In this report we examine Orkla's operations from the perspective of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. The report is devoted to areas that, from this perspective, we regard as being especially important for Orkla and its key stakeholders – areas where we believe it is possible for Orkla to make a difference, where we have significant influence and where it is important for us to meet challenges in a responsible manner. The report makes a contribution towards an evaluation of our activities, both for ourselves and for society at large.
This report concerns the 2007 accounting year and the key figures it contains are as of 31 December unless otherwise indicated. The report covers the entire Orkla Group, including companies within the Group, unless otherwise specified. For practical reasons and for the sake of clarity, the governing principle is to provide brief, clear information. The report is supplemented by other information that may be found in our Annual Report and Environmental Report, and on Orkla's websites.
Corporate social responsibility has been the focus of a great deal of attention in recent years, and agreement is beginning to emerge about how we can systematise reporting on our efforts in a comparable way. We welcome this development and our report is therefore based on the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
However, Orkla is a complex, international company where the issues differ greatly between various industries and geographical areas. We therefore consider it important to focus mainly on the areas that are most closely linked to Orkla's general business strategy and report systematically on the measures that have been initiated and the development that is taking place in these areas. The GRI standard has been used as a guide and complied with to the extent it is relevant for Orkla. An index at the end of this report provides an overview over the indicators used and where information may be found.
Orkla and corporate social responsibility
Orkla's main task is to contribute to the community's value creation by running profitable businesses, and our work on corporate social responsibility must reflect the company's general strategy and area of interest. Our contribution to sustainable development is therefore reflected in the day-to-day running of the Group. Orkla is committed to operating in accordance with the principles enshrined in the UN Global Compact, and we also make efforts to comply with and promote Orkla's own Goals and Values Code of Conduct and Corporate Social Responsibility policy. To ensure that our business practices are in compliance with these fundamental principles, each business unit is responsible for assessing its impact on society, allocating sufficient resources and developing measures to ensure that these principles are followed. Line managers are responsible for practical implementation and for informing all employees about our fundamental principles.
It is important for Orkla that our choices and efforts can be measured over time, including in areas where we do not have the same parameters as those that exist for measuring the financial bottom line. As a social player, Orkla operates on several levels: we employ more than 35,000 people, we have ownership interests in several large companies, we run energy-intensive, polluting industries and, through Orkla Brands and our other companies, we are in close contact with several million customers and consumers for whom we have a responsibility.
Regardless of our size and the business areas in which we operate, we want our stakeholders to have confidence in us. We must make ourselves worthy of this confidence through our business practices and by providing clear, transparent information about what we do. By reporting on both our achievements in the past year and the challenges we foresee in the future, we hope to help build such confidence.Orkla has published several documents that describe the attitudes and conduct that must permeate the Group and its employees:
- Goals and Values describes the fundamental attitudes and thinking that must permeate the entire Group and its activities.
- The principles laid down in Orkla's steering documents on Corporate Governance, the Code of Conduct and Corporate Social Responsibility describe the general responsibility of the Group, the management and employees. Orkla also has steering documents for specific areas.
- Goals and Values, the documents on Corporate Governance, the Code of Conduct, Corporate Social Responsibility and certain other steering documents are all available on Orkla's websites.
1 This report has also been published in Norwegian - see www.orkla.no/samfunnsansvar/2007