Report - Kongsberg Gruppen 2007 - Kongsberg Maritime ...

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Gruppen ASA, had 39 employees.
Com petition is keen for good engineer
resources in Norway, but despite this, the
Group had satisfactory access to ex per tise
in 2007. The Group is taking this into
account in connection with the estab lish -
ment of new ventures outside Norway.
Hiring locally is cost effective at the same
time as it helps us fit into the local com -
munity. One of the Group's goals is for
the foreign com panies to be staffed by
local em ploy ees insofar as possible.
One important prerequisite for longterm
success is that Kongsberg manages
employees' expertise in a satisfactory
man ner. To enhance the Group's ability to
revitalise and improve decision-making
processes, the goal is to cultivate diversity
so that people of different backgrounds,
cultures, educations and ways of thinking
are represented. Active efforts are made
to exchange expertise and employees
between the BAs. Offering good develop -
ment opportunities is an important policy
instrument for recruiting and retaining
employees.
Kongsberg works continuously with
human resource development. The
Kongsberg School facilitates and coordi -
nates courses and training programmes.
In August 2006, we initiated the project
'Leadership at Kongsberg'. The mandate
was to further develop Kongsberg's
leadership principles and practices. A joint
resource group is working to develop
qualified leadership talent. The resource
group offers a portfolio of leadership pro -
grammes through the Kongsberg School.
At year end, there were 821 women
(19.5 per cent) employed by the Group
(19.2 per cent in 2006). Of the total
number of managerial positions in the
Group, 86 (13 per cent) were occupied by
women (12 per cent in 2006). The per -
centage of women recruited to the Group
is on a par with the percentage of women
educated in the areas of technology that
are most common at Kongsberg. Gener -
ally speaking, there are still too few
women in senior managerial positions so
Kongsberg will continue to strive to in -
crease the percentage of female leaders
and to promote the recruitment of women
to technical positions. As for the Board of
Directors, two of the five shareholderelected
directors are women.
Cooperation is good with the trade
unions through the established coopera -
tion and co-determination schemes,
mak ing invaluable contributions to the
devel op ment of the individual companies
and the Group as a whole. The Board
would like to thank all employees for their
dedicated efforts and contributions to
strong progress for the company in 2007.
Corporate social responsibility and the
environment
The Board of Directors emphasises that
Kongsberg is to operate in an ethical,
environment-friendly and socially respon -
sible manner. Kongsberg aspires to
achieve sustainable development, i.e. to
strike a good balance between financial
results and corporate social and environ -
mental responsibility. The Board focuses
on compliance with the Group's Policy for
Corporate Social Responsibility, its
Environ mental Policy and the corporate
Code of Ethics. In 2007, a new strategy
was drawn up for the Group's work with
social responsibility. The Policy for
Cor po rate Social Responsibility and the
Environ ment were evaluated and revised
in early 2008. This was motivated by the
Group's growing international expansion
and the increased attention being devo ted
to issues related to corporate social re -
sponsibility.
Kongsberg's activities mainly consist of
the development of software and systems
integration. The Group is only marginally
affected by environmental regulations.
Notwithstanding, it is important to the
Board that the Group concentrates on
pro- active environmental initiatives. These
have largely involved energy conservation
associated with the Group's premises, as
well as source separation.
For a more detailed description of the
Group's work with corporate social re -
spon sibility and the environment, please
see the Sustainability Report at the back
of this report.
Corporate Governance
Good corporate governance and leader -
ship will ensure optimal value creation,
at the same time as the Group's resources
will be used in an efficient, sustainable
manner. The value added should benefit
shareholders, employees and the com -
munity. The Board attaches importance to
reviewing the Group's corporate gover -
nance documents annually and updating
them to comply with the "Norwegian
Code of Practice for Corporate Gover -
nance" insofar as possible. The description
on pages 104–114 is based on the latest
revised (4 Dec. 2007) version of the
Norwegian Code of Practice for Corporate
Governance.
Kongsberg – Annual Report and Sustainability Report 2007