GlaxoSmithKline operates in the pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare sectors, making prescription medicines, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines, oral care and nutritional healthcare products.

Our business is founded primarily on research and development to discover, develop, register, commercialise and support effective marketing of prescription medicines, vaccines and delivery systems for the treatment and prevention of human disease. We employ over 15,000 staff in R&D and have more than 20 R&D sites worldwide.

Our portfolio of products ranges from tablets and toothpaste to inhalers and capsules. We make over 36,000 different pack sizes and presentations. We have a network of 95 manufacturing sites in 38 countries and employ more than 33,000 in manufacturing and related support functions. Each year we produce over four billion packs, which are delivered for sale in over 150 countries.

The pharmaceutical industry is highly regulated, with every stage from discovery to sales and marketing closely controlled. Our stakeholders are many and their expectations can be very different.

Thus, size and complexity make this a challenging business. This raises many questions about what we do, and how and why we do it. Our main impacts on society, and how we manage these, are described in this report.