Our sustainability strategy
In 2010, we incorporated sustainability into our strategic target system, thereby formally confirming its great importance for our business operations. The Daimler target system brings together six strategic dimensions which we consider to be of key importance for achieving our overarching goal: to post profitable growth and sustainably increase our company’s value. These efforts are based on four values, which we want to put into practice at Daimler: Passion, Respect, Integrity, and Discipline.
But what does that mean exactly? We want our brands, products, and services to thrill our customers. In this endeavor, we are striving to become the leader in our market segments. Through our pioneering technologies, we want to spearhead the development of environmentally friendly drive systems and safety features. As a globally operating company, we aim to safeguard our position in established markets and strengthen it in new ones. The key to achieving these goals is high-performing, inspired people, plus a commitment to sustainability and operational excellence along the entire value chain.
A structured and integrated understanding of sustainability. Sustainability’s formal importance within our Daimler target system corresponds with our aim of continuously enhancing and more clearly specifying our Group-wide sustainability strategy. We continue to focus on better coordinating existing sustainability activities and sub-strategies with one another and consolidating them in an effective overall strategic concept that encompasses all corporate levels and divisions worldwide. We can only be successful over the long term if we develop such a structured and integrated understanding of sustainability and incorporate it into our corporate culture.
| Elements of our sustainability strategy | |
|---|---|
| A common understanding of what sustainability means: By defining what sustainability means to us, we create guidelines for all of our employees - all the way up to top management - and underscore sustainability’s importance for all of our business processes. | Our understanding of sustainability |
| Based on five content-related dimensions: As a globally operating automaker with more than 260,000 employees, we are subject to certain specific sustainability requirements. We have grouped these requirements into five content-related strategic dimensions and an overarching dimension related to management responsibility. These dimensions serve as the framework for our sustainability-related activities. | See chart below |
| Dialogue and transparency: Because sustainable development is a social responsibility, we want to engage in a dialogue with our stakeholders, take part in initiatives such as the UN Global Compact, and provide an account of our efforts in our Sustainability Reports. | Stakeholder dialogue
UN Global Compact |
| A commitment to principles and guidelines: We are further refining and developing our understanding of sustainability by turning the principles developed in discussions with stakeholders into behavioral guidelines at our company. | Principles and guidelines |
| Deriving a sustainability program: In a materiality analysis we define the main issues, which we then use to derive concrete sustainability targets and measures. We subsequently monitor implementation with the help of key indicators and an appropriate tool. | Materiality and issues
Our sustainability program |
| Implementation within the Group-wide sustainability management process: Our Sustainability Board (CSB) plays a key role in interlinking the sustainability management systems, structures, and processes of our various units. The success of these measures is systematically monitored and made transparent with the help of key indicators and a regular inspection process. | Group-wide sustainability management |
| Process-oriented: A key part of our strategy process is the continuous monitoring and possible correction of our strategic focus. Stakeholder feedback helps us precisely estimate our performance and our progress as well as identify areas where we can become even better. | |
| Incorporation into our leadership approach: Taking on responsibility for sustainable business operations is a management task. We create incentives for this in the form of a remuneration system for our senior executives and goal agreements for our managers. | Manager remuneration Principles of remuneration for the Board of Management Annual Report 2011 |
| Involvement of the employees: Our employees are simultaneously an important stakeholder group and a key force for shaping sustainable operational processes. As a result, employee communication and training measures are crucial elements of our sustainability strategy, as are all tools that enable our employees to express their opinions and contribute ideas for improvement. | Our Group-wide employee survey Idea management and innovation processes |
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![Sustainability report 2011 [2MB]](/daimler/annual/2012/nb/layout/common/img/daimler_nb2012_en.png)
