This case history from Wales, along with those from Brazil and other countries, demonstrates that BD's customer is frequently a government agency. "BD works with governments and regulators in countries the world over," says Patricia Shrader, Vice President, Corporate Regulatory and External Affairs. "We try to bring their attention to issues that we think are important to public health and, wherever possible, offer solutions that aren't just acceptable, but are world-class solutions to local and regional health challenges."

In Japan, BD is working with the Japanese government to advance just such a world-class solution. Historically, Japan– the world's second largest healthcare market–has been the only country that does not require the use of sterilized tubes to collect blood samples. Rex Valentine, President, BD-Japan, says the government expressed interest in BD Vacutainer evacuated tubes, which are sterile and the de facto world standard for blood collection. Due to increasing interest in safety and infection control, the Japanese government now requires sterilized blood collection tubes to be used. BD is now working with the government and medical community to establish a new protocol for blood collection that is to be used as a national standard. Meanwhile, the Company's share of the blood collection market in Japan has jumped to an improved position and opinion leaders are talking with BD about other issues, such as healthcare worker safety and infection control.

Continuous improvement is another BD character trait, and if ever dissatisfaction were to be viewed as a positive force, BD is the place for it. In fact, the conviction that BD could design a better IV catheter led to the development of the BD Nexiva Closed IV Catheter System (CIVCS) that regional business manager Jan Goldbach, photographed here with her daughter, describes with such enthusiasm.

Goldbach is passionate about the breakthrough that the BD Nexiva CIVCS represents, and her counterpart in China, Jane Shen, feels equally strongly about the BD Intima II Integrated Catheter, which was first launched in China and later, with modifications, as the BD Nexiva CIVCS in the U.S. In China today, the product is referred to as "Jinma," or golden horse, for the year in which it was launched. Ellen Cunniff says the
BD Intima II catheter is BD's fastest growing product in the Asia-Pacific region, even though it is limited to China until production capacity catches up. A nurse herself, Shen has hired a high percentage of nurses as BD sales representatives because of their insights into the clinical environment. Cunniff says, "We could probably sell even more of the product if we went through distributors, but because we're close to the customer we deliver better service today and uncover opportunities for tomorrow."

That perspective is echoed throughout the Company. Laureen Higgins captures the thought when she says, "In every area where the Company is involved, we're doing something to move healthcare ahead. We're leaders and, quite frankly, to remain a leader in the long run, you have to move the market, you have to advance the market to something better, to something higher. The fact is, you remain a leader or melt into the crowd. That's not what we see for ourselves at BD."

Rex Valentine expresses it succinctly: "We want to be the best in the world and to have an enduring impact on healthcare practices and the quality of people's lives."