BaSF 2010 Annual Report Basic Materials Germany 5 Maintenance Background: BASF is the world’s leading chemical company and their aim is to constantly increase the value of the Company by profitable growth, in order to remain the number one in chemistry. Through their focus on innovation and research & development, BASF distinguish themselves from their competitors. content review: Economic, societal and environmental factors are reported as equal elements of their group strategy through the outline of the scope of the integrated report on page 1. In addition, there are also statements which outline the: ‘Value for BASF’ – how sustainability contributes to the success of the Company; and ‘Value for Society’ – how BASF contributes to finding solutions for global challenges such as climate protection, resource conservation, nutrition and demographic change. The management statements reinforce the key messages and set the tone for the remainder of the Report, demonstrating the management belief that sustainability is integral to the business strategy, values and day-to-day activities, especially when looking into the future. Presented alongside the group strategy discussion, there is a table of goals which is divided into categories of: economic; environment; safety and product stewardship; and employees and society. There are long-term goals stated for each category and signposts to further, relevant information elsewhere in the Report. It is interesting in this section that there are specific goals regarding diversity of senior executives – both gender and geographical diversity. Although BASF have included non-financial discussions throughout the central areas of the Group Report, there is also a dedicated ‘sustainability management’ section which discusses how sustainability is managed throughout the business, at each level. Some risk management information and business opportunities arising from sustainability issues are also discussed in this section, which is supported later in the Report through the group risk section. The report documents BaSF’s entrepreneurial performance and shows how sustainability contributes to corporate success. BaSF measures its performance on the basis of clearly defined targets for the three areas: economy, ecology and society. Summary: See page 57 for comment from BASF The consistent theme throughout the Report is how BASF creates value for the Company and for society and there has been a significant effort made to present financial and sustainability information equally throughout the Report, showing how each issue influences the overall group strategy. The Report itself is content heavy but design elements such as the bullet point summary panels at the bottom of the page help the reader gain a sense of key issues and achievements in each section. 14 The integrated journey
