at a favourable price
a. Cultural Integration
i. Common underlying goals
ii. Building loyalty
iii. Rites of
iv.

10. 1975- Subsidiaries had been established a few years earlier in Germany, France and
South Africa, and by 1975 Novo had 14 subsidiaries.
New man at Novo
In 1 a pharmacist, Knud Hallas-Møller, joined Novo. He had an extraordinary
talent for research and management, and over the next decades he became a central
figure in the firm. His first task at Novo was to find an alternative to ZPI, the action
profile of which was not optimal. In 1944
he developed a number of insulin products
with both rapid and slow action. While
these products were widely used in many
countries, ZPI remained popular among
patients and continued to account for a
substantial part of Novo’s insulin sales.

The main event in diabetes treatment in the 1940s took place at Nordisk. In 1946, two of its
researchers, C Krayenbühl and Th Rosenberg, succeeded in producing crystalline protamine
insulin. The crystalline form meant that it was now possible to mix protamine insulin with rapid-
acting insulin without any loss or change of effect in either product. This unique product was
launched on the US market in 1950 under the name NPH – short for Neutral Protamine Hagedorn.
NPH was a great success and soon accounted for a large part of the western world’s consumption
of longeracting insulin.

Following the introduction of the successful

NPH insulin by Nordisk, a research team was
gathered together at Novo with the aim of
developing an insulin product that would be
just as good as NPH insulin or perhaps even
better.
The research team achieved its aim. In
1953, Novo was able to present the
Lente® products, which for several years
covered nearly a third of the world’s insulin
consumption.

In 1973, the research on antibody

reactions led to the introduction by Novo
of Monocomponent insulin (MC insulin).
The name refers to the product’s unusual
purity, in that it consisted largely of just one
component: the insulin itself. In 1977, Novo
was able to market a complete range of
insulin products of MC standard.

Nordisk also developed improved

purification methods, and in 1974 it
launched a highly purified porcine insulin.
Nordisk made only porcine insulin after
1967, when US studies revealed that bovine
insulin produced more antibody reactions
than porcine insulin.

New markets
The Lente® insulins made Novo one of
the world’s leading insulin manufacturers.
In 1959, Novo built its first laboratories
in Bagsværd, and in the 1960s, this city
became the headquarters of the company’s
activities. Subsidiaries had been established
a few years earlier in Germany, France and
South Africa, and by 1975 Novo had 14
subsidiaries.

Two years earlier, in 1972, a young lawyer was hired for a one-year project aimed primarily at
introducing the company on the stock exchange. The lawyer’s name was Mads Øvlisen, and he
had just returned to enmark with an MBA from Stanford University in California. As secretary to
the Board of Directors, it was his job to facilitate the ublic offering by going through the company
structure. What began as a temporary assignment turned into more than three decades of service
to the company, during which he as CEO from 1981 to 2000 exerted a decisive influence on some
of the most important events in the history of the company. With his special talent for commitment,
Mads Øvlisen also brought an xceptional quality to Novo Nordisk. Based on ideas that reach
back to the founders of the company, he developed, defined and mplemented the fundamental
values that still characterize the Novo Nordisk of today.
Organizatiional culture of Novo Nordisk can be obseverd on two distinct level. through underlying
Values in the minds of organization member and through Visible artefacts and observable
behaviour:

Honesty, openness, quality thinking, ambition and readiness to learn from mistakes are the values
that significantly mark corporate culture at Novo Nordisk.

The values that predominantly mark corporate culture at Novo Nordisk are honesty and openness,
ambition and quality thinking, as well as a readiness to learn from mistakes. Being an instrument
to spread and maintain values, Facilitations, on the one hand, promote these characteristics of
corporate culture at Novo Nordisk. But on the other hand, they also depend on these attitudes as
they rely on people’s openness and the willingness to constantly improve the quality of their work.

“It is one of our advantages that we are not afraid to honestly say what we mean. People dare to
ask critical questions because they know it won’t be held against them.” (Product Manager at
Novo Nordisk A/S)

Honesty and openness at Novo Nordisk are certainly the basis for both its corporate culture and
the successful application of the Facilitations. Novo Nordisk’s employees are used to share their
opinion with colleagues and managers and be taken seriously. The mutual trust of management
and employees contributes to the positive perception of the Facilitations, their smooth
proceedings and high-quality results. Considering that the Facilitations heavily rely on information
gathered in interviews, an open and honest corporate culture becomes the vital aspect and can
be seen as an indispensable carrier for the Facilitations. “What really makes the difference at
Novo Nordisk is the way we treat each other. People are very overt and doors are always open.”
(Assistant at Novo Nordisk A/S) As Facilitations promote quality thinking and tie up to people’s
openness and preparedness to learn they are consistent with Novo Nordisk’s corporate culture
and thus are positively perceived and supported.

“I really identify with the culture in this company. There is no mismatch between my private and
my professional attitude. That is very important for me.” (Vice President at Novo Nordisk A/S)
Leadership at Novo Nordisk is understood as a delegative and supportive task where managers
motivate their employees to actively participate in decision-making, to take on responsibility and
to grant them room for the independent fullfilment of their work. Sharing information and giving
feedback along and across hierarchical levels is an integral part of organizational life at Novo
Nordisk.
“Leadership to me means telling our employees what you think and which values to apply. It is
about showing your attitude and your personality.” (Vice President at Novo Nordisk A/S)
By involving the employees, respecting their opinion and granting the Unit room for its individual
resolution of an Action Point, the Facilitations take on this participative and delegative leadership
approach. Not only is top management convinced that corporate culture and living the NNWoM
is of relevance to the company’s success, but also the employees. They feel that the management
is role-modeling what it expects from them and authentically communicating what corporate
culture is like at Novo Nordisk. As employees identify with the company, they are interested in
maintaining the corporate culture as the organization’s common basis and therefore support the
Facilitations as a means to do so.
The facilitation process, the integrated sustainability reporting and the balanced scorecard provide
the formal and measurable systems and processes for assessing and controlling how well Novo
Nordisk lives up to its sustainability strategy. However, while the formal measuring of performance
and results is a central dimension of the Novo Nordisk Way of Management, the rationale behind
the framework extends beyond products and manufacturing operations in ways that serve to
facilitate not only quantitative control of behavior but also serve to guide and discipline behavior
that is not immediately measurable. An important part of the sustainability practice in Novo
Nordisk is the informal systems and processes that support, reinforce and develop the company’s
heritage of sustainability, i.e. the organizational culture. While the enactment of cultural norms is
less visible and difficult to measure, they provide a necessary frame for guiding and disciplining
acceptable and non-acceptable behavior in Novo Nordisk towards implementation of the
corporate sustainability strategy. One of the cultural tools to promote sustainability and the idea
of partnerships among employees is the ‘‘Take Action’’ programme. In 2003 Novo Nordisk
launced an company wide programme, encouraging all employees worldwide to ‘‘Take Action’’ in
their everyday worklife by thinking of new ideas to stimulate improvement of society in a Novo
Nordisk way. In other words: how could they as employees in Novo Nordisk contribute even more
to improve society? A number of ideas emerged from all around the world and one of them was
the idea to produce a international healthy cookbook to support a tasty and low calorie diet, that
can contribute to preventing more people from developing diabetes. While the Take Action
program is presented as a voluntary programme, it is at the same strongly encouraged by top
management. In the terminology of Kunda (1992), the Take Action programme is a way of
‘‘normatively controlling’’ managers and employees, as it has sent strong signals throughout Novo
Nordisk in support of the company’s sustainability strategy and it has contributed to produce a
collective thinking about what type of actions are encouraged in Novo Nordisk. PAGE 94 j
CORPORATE GOVERNANCEj VOL. 9 NO. 1 2009 The company’s six core values statement is
another cultural tool (see Table One). The six values are: accountable, responsible, open and
honest, ambitious, engaged with stakeholders, and ready for change. The strong focus on
engagement with stakeholders to implement the sustainability strategy has led to a number of
formalized and non-formalized dialogues on both social and environmental issues with a variety
of stakeholders, including the European Union, consumer associations, NGOs, neighbours,
journalists, investors, scientists and politicians. Novo Nordisk says that these dialogues,
accounted for in its annual reports, have served on multiple occasions to stimulate new goals for
future sustainability practices. Recently, for example, Novo Nordisk engaged in collaboration with
WWF to develop systems and processes to reduce its CO2 outlet with 10 percent by 2014.
Without the stakeholder dialogue and commitment, the company saw its CO2 emissions
increasing considerably. In addition to favourable media mention, such proactive change
measures have proven to influence industry standards on sustainability. Yet, while such dialogues
and their results are accounted for in the formal management control system, for example in
certain managers’ balanced score cards, this is not representative of the organizational impact
and significance for the implementation and continued development of Novo Nordisk’s
sustainability strategy. For example, the partnership with WWF has stimulated much dialogue,
pride and thinking among Novo Nordisk employees about other types of possible partnerships
that could benefit the company towards its sustainable strategy. Also, partnerships have
contributed to making Novo Nordisk appear as an attractive workplace for the younger generation
of students at business schools and engineering universities with an interest in sustainability. So,
besides figuring on the balanced score card of the manager in charge of the partnership
programmes, the impact of the partnership with WWF on employees’ loyalty and identification
with the company as well as its impetus for new ideas, and the improved attractiveness vis a´ vis
potential employees, does not materialize in the formal measurement control system, although
these are central aspects of maintaining and developing the sustainable leadership in Novo
Nordisk. A final example supports the point. Novo Nordisk not only monitors its own standards
and behaviors, its suppliers are frequently evaluated on issues such as salaries, working hours,
child labour, assembly rights, discrimination and privacy. One of Novo Nordisk’s local suppliers
of corporate gifts and gadgets, Sport Direct, has scrutinized all of its business processes and
systems to comply with Novo Nordisk’s demands about sustainable business practice among
their suppliers. In fact, Novo Nordisk has formulated a set of ethical guidelines on health and
safety, labour practices, ethics, environment and sub suppliers to be accounted for if a company
wants to remain the most preferred supplier to Novo Nordisk, which Sport Direct chose to
implement: ‘‘Novo Nordisk gives preference to business partners who share our business values
and principles’’[18]. The example here shows how implementation of Novo Nordisk’ sustainability
strategy stretches beyond the company’s legal borders as suppliers (i.e. non-members of Novo
Nordisk) become part of the sustainability strategy. Again, while such results are dimensions of
the facilitation process, the non-financial reporting and one or two managers’ balanced score
cards, they do not inform about the impact and support for such activities at the operational level.
The formal management control system does not provide information about how organizational
members have contributed and stimulated ideas and provided support to implement the supply
chain guide. To understand how employees have contributed, we need to somehow understand
how the cultural values serve to guide and implement behavior among employees
 Our culture and workplace
Our company framework, The Novo Nordisk Way, supports our culture of innovation and
responsibility. It ensures the long-term growth and welfare of our company and helps us find the
right balance between compassion and competitiveness.
Close
The Novo Nordisk Way includes our vision, our values and our commitment to the Triple Bottom
Line principle. This provides a foundation to ensure that we stay on course: That we are focused
on innovation. That we stay socially, environmentally and financially sound. And at the same
time that our employees experience a positive work environment and conditions.
When you work at Novo Nordisk you come to realise that our company culture is more than
words on a piece of paper – we live our values every single day. The values are the foundation
for our business decisions. We have an inclusive culture where employees feel empowered and
consensus is valued. Our commitment to quality and our focus on maintaining high ethical
standards goes hand in hand with living up to our responsibilities to shareholders, patients and
society.
Our values are global, but they are also owned and lived at a local level, providing flexibility and
fostering diversity in ideas.

Diversity and Inclusion in Novo Nordisk

In Novo Nordisk, we believe that diversity and inclusion in all teams - from entry level to top
management - drive better decision making, by ensuring that multiple perspectives are
considered. We have a strong stance on the value proposition of diversity in all its forms
(gender, nationality, education, experience, age, personality etc.) and encourage all
management teams to address and discuss unconscious bias in key decision-making
processes.
Our Executive Management team has agreed on a shared rationale for diversity and inclusion in
Novo Nordisk, built on four primary drivers:

 Broaden our access to talent

 Secure diversity of perspectives
 Foster a global mindset
 Offer equal opportunities

You can read more about the four drivers here.

To ensure a long-term sustainable focus on diversity and inclusion, we continuously incorporate
diversity and inclusion perspectives into key HR processes throughout the employee lifecycle,
e.g. talent acquisition, talent management and leadership development.
For more information on our annual performance, see our Annual Report .
NovoHealth
NovoHealth is our worldwide employee health programme. NovoHealth is seeking to develop a
workplace culture that promotes and supports healthy living for all employees – an opportunity
for Novo Nordisk to practice what we preach! NovoHealth focuses on:
 Providing healthy food and beverages to our employees
 Offers access to regular health checks
 Access and encouragement to take part in physical activities and as well as providing a smoke-
free workplace also provides guidance and support to employees who wish to stop smoking.
CULTURE
Symbol - Apis bull
Rites and ceremonies -
Training is given to new employees to get them acquainted with the NN way of functioning and
products. Having a healthy life is highly valued through annual Novo nordisk Marathon.
There are regular town hall sessions at every unit, site and regional levels. They also have
annual National sales meet.
Power culture -
NN promotes open communication and equality.
No separate spaces for food everyone sits at the same place eats the same variety of food.
Control systems -
The organization employs an outcome-based control system where the individual and team
performance is recognized through target achievement and rewarded through incentives.
Mission focus -
NN focuses not only to prevent, treat and ultimately cure diabetes, but also to improve the lives
of those living with other serious chronic conditions:
Our ambition is to strive continuously and strengthen our leadership in diabetes
Our key contribution is to discover and develop innovative biological medicines and make them
accessible to patients throughout the world.
Our business philosophy is one of balancing financial, social and environmental considerations -
we call it 'The Triple Bottom Line'.
Apex management structure-
The company has a two-tier management structure consisting of the Board of Directors and
Executive Management.