Corporate Social Responsibilities of

SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd.

Group Report
Title: Corporate Social Responsibilities of
SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd.

Submitted By

Sabera Shahrin Aony

MD. Minhazul Islam
Mehedi Hasan Hridoy
Kamruzzaman Ripon
Abdullah-Al-Mahmud
Rishad Jude Adhikary

Submitted To
Ummul Wara Adrita
Lecturer
BRAC Business School

Date of Submission: 01 July 2015

BRAC University
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Letter of Transmittal
01 July 2015
To
Ummul Wara Adrita
BRAC Business School
BRAC University
Mohakhali, Dhaka
Subject: Submission of Final report on Corporate Social Responsibilities of
SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd.
Dear Sir,
It is an immense pleasure for me to submit you internship report titled
Corporate Social Responsibilities of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd. We were
assigned to collect information about CSR of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd. We
have tried our level best to fulfill all our requirements of this course and tried to
follow my supervisors instructions while preparing this report. This gave us the
opportunity to theoretical knowledge in practical field, which help us in our
future career.
It would be a profound pleasure for us if the report can serve its purpose. We
would be available in any time to explain you any queries if feel necessary.
Thanking You
Sincerely Yours
Group: Sparking Stars
Sabera Shahrin Aony

14204057

MD. Minhazul Islam

14204114

Mehedi Hasan Hridoy

14104043

Kamruzzaman Ripon

14204118

Abdullah-Al-Mahmud

14304016
2|Page

Rishad Jude Adhikary

1430408

Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary:......................................................................................1
2. Introduction:...................................................................................................2
3. Objectives of the study:..................................................................................2
4. Methodology of the report:.............................................................................3
a)

Primary sources:........................................................................................... 3

b) Secondary sources:...................................................................................... 3

5. Data Collection method:.................................................................................3

6. Analysis process:............................................................................................4
7. Company profile:............................................................................................4
8. SWOT analysis:..............................................................................................5
a)

Strengths:..................................................................................................... 5

b) Weakness:.................................................................................................... 5
c)

Opportunities:.............................................................................................. 5

d) Threats:........................................................................................................ 6
Hiking price of raw materials:..........................................................................6
Inadequate Power supply:............................................................................... 6

9. Analysis on your selected area:......................................................................6

a)

Commitment towards Environment:.............................................................8

i.

Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in manufacturing plants............................8

ii.

Ensuring Green Belt at Plant Surrounding.................................................8

iii. Uses Incinerator in manufacturing plants.................................................8

iv. Maintaining biodiversity............................................................................ 8
b) Commitment towards Employee:.................................................................8
i.

Regular training......................................................................................... 8

ii.

Ensuring safe, healthy & employee-friendly workplace............................8

iii. Loan facility:.............................................................................................. 8

c)

Commitment towards society & support to social grounds:.........................8

i.

Vaccination & Breast feeding awareness to 3.3 million mothers:..............8

ii.

Operating 24/7 free helpline for mother and Babies:................................9

iii. Informing physician community on latest development in medical

science:........................................................................................................... 9

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iv. Training Institution of IT:............................................................................9

v. Awareness building program for the rights of physically-challenged
people............................................................................................................. 9
vi. Medical campaign program for poor people..............................................9
vii.

Reconstruction of Annada Gobinda Public Library in Pabna...................9

viii.

Road safety campaign & road side shade,.............................................9

ix. Donation to hospitals, medical colleges, local community &

underprivileged people.................................................................................... 9
d) Responsibility towards government:..........................................................10
i.

Highest TAX payer of the country award:................................................10

ii.

Special Government medicine supply:....................................................10

e) Advancing research and development program:........................................10

i.

Support to ICDDR,B for Research on Childhood Diarrhoea......................10

ii.

Partner in the research study for preventing...........................................10

f)

Support to education:................................................................................. 10
i.

SQUARE Kindergarten & SQUARE High School........................................10

ii.

Award for facilitating higher education...................................................10

iii. Pick-up and drop services for the school going children of factory
employees..................................................................................................... 10
iv. Sponsoring " Dhaka Residential Model College 7th National Science
Festival 2014"................................................................................................ 10

10.

Why they are performing CSR:.................................................................10

11.

What approach that Square Pharma Ltd are following and why?.............11

12.

Limitation of our study:.............................................................................11

13.

Recommendation.......................................................................................12

14.

Bibliography..............................................................................................15

15.

Appendix:..................................................................................................16

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1. Executive Summary:
2. SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Company Report provides a
complete overview of the companys affairs. All available
data is presented in a comprehensive and easily accessed
format. The report contains the companys profile and
information about the companys vision, mission
principal activities, objectives, locations and organization
structure. The report also includes Company profile,
SWOT analysis latest development analysis, social
responsibilities, and current achievements. The SWOT
analysis provides information about the companys
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and possible threats
against it. This report provides relevant news, an analysis
of CSR activity. The report also enables direct
comparison
to be
made
between
SQUARE
Pharmaceuticals and its competitors. The report is mainly
focusing on corporate social responsibility of the
company. The report contains how the company is
maintaining their CSR in different area, why they are
performing, what approach they are following and how.
Sharing views and recommendations regarding new
possible areas of CSR.

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3.

Introduction:

4. This report has been prepared to make a study on an

overview of the SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Limited of
Bangladesh as a part of the fulfillment of assignment
required for the completion of the BBA program of the
business faculty of Management Studies of BRAC
University. The report was prepared under the
supervision of Ummul Wara Adrita, Lecturer of BRAC
University. We are very much thankful to her for
assigning such types of project work. We choose the
company because SQUARE Group ltd is one of its kind
group of industry And SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd is
very significantly active in the CSR activity and they
follow the non-traditional, unorthodox trend in CSR
activity. The head office of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd
is also very near to our university which is also an
advantage in this kind of study as it requires depth
interviews.

5.
6.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Objectives of the study:

7. The main objectives of the study are to explore the

corporate culture and activities performed by one of the
top organizations of the country. And distinguish it in
case of their Corporate Social Responsibilities approach
and their areas of activity. Other objectives of this report
are:
8.
To inform about the progress in CSR.
To analyze the approach to CSR.
To communicate the changes made by the company.
Analyze the recommendations.
Areas the company focus in terms of CSR.
Explore new possible areas of CSR.
To share the lesson learned.

9.
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10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

Methodology of the report:

17.For smooth and accurate study everyone have to follow

some rules & regulation. The study impute were collected
from two sources. The sources are:
18.

a) Primary sources:

19.Primary sources of information are those that provide

first-hand accounts of the events, practices, or conditions.
In general, these are documents that were created by the
witnesses or first recorders of these events at about the
time they occurred. These information are collected
from:
1. Practical desk work
2. Face to face conversation with the officer
3. Direct observations
4. Face to face conversation with the client
20.
21.

b) Secondary sources:

22. Second-hand, published accounts are called secondary

sources. They are called secondary sources because they
are created
primary sources and they often use or talk
about primary sources. Secondary sources can give
additional opinions on a past event or on a primary
source. Secondary sources often have many copies which
we collected from:
5. Annual report of company
6. Files & Folders
7. Daily diary
8. Various publications of the company
9. Company Website
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23.

24.

Data Collection method:

25.We followed the depth interview method for data

collection for the report making process. We went to the
head office of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd with our
group for a formal depth interview with some of the
officers of the company. We met Mr. Ahmed Kamrul
Alam, Deputy General Manager and Marketing at
SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd. And Md Tanzirul Islam,
Manager & Head of HR of the company. Interview
duration was ranging from half an hour to one and a
quarters.
26.
27.

28.

Analysis process:

29.In the study we did not include mathematical or statistical

analysis, we focused on subjective analysis during
making the report.
30.

31.

Company profile:

32.SQUARE today symbolizes a name a state of mind. But

its journey to the growth and prosperity has been no bed
of roses. From the inception in 1958, it has today
burgeoned into one of the top line conglomerates in
Bangladesh. Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd., the flagship
company, is holding the strong leadership position in the
pharmaceutical industry of Bangladesh since 1985 and is
now on its way to becoming a high performance global
player. Square Pharmaceuticals Limited is the largest
pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh and it has been
continuously in the 1st position among all national and
multinational companies since 1985. It was established in
1958 and converted into a public limited company in
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1991. The sales turnover of SPL was more than Taka 7.5
Billion (US$107.91 million) with about 16.92% market
share (April 2006 March 2007) having a growth rate of
about 23.17%.Square Pharmaceuticals Limited has
extended her range of services towards the highway of
global market. She pioneered exports of medicines from
Bangladesh in 1987 and has been exporting antibiotics
and other pharmaceutical products. This extension in
business and services has manifested the credibility of
Square Pharmaceuticals Limited. Square strive, above all,
for top quality health care products at the least cost
reaching the lowest rungs of the economic class of people
in the country. We value our social obligations. They owe
to our shareholders and strive for protection of their
capital as well as ensure highest return and growth of
their assets. They strive for best compensation to all the
employees who constitute the back-bone of the
management and operational strength of the Company
through a pay-package composing salary/wages,
allowances, bonus, profit participation, leave salary and
superannuation & retirement benefits. They strive for best
co-operation of the creditors & debtors the banks &
financial institutions who provide financial support when
we need them, the suppliers of raw materials &suppliers
who offer them at the best prices, the providers of
utilities-power, gas & water etc. and the customers who
buy our products & services by redeeming their claim in
time by making prompt payment and by distributing
proper product on due dates.

33.

SWOT analysis:

34.The following SWOT analysis captures the main

strengths and weaknesses within the Company, and
describes the opportunities and threats of the company.
35.
c) Strengths:

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36.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Highly experienced Senior Executives some of whom

Has local and international significant pharmaceutical literature.
Good reputation with high image.
Efficient, skilled, experienced and dedicated staff members
Large customer Base and product development capabilities and
outstanding professional services
6. Resources are available in Bangladesh
7. Square pharmaceutical is able to make benchmarking medicines
8. Increasing presence in the market
9. Regulatory performance is strong and positive
10.Employee mobility is lower than that of its rivals
37.
d) Weakness:

38.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Non availability of high technology

Everything is not organized.
Time consuming decision making process
Incorrect method for collecting resources and inventory management
Minimum profit in comparison with others
39.
e) Opportunities:

1. Government Support
2. Banking and information technology
3. Credit line with well-known foreign bank can gear up its foreign
Exchange business.
4. Entering in new arena product helps to grow customers' confidence.
5. Opportunity to take market share away from rivals by Offering new
innovative product or services.
6. Opportunity to enter into the global market.
40.
f) Threats:

41.
42.Hiking price of raw materials: More and more factories,
especially small ones, are facing closure due to price hike

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of raw materials. As the company has just entered in the

market it will be a great threat for us.

1.
2.
3.
4.

43.
44.Inadequate Power supply: The industry sources also
blamed lack of adequate power supply for making the
industry more vulnerable.
45.We have to face the same problem here and for this many
industries are shutting down now days.
46.
Mergers and Acquisition
Frequent Currency Devaluation
Competitors are much in pharmaceutical industries
Competitors are offering innovative new product and services regularly.
Matching them is really hard.

47.

48.

Analysis on your selected area:

49.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the continuing

commitment by business to behave ethically and
contribute to economic development while improving the
quality of life of the workforce and their families as well
as of the local community and society at large.
50.
51.
52.SQUARE recognizes that progressive labor policies are
good business practices, especially for a company like us
that has global ambition. We follow laws and encourage
work environment that welcomes diversity and also
follow non-discrimination & fair treatment policy both in
the recruitment & selection process and performance
management system. We have Trade Union & our HR
policies have been continuously up-to-dated as per
existing labor law of the country. We do not allow any
female employees during night shift operations & we
strictly prohibit any form of forced labor. We actively
pursue the policy of No child labor in SQUARE.
53.
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54.Transparency & business ethics is the core value of

SQUARE and it is strictly followed at every step of the
business processes. Every business in SQUARE is
modeled in a way that enables the management to ensure
highest degree of both financial and behavioral
accountability. SQUARE pursues Zero Tolerance policy
against all kinds of corruption.
55.
56.SQUARE's activity goes well beyond the sphere of
business. As socially conscious and responsible corporate
body SQUARE is committed to the improvement of the
society as a whole. Meril-Prothom Alo festival sponsored
by SQUARE, has become a national calendar event.
SQUARE helps many NGO's in their effort to make
available healthcare to the disadvantage population of the
country. It sponsors programs to build awareness on the
healthcare need. SQUARE is also a major sponsor of
sporting events in the country.
57.
58.SQUARE is proud to be a Bangladeshi Company actively
involved in various field of Corporate Social
Responsibility:
59.

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g) Commitment towards Environment:

60.SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd is Committed to support

precautionary approach to environmental challenges & to
promote greater environmental responsibility by:
i.

Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in manufacturing plants.

ii. Ensuring Green Belt at Plant Surrounding.

iii. Uses Incinerator in manufacturing plants.
iv. Maintaining biodiversity by using organic fertilizer for producing tea
at Sabazpur Tea Co. Ltd., Moulovibazar (a sister concern of Square
Group)

61.
h) Commitment towards Employee:

62.SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd ensures the ethical and

friendly working conditions to its employee, tries to
develop their skills and efficiency through various
training. They do;
i

Regular training to all level of employees to increase the knowledge

& skill level.

v. Ensuring safe, healthy & employee-friendly workplace

a) Healthy food, prepared and served fully at company's cost at

the same time ensuring highest standard of hygiene factor.
b) Transportation facility
vi. Loan facility: "Shohoj Kisti Reen Prokalpa" under which all unionized
employees can take loan to purchase necessary home appliances at
small service charge and this fund is operated and managed by a
committee of workers' representatives.

63.
i) Commitment towards society & support to social grounds:

64.
i

Vaccination & Breast feeding awareness to 3.3 million mothers:

65.Through direct outbound phone call, SMS blast, product

pack communication, Square Toiletries Ltd. attempted to
make mothers aware about the importance of breast
feeding and vaccination. Not only that, each and every
call we receive at SUPERMOM tele service, we remind
every mother about it. This has helped to ensure the
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future of 3.3 million babies and help eliminate polio from

Bangladesh as well.
vii. Operating 24/7 free helpline for mother and Babies:

66.Supermom is a free telephone (0961 2222 333) service

and a full-fledged interactive Bengali website
(www.supermombd.com) for mothers and their babies.
Every mother, we believe is a Supermom. Saluting these
Supermoms, to make their life a little easy, we operate
this service, to help mothers to be the finest mom.
Teamed up with experts and professionals, this
praiseworthy initiative by Meril Baby from Square
Toiletries Ltd is there to keep a mother and the baby
protected, healthy and safe!
viii.
Informing physician community on latest development in
medical science:

67.SQUARE takes multiple initiatives through healthcare

publications, seminars & clinical meetings like Continual
Medical Education (CME) program.
ix. Training Institution of IT:

68.To train the underprivileged community in Pabna who are

not capable to afford costly training programs. The initial
aspect of this Training Institution named "Dishari" is to
empower them as a prospective user of future technology
and build their own future and nation with state of the art
technology and contemporary computer knowledge.
69.And others are:
x. Awareness building program for the rights of physically-challenged
people
xi. Medical campaign program for poor people
xii. Reconstruction of Annada Gobinda Public Library in Pabna
xiii.

Road safety campaign & road side shade,

xiv.
Donation to hospitals, medical colleges, local community &
underprivileged people.

70.

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71.
j) Responsibility towards government:
i

Highest TAX payer of the country award:

72.SQUARE is reputed and recognized as highest TAX

paying organization on a regular basis. Honorable
Chairman of SQUARE group is awarded as highest TAX
payer of the country by the government.
xv. Special Government medicine supply:

73.SQUARE supplies customized government medicine as

per the requirement of Bangladesh government.
Moreover, in times of epidemics and disasters it is always
beside the government with its expanded helping hands.
74.
k) Advancing research and development program:
i

Support to ICDDR,B for Research on Childhood Diarrhoea

xvi.
Partner in the research study for preventing "Post Partum
Hemorrhage (PPH)", primary reason for maternal death in
Bangladesh with ICDDR,B and Obstetrical & Gynecological Society
of Bangladesh (OGSB)
l) Support to education:
i

SQUARE Kindergarten & SQUARE High School

xvii.

Award for facilitating higher education

xviii.
Pick-up and drop services for the school going children of
factory employees
xix.
Sponsoring "SQUARE-Dhaka Residential Model College 7th
National Science Festival 2014"

75.

76.

Why they are performing CSR:

77.Our Business Motivation is Being Good by Doing Well

and to conduct transparent business operations based on
market mechanism within the legal, ethical & social
framework with aims to attain the mission reflected by
our vision. We scale-up CSR activities to consider the
interests of our external & internal stakeholders like
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customers, employees, vendors, shareholders, society,

government etc. and ecological & ethical considerations
in all aspects of operations. SQUARE is one of the
pioneer signatories of United Nations Global Compact
(UNGC) in Bangladesh. UNGC principles are aligned
with company's culture from the very outset. Thats why
SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd is doing various CSR
activities very proactively.
78.
79.

80.

What approach that Square

Pharmaceuticals Ltd are following and why?

81.Different organization can take different approaches

according to their social responsibility. An organization
which is not bothered about the consequence of their
decisions will considered as taking obstructionist stance
to the social responsibility mean while the one who is
willing to help the society in every possible way will be
considered as taking proactive stance to the social
responsibility. In that case Square Pharmaceutical ltd is
following the proactive stance to social responsibility
because they are fully aware of their responsibility. They
are one of the signatory of global contact in Bangladesh.
They consider the interest of the customers, communities
and ecological considerations in all aspects of their
activities. They go well beyond their business and they
are committed to improve the condition of the society at
any cost. They are involved in welfare of the acid burn
victims and also sponsors program to build awareness on
the healthcare need.
82.

83.

Limitation of our study:

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84.First of all we could not obtained all the information and

explanations due to our inexperience. However we
believe that we have covered enough information to make
this a decent report. The second limitation of this report is
that it does not concern about all employees of Square
Group. It considered only some top level managers,
executives, non-executive and field staffs of Square
group. It did not concern others like suppliers,
shareholders and so on. And finally all our informations
wasnt from the direct source, we had to collect some
data from websites and other secondary sources which
may not be completely valid. Moreover it the time of
Ramadan, and working hours has been decreased due to
it. It has been pretty difficult to manage an depth
interview.
85.
86.

87.

Recommendation

88.The company should revise the recruitment and selection

policy for the executive level and also further research is
needed to find out the reason of their dissatisfaction
which will be easy in solving problems because the
manager, non-executive and field forces are satisfied.
89.Succession Planning can be introduced in the company
before the retirement of any employee. This process will
stop contract employment policy because through
contract employment the employee is not allow getting
all the facility and benefits from Square as other
employees which lead to job dissatisfaction.
90.The interior design of the office should to be changed to
be able to compete with other national and multinational
company in this country and also it will motivate the
employees and retain high skilled employees.
91.Paper work need to be reduced and increase the computer
skilled of the existing employees to do the work more
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smoothly and faster which took more time before using

the modern technical. Make sure the proper utilization of
working time by increase the communication in and
outside the company.
92.Findings indicate that there is dissatisfaction among the
manager, executive and non-executive level in term of
opportunity for advancement and promotion. So, this
practice need to redesign and check and should be
improved through adopting effective policy to satisfy
employees.
93.To take the necessary steps and action, to increase
employees satisfaction level and to recover the above
problems, further research is needed for the company
which will include the whole employees of Square
Pharmaceuticals Ltd to identify the effective and efficient
policy, strategy and action.
94.Some other recommended
Performance in related field:

changes

for

better

Changes in the procurement process (It should be in a sophisticated

software to be more competitive in the current market)

A well ERP structure should be developed to increase accountability and

transparency

Maintain quiet and silent working environment

Interior design need to be change for employee motivation and increase

of existing productivity

Special Training on computer

Reduction of workload

Organized proper training

Assigned tasks should to be distributed equally

Transparent performance evaluation and feedback

Reduction of work load and also it should to be equally distributed

among all the employees

More technological support (Computer and Internet facility)

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95.Suggestion for further improvement of the company:

Special offer is required to retain high skilled employees

Interior design of the office need to be changed

The decentralized group portfolio should changed

Reduce paperwork

Salary review

Performance incentives for the employees.

96.
97.CONCLUSION:
98.Square Group is one of the largest and leading company
in our country for more than four decades by
manufacturing quality products. It diversified in different
area and sector of the local business field. The other
square concerns are as pharmaceuticals, toiletries,
garments, textiles, information technology, health
products, food products, hospitals etc. The company
always concerns with the quality of the product for their
customer and also increases the profit for its shareholder
and stockholder and also the employees.
99.In order to produce the best quality of any product the
employees of the company must be skillful,
knowledgeable, and fill of being as they are the members
of one and same family for their better improvement.
However, Square group is not concerned only on the
quality of the product and the reputation of the company
but they are also concerned about the satisfaction level of
their employees for better improvement, higher
productivity as well as to produce quality product by
providing different types of benefits and facilities.
100. However, from the research paper it is found that most
of the employees are satisfied with the facilities giving to
them. Only few factors are not able to satisfy the
employees. This is also found through conducting this
research that there is both satisfaction and dissatisfaction
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in term of recruitment and selection policy, annual

appraisal and also the non-executive employees are not
dissatisfied with the facility that the company provides to.
101. Through the research paper it is clear that Square
group is an established, significant and highly respected
in term of the product quality and very much concerned
about the satisfaction or motivation of the employees.
102.

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103. Bibliography
104.

Alam, M. S. (Ed.). (2010, August 30). Escape traffic jam, helicopter

introduced by SQUARE pharma. Retrieved from Somewhereinblog.com:
http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/mdsharifulalam/29232185

105. Mrs. Nasrin Akter. (2015). Annual Report 2014. Dhaka: SQUARE
Pharmaceuticals ltd.
106. Public Relation. (2015, July 01). About us. (SQUARE Pharmaceuticals
ltd) Retrieved june 30, 2015, from SQUARE Pharmaceuticals ltd:
http://www.squarepharma.com.bd/about-us.php
107. Reporter, S. (2014, December 7). Square pharma. Retrieved june 30,
2015,
from
rapidprnews:
http://rapidprnews.com/details.php?
id=26818&page=1
108.
109.
110.
111.

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112. Appendix:
A. SQUARE Pharmaceutical ltd, is leading the market what is the mantra of
your success according to you.
B. What is the biggest strength of you organization?
C. What is the sector do you think the organization should work on to tackle
future challenges.
D. Do you think Pharmaceuticals market of Bangladesh is challenging or bid
fair?
E. We can see how well your company is performing in business and n
Corporate Social Responsibilities as well, whats according to you is the
thought process regarding CSR in your management.
F. In which sectors SQUARE pharma mainly focuses for CSR?
G. We can see SQUARE Pharmaceuticals does CSR proactively, would you
please tell us why, we mean to say how you as a company s benefited?
H. How the organization ensure ethical and friendly workplace for
employees?
I. How SQUARE Pharma is bringing in changes in Environment, Education
and women empowerment?
J. What SQUARE is doing for consumers interest and for the country?
K. If you find a new problem coming in front of you which can be eradicated
but there is no link between pharmaceutical businesses with it, will you
go forward to?
113.
114.
115.
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
121.
122. Thank You
123.

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