CASE STUDY

MERCK
Stay Vibrant and Be a Hero:
You Only Live Once
By: Aura Bantasan, Cheryl Arriola and Ian Zoleta

Edmond Jayson E. Peregil

MBA-C

I. Time Context
Merck is one of the oldest pharmaceutical in the world for more than 300 years and has a
growing family across the world as of January 2019. On February 2019, the first ever
"Wellness Week" was created to provide the employees with awareness on how to
responsibly care for themselves.

II. Viewpoint
Engineer Joseph Christian Cunanan, a newly hired Environment, Health, and Safety
Officer, developed a "Wellness Week" program for the company, and strongly supported
a blood donation or bloodletting program as part of their corporate social responsibility.
The program not only assists those in need, but it also educates and ensures employee
safety.

III. Statement of the Problem

There are issues encountered during the Wellness Week and Bloodletting program as the
company's first corporate social responsibility, including: (1) not all employees are
engaged in health and safety; (2) fewer volunteers due to fear of donating blood; (3)
employees' busy schedules; and (4) strict and specific qualifications for donating blood.

There is a lack of awareness and engagement among employees with regards to health and
safety matters, either they are not interested or uninformed in corporate social
responsibility activities of the company.

There are fewer volunteers due to the fear of donating blood, some employees think that
they might faint after donating blood, or they might contract a disease, or they feel sick
after donating.
 Some employees are unable to donate blood due to their hectic schedules. They are more
worried about their deadlines than helping others.

Strict and Specific qualifications on donating blood, to ensure the safety of blood donors
and recipient, assessing and examining the health status of blood donors are done to ensure
that there are no infections or diseases are transferred to the blood recipient.

IV. Objectives
The purpose and objectives of this case study is to raise awareness and promote the benefits
of blood donation for the employees, as well as to help save lives of other people

V. Areas of Consideration / Analysis

The following areas to be considered during the conduct of bloodletting program are:

• The health of the blood donors – are they physically fit to donate the blood.
• The schedule of the employees or donor – are the employees inform ahead of time
before conducting bloodletting program.
• The requirements set by the Philippine Red Cross & Philippine Blood Center – are
the company as well as the participants are compliant with rules and regulations set
by the Philippine Red Cross & Philippine Blood Center.

VI. Alternative Courses of Action

Lack of awareness and employee engagement

- Conduct seminars to the employees related to blood donations
- Management should have the initiative and motivate the employees to participate in
their corporate social responsibility

Less volunteer due to fear of donating blood

- Examine the blood donor’s health status prior participating in the corporate social
responsibility
- Employees should be more knowledgeable in relation to bloodletting program
Busy schedule of the employees
- Management should allot time for their employees to participate in their corporate
social responsibility
- Management should inform the employees ahead of time before conducting corporate
social responsibility
- Gather employee’s availability before conducting corporate social responsibility
 Strict and Specific qualifications on donating blood
- Comply with all the requirements prior conducting bloodletting program

VII. Recommendation
Based on the thorough analysis of this study, it is hereby concluded that management
should hold a blood donation seminar to educate employees on the benefits of blood
donation for themselves and others. Management should also allocate and make time for
employees to participate in corporate social responsibility. Furthermore, determining
whether or not employees are physically fit to donate blood ensures both parties' safety.
Furthermore, in order to successfully complete the program, compliance with Philippine
Red Cross and Philippine Blood Center standards must be met prior to conducting the
bloodletting program.