Industry Comparison

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Current language: English (2023)

You are viewing information about the following Industries:

  • Health Care Distributors Health care distributors purchase, inventory and sell pharmaceutical products and medical equipment to hospitals, pharmacies and physicians. Demand for the industry’s services is driven largely by insurance rates, pharmaceutical spending, illness and demographics. The health care sector continues to face an emphasis on reduced costs and improved efficiencies, which also will affect the Health Care Distributors industry. Entities in this industry face challenges from consolidation and partnerships between pharmacies, payers and manufacturers.
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  • Rail Transportation Rail Transportation industry entities provide rail freight shipping and support services. Important activities include shipping containerised and bulk freight, including consumer goods and commodities. Rail entities typically own, maintain and operate their rail networks, which may require significant capital expenditures. The industry exhibits economies of density because of its network effects, potentially fostering natural monopoly conditions. Together with the large sunk costs of rail infrastructure, this provides a competitive advantage to incumbent entities in the industry and creates barriers to entry for new entities.
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Relevant Issues for both Industries (9 of 26)

Why are some issues greyed out? The SASB Standards vary by industry based on the different sustainability-related risks and opportunities within an industry. The issues in grey were not identified during the standard-setting process as the most likely to be useful to investors, so they are not included in the Standard. Over time, as the ISSB continues to receive market feedback, some issues may be added or removed from the Standard. Each company determines which sustainability-related risks and opportunities are relevant to its business. The Standard is designed for the typical company in an industry, but individual companies may choose to report on different sustainability-related risks and opportunities based on their unique business model.

Disclosure Topics

What is the relationship between General Issue Category and Disclosure Topics? The General Issue Category is an industry-agnostic version of the Disclosure Topics that appear in each SASB Standard. Disclosure topics represent the industry-specific impacts of General Issue Categories. The industry-specific Disclosure Topics ensure each SASB Standard is tailored to the industry, while the General Issue Categories enable comparability across industries. For example, Health & Nutrition is a disclosure topic in the Non-Alcoholic Beverages industry, representing an industry-specific measure of the general issue of Customer Welfare. The issue of Customer Welfare, however, manifests as the Counterfeit Drugs disclosure topic in the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals industry.
  • Health Care Distributors Remove
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    • GHG Emissions The category addresses direct (Scope 1) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that a company generates through its operations. This includes GHG emissions from stationary (e.g., factories, power plants) and mobile sources (e.g., trucks, delivery vehicles, planes), whether a result of combustion of fuel or non-combusted direct releases during activities such as natural resource extraction, power generation, land use, or biogenic processes. The category further includes management of regulatory risks, environmental compliance, and reputational risks and opportunities, as they related to direct GHG emissions. The seven GHGs covered under the Kyoto Protocol are included within the category—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
      • Fleet Fuel Management The distribution of health care products and supplies requires significant transportation networks. Concern over climate change and dwindling natural resources may affect fuel pricing, and it may expose health care distributors to cost fluctuations. Entities that improve transportation efficiencies may be better positioned to create value over the long-term.
    • Air Quality The category addresses management of air quality impacts resulting from stationary (e.g., factories, power plants) and mobile sources (e.g., trucks, delivery vehicles, planes) as well as industrial emissions. Relevant airborne pollutants include, but are not limited to, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), oxides of sulfur (SOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), heavy metals, particulate matter, and chlorofluorocarbons. The category does not include GHG emissions, which are addressed in a separate category.
      None
    • Product Quality & Safety The category addresses issues involving unintended characteristics of products sold or services provided that may create health or safety risks to end-users. It addresses a company’s ability to offer manufactured products and/or services that meet customer expectations with respect to their health and safety characteristics. It includes, but is not limited to, issues involving liability, management of recalls and market withdrawals, product testing, and chemicals/content/ingredient management in products.
      • Product Safety Health Care Distributors are integral to the delivery of consumer health care products. The industry has a shared responsibility with manufacturers to ensure product safety and answer concerns related to toxicity. Further, Health Care Distributors face additional risks related to controlled substances and mislabelled products. Entities that improve safety or effectively manage other product concerns may better protect shareholder value.
    • Customer Welfare The category addresses customer welfare concerns over issues including, but not limited to, health and nutrition of foods and beverages, antibiotic use in animal production, and management of controlled substances. The category addresses the company’s ability to provide consumers with manufactured products and services that are aligned with societal expectations. It does not include issues directly related to quality and safety malfunctions of manufactured products and services, but instead addresses qualities inherent to the design and delivery of products and services where customer welfare may be in question. The scope of the category also captures companies’ ability to prevent counterfeit products.
      • Counterfeit Drugs The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that counterfeit drugs represent more than 10% of the pharmaceutical supply chain in low- and middle-income countries. The issue of counterfeit or substandard medication also presents a significant risk in developed economies. Health Care Distributors may face added costs as applicable jurisdictional legal or regulatory authorities implement drug supply chain regulations to prevent counterfeit or mislabelled drugs from entering the pharmaceutical distribution system.
    • Employee Health & Safety The category addresses a company’s ability to create and maintain a safe and healthy workplace environment that is free of injuries, fatalities, and illness (both chronic and acute). It is traditionally accomplished through implementing safety management plans, developing training requirements for employees and contractors, and conducting regular audits of their own practices as well as those of their subcontractors. The category further captures how companies ensure physical and mental health of workforce through technology, training, corporate culture, regulatory compliance, monitoring and testing, and personal protective equipment.
      None
    • Product Design & Lifecycle Management The category addresses incorporation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in characteristics of products and services provided or sold by the company. It includes, but is not limited to, managing the lifecycle impacts of products and services, such as those related to packaging, distribution, use-phase resource intensity, and other environmental and social externalities that may occur during their use-phase or at the end of life. The category captures a company’s ability to address customer and societal demand for more sustainable products and services as well as to meet evolving environmental and social regulation. It does not address direct environmental or social impacts of the company’s operations nor does it address health and safety risks to consumers from product use, which are covered in other categories.
      • Product Lifecycle Management Health Care Distributors have a responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of the products that they distribute. Specific opportunities to address these impacts exist in product packaging and take-back programmes. Entities that manage these concerns properly may meet customer demand and reduce associated costs more effectively.
    • Business Ethics The category addresses the company’s approach to managing risks and opportunities surrounding ethical conduct of business, including fraud, corruption, bribery and facilitation payments, fiduciary responsibilities, and other behaviour that may have an ethical component. This includes sensitivity to business norms and standards as they shift over time, jurisdiction, and culture. It addresses the company’s ability to provide services that satisfy the highest professional and ethical standards of the industry, which means to avoid conflicts of interest, misrepresentation, bias, and negligence through training employees adequately and implementing policies and procedures to ensure employees provide services free from bias and error.
      • Business Ethics Health Care Distributors are subject to various jurisdictional laws and regulations regarding false marketing claims, bribery, corruption and other unethical business practices. Entities that ensure compliance with relevant regulations may avoid litigation, which could result in costly fines or settlements.
    • Competitive Behaviour The category covers social issues associated with existence of monopolies, which may include, but are not limited to, excessive prices, poor quality of service, and inefficiencies. It addresses a company’s management of legal and social expectation around monopolistic and anti-competitive practices, including issues related to bargaining power, collusion, price fixing or manipulation, and protection of patents and intellectual property (IP).
      None
    • Critical Incident Risk Management The category addresses the company’s use of management systems and scenario planning to identify, understand, and prevent or minimize the occurrence of low-probability, high-impact accidents and emergencies with significant potential environmental and social externalities. It relates to the culture of safety at a company, its relevant safety management systems and technological controls, the potential human, environmental, and social implications of such events occurring, and the long-term effects to an organization, its workers, and society should these events occur.
      None
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    • GHG Emissions The category addresses direct (Scope 1) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that a company generates through its operations. This includes GHG emissions from stationary (e.g., factories, power plants) and mobile sources (e.g., trucks, delivery vehicles, planes), whether a result of combustion of fuel or non-combusted direct releases during activities such as natural resource extraction, power generation, land use, or biogenic processes. The category further includes management of regulatory risks, environmental compliance, and reputational risks and opportunities, as they related to direct GHG emissions. The seven GHGs covered under the Kyoto Protocol are included within the category—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
      • Greenhouse Gas Emissions The Rail Transportation industry generates emissions mainly through the combustion of diesel in locomotive engines. Despite relatively low emissions compared to other transportation industries, fuel management has implications for industry entities in terms of operating costs and regulatory compliance. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) including carbon dioxide (CO2) are of particular importance to government regulators concerned about climate change. Intensifying regulation of locomotive exhaust emissions and high fuel costs encourage rail entities to invest in fuel efficiency enhancements to manage emissions. These investments can improve an entity’s operational efficiency and cost structure, with effects on value and competitive position both within the industry and compared to other modes of transport.
    • Air Quality The category addresses management of air quality impacts resulting from stationary (e.g., factories, power plants) and mobile sources (e.g., trucks, delivery vehicles, planes) as well as industrial emissions. Relevant airborne pollutants include, but are not limited to, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), oxides of sulfur (SOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), heavy metals, particulate matter, and chlorofluorocarbons. The category does not include GHG emissions, which are addressed in a separate category.
      • Air Quality Rail operations emit several types of air pollutants regulated under national and international laws. These air pollutants can create significant and localised environmental and health impacts. For example, locomotive engines idling at rail yards may be a health concern for nearby human populations because HAPs such as benzene are known human carcinogens. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are a major component of smog and acid rain. At the same time, fuel is a significant industry cost. Rail entities that implement fuel efficiency enhancements and manage emissions may witness reduced costs in both the short and longer term.
    • Product Quality & Safety The category addresses issues involving unintended characteristics of products sold or services provided that may create health or safety risks to end-users. It addresses a company’s ability to offer manufactured products and/or services that meet customer expectations with respect to their health and safety characteristics. It includes, but is not limited to, issues involving liability, management of recalls and market withdrawals, product testing, and chemicals/content/ingredient management in products.
      None
    • Customer Welfare The category addresses customer welfare concerns over issues including, but not limited to, health and nutrition of foods and beverages, antibiotic use in animal production, and management of controlled substances. The category addresses the company’s ability to provide consumers with manufactured products and services that are aligned with societal expectations. It does not include issues directly related to quality and safety malfunctions of manufactured products and services, but instead addresses qualities inherent to the design and delivery of products and services where customer welfare may be in question. The scope of the category also captures companies’ ability to prevent counterfeit products.
      None
    • Employee Health & Safety The category addresses a company’s ability to create and maintain a safe and healthy workplace environment that is free of injuries, fatalities, and illness (both chronic and acute). It is traditionally accomplished through implementing safety management plans, developing training requirements for employees and contractors, and conducting regular audits of their own practices as well as those of their subcontractors. The category further captures how companies ensure physical and mental health of workforce through technology, training, corporate culture, regulatory compliance, monitoring and testing, and personal protective equipment.
      • Workforce Health & Safety Moving freight by rail includes the risk of accidents and unintended releases of hazardous materials. These events may harm employee health and well-being as well as have negative financial effects on entities, such as reduced productivity, higher employee turnover and increased insurance costs. Poor employee health also may cause accidents. A healthy workforce, strong safety culture, thorough and systematic approach to safety, risk management programmes (including emergency preparedness and response), and operational integrity at all levels of an entity may reduce the probability and magnitude of rail accidents.
    • Product Design & Lifecycle Management The category addresses incorporation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in characteristics of products and services provided or sold by the company. It includes, but is not limited to, managing the lifecycle impacts of products and services, such as those related to packaging, distribution, use-phase resource intensity, and other environmental and social externalities that may occur during their use-phase or at the end of life. The category captures a company’s ability to address customer and societal demand for more sustainable products and services as well as to meet evolving environmental and social regulation. It does not address direct environmental or social impacts of the company’s operations nor does it address health and safety risks to consumers from product use, which are covered in other categories.
      None
    • Business Ethics The category addresses the company’s approach to managing risks and opportunities surrounding ethical conduct of business, including fraud, corruption, bribery and facilitation payments, fiduciary responsibilities, and other behaviour that may have an ethical component. This includes sensitivity to business norms and standards as they shift over time, jurisdiction, and culture. It addresses the company’s ability to provide services that satisfy the highest professional and ethical standards of the industry, which means to avoid conflicts of interest, misrepresentation, bias, and negligence through training employees adequately and implementing policies and procedures to ensure employees provide services free from bias and error.
      None
    • Competitive Behaviour The category covers social issues associated with existence of monopolies, which may include, but are not limited to, excessive prices, poor quality of service, and inefficiencies. It addresses a company’s management of legal and social expectation around monopolistic and anti-competitive practices, including issues related to bargaining power, collusion, price fixing or manipulation, and protection of patents and intellectual property (IP).
      • Competitive Behaviour Industry consolidation and prior allegations of anti-competitive practices in relation to captive shippers, among other reasons, threaten the anti-trust immunity granted to railroads in some regions. Some of the proposed policy changes may result in significant costs or impede investment in the industry. Rail entities operating at the limits of allowable charges in areas where they have market dominance, or those not complying with applicable jurisdictional legally or regulatory enforced rate structures, may face increased regulatory scrutiny. Any associated fines or penalties may affect an entity’s valuation negatively by increasing its cost of capital. In an environment of increased concerns about the market power and pricing practices of rail entities, competitive pricing and transparency in rate-setting while achieving adequate returns on investment is in their continued best interest.
    • Critical Incident Risk Management The category addresses the company’s use of management systems and scenario planning to identify, understand, and prevent or minimize the occurrence of low-probability, high-impact accidents and emergencies with significant potential environmental and social externalities. It relates to the culture of safety at a company, its relevant safety management systems and technological controls, the potential human, environmental, and social implications of such events occurring, and the long-term effects to an organization, its workers, and society should these events occur.
      • Accident & Safety Management Rail accidents and unintended releases of hazardous materials have negative repercussions for the environment and communities along railroad tracks, as well as financial effects on entities themselves. Increasingly stringent safety regulations and the potential for significant costs following major accidents encourage entities to manage their safety performance with robust safety management systems. In addition, losing consumer confidence after such events may reduce revenues and damage an entity’s social licence to operate, increasing its cost of capital.

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