Healthcare 4.0

BEEFING up capabilities in digital and innovation has been high on the agenda for Brian McNamara since he took the helm as chief executive officer of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)'s consumer healthcare business in September 2016.

Mr McNamara oversees a business which develops and sells products in wellness, oral health, nutrition and skin health categories, with a stable of household names that include Sensodyne toothpaste, muscle gel Voltaren, malted drink Horlicks and Panadol. Its portfolio is evenly split between over-the-counter (OTC) products and fast-moving consumer goods. The former Novartis executive took over the role from Emma Walmsley, who is currently chief executive of the British pharmaceutical group. "A big focus for me since taking over has really been building up our capabilities in the digital space and e-commerce space," he says. "The world is changing pretty radically and you need to keep up. I think we're in a position where we can actually win in this space."

Part of GSK's digital strategy has included bringing onboard talent to strengthen its efforts on that front, such as its chief digital officer Marc Speichert, who was formerly with Google, while Kurt Kendall came from sportswear brand Under Armour to take on the role of chief insights and analytics officer. The group also has a capability-building programme called Marketing IQ across the organisation, which covers e-commerce, digital marketing as well as traditional marketing. "We're putting people in local markets because a lot of what you do in digital and certainly, in e-commerce, tends to be very local," he goes on to say. "We're putting really talented, capable people in the markets, and we're investing in that capability."