When it comes to a company's sustainability, focusing on details is every bit as important as having a broad perspective and seeing the big picture. We started last year with the report A CLOSER LOOK and are now taking the next logical step with A WIDER PERSPECTIVE.
The title expresses several different ideas. Not only have we broadened the scope of last year's sustainability audit to include the four regions where we do our most significant business; “A wider perspective“ is the idea that guides how we see the future of our company's CSR activities. Our focus needs to keep expanding. It needs to cover local issues, from site to site and across the globe. It needs to cover structural topics, including the internal processes and procedures at our company. It needs to cover economic concerns, from Symrise product innovation all the way to the consumer's decision about a finished product. CSR is a system that has to keep its focus on the big picture. It is as complex as an eco-system in nature: every link in the chain depends on the others, and intelligent cooperation is the only thing that keeps it working successfully — in other words, that helps it survive.
The issues of climate change, water conservation and good stewardship of resources are all vital links in the multifaceted system of CSR issues. Many data points can be quantified, including our CO2 footprint and wastewater output. But there are also other extremely dynamic aspects that have an impact too, such as the fluctuations of a global market and people’s likes and dislikes. These consumer preferences and decisions are ultimately what determine a company's success and, by extension, its survival — and that goes for us as well. Seen in this light, our CSR measures are indispensable because they safeguard the future of both our corporation and all of its employees.
This report will give you more information about how and where corporate social responsibility is anchored in our company as well as current developments and the advances we made in 2008. It goes into much greater detail about the information presented in the 2008 annual report.
Take a step back so you can see the big picture of CSR in A WIDER PERSPECTIVE.
Sincerely,
Dr Heinz-Jürgen Bertram
CEO Symrise
