GlaxoSmithKline: A journey from the foundation to the creation of a global Reporting & Analytics organization

Introduction

This case study outlines the unique journey over two decades by one global organization in the development of People Analytics across the enterprise. The various stages of evolution were influenced by the organisation’s strategy and priorities; market forces in the Pharmaceutical and Consumer Healthcare industries; HR strategy and company culture; technology development and investments; and requirements to support the redesign of their HR Operating Model. As of now their vision of a data driven insights-based organisation has yet to be fully realised.

Background

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was formed in late December 2000 through the merger between of two global mid-scale pharmaceutical companies Glaxo Welcome and SmithKline Beecham. The new company had its headquarters in London and were listed on both London and New York stock exchanges.

A consequence of this federated model was that achieving global consistency and leveraging scale was extremely difficult to achieve. Inevitably significant variations developed over time between business units in each region but also within businesses operating in individual countries. Information technology (IT) under cost pressures was the first support function that sought to apply globally consistent and standardized approaches in terms of applications, support and processes.