Scania annual report 2003

SCANIA’S ROLE IN SOCIETY
Long-term community relationships
A global company like Scania both
influences and is influenced by the
communities where it operates.
At Scania there is a tradition of
establishing long-term local relationships
to be able to work in a sustainable
way.
Scania’s operations contribute to the
economic and social development of host
countries. Our operations and the use of
our products also affect the environment,
while we endeavour to improve conservation
of resources and reduce emissions.
Scania’s relationships with society at
large are of great importance to its brand
and long-term profitability. From a global
perspective the company’s relationships,
both internal and external, are based on a
set of common values, known as Scania’s
core values:
■ Putting the customer first
■ Respect for the individual
■ Quality
Scania’s social responsibility efforts derive
from this common base. The issues we
become involved in are related to our business.
Our focus is thus on road safety and
on the creation of more environmentally
acceptable vehicles and transport systems.
Scania must be a leader in active
safety and develop products in such a way
as to minimise both the number of
accidents and the damage they cause.
Good environmental performance and
management at Scania’s own facilities are
an obvious goal.
Global corporate culture
Scania has consistently aimed at longterm
development work.
The three core values apply to everyone,
regardless of where in the organisation
a job is performed. This also means that
on ethical issues, everyone has to become
involved and work in accordance with
Scania’s existing practices. Scania supports
the OECD Guidelines for Multinational
Enterprises.
Environmental standards apply
throughout Scania
There is an environmental impact both at
our own facilities and when our products –
vehicles and engines – are being used by
customers. Scania’s Environmental Policy
and overall environmental targets apply to
all parts of the company and are posted at
www.scania.com
Scania’s guiding principle is to reduce
the environmental impact at all stages,
throughout the product life cycle. The
company’s environmental work thus
strongly emphasises doing the right thing
from the beginning, conserving raw materials
and energy and focusing on the
needs of customers, by manufacturing
vehicles and engines with better fuel consumption
and low exhaust gas emissions.
2003 – year of the driver
Scania believes that the driver is the most
important contributor to improved road
safety and works to make his or her job
easier. Our vision is that drivers of heavy
vehicles should serve as role models for
other road users.
To promote road safety, driver skills
and a positive attitude in society at large
towards transport professionals, during
2003 Scania organised a competition for
young truck drivers. Some 6,000 drivers
from 20 European countries competed in
safe, environmentally oriented and economical
driving techniques. Scania implemented
the competition in partnership with the
European Commission and with Michelin,
Shell and the International Road Transport
Union (IRU) as co-sponsors.
How others rate Scania
Scania is evaluated by others on the basis
of what we do and how we do it. Our ambition
is to increase transparency to meet the
needs of all stakeholders.
In order to improve informational work,
Scania is working with the United Nations
Environmental Programme as well as other
vehicle manufacturers in partnership with
the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to prepare
a guide for voluntary reporting by the
vehicle industry.
During 2003, Scania’s shares were included
in the Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability
Index (DJSI Stoxx) and FTSE4Good.
The company is also evaluated regularly by
international sustainability analysts.
The OECD Guidelines in brief
• Generally: Respect human rights.
• Information: Disclose relevant
information to all stakeholders.
• Employees: Respect the union rights
of employees and help eliminate child
labour.
• The environment: Strive for continuous
improvement.
• Corruption: Never offer bribes or anything
else that may be perceived
as bribes.
• Interest to customer: Disclose
product information to customers and
establish improvement procedures.
• Science and technology: Work towards
transferring knowledge to host
countries.
• Competition: Refrain from anticompetitive
agreements among competitors.
ANNUAL REPORT 2003 16