natura 2009 Annual Report Consumer Goods Brazil 5 Maintenance Background: Natura Brasil refer to themselves as a beauty brand with a purpose and a conscience. The Company do not see nature as a separate entity, but something that we, as humans, are a fundamental part of. Natura strives, through its products and services, to help people enjoy better relationships with themselves, with others, with nature and the world around them. In doing so, they also strive to promote the development of individuals, organisations, and society. A N N U A L R E P O RT N AT U R A 2009 content review: The beginning of this Report is rather ‘big picture’ with descriptions of Natura’s ‘reason for being’, ‘vision’, and ‘beliefs’. In each of these descriptions, the general tone is one of commitment to the world – having a positive impact on society as well as direct stakeholder groups. The management statement is very much focused on the importance of building stakeholder relationships and also highlights the importance which the management place on achieving a balance of economic, social and environmental indicators. An outline of the direct selling model structure of the business also highlights the need for developing quality relationships with stakeholders. The integration of ESG information surely strengthens the efforts to provide more transparency to all stakeholders and to support the transition to a more sustainable global economy Highlights from the year which are presented include economic, social and environmental issues and a mix of qualitative and quantitative information. Where relevant, they also provide the reader with equivalent data from the previous year to show the degree of change. The presence of both an ‘Organisation and people committee’ and a ‘Sustainability committee’ in the governance section demonstrate the importance of these issues within the Company. This section of the Report brings to the forefront what the central, material issues for Natura are. For each issue, there is a brief description of why it is a particular challenge for Natura and what processes are in place. Limited data is also presented at this stage in the form of a table which highlights whether targets set in 2009 were achieved and also states new quantitative targets for 2010. It follows that defining various stakeholder groups has a prominence in the Report, continuing the central theme. The Natura Report also tries to make an explicit link to the financial elements of the Company in the section entitled ‘Creation of social value’ where there is a table which shows the investments made in corporate responsibility issues, three years’ worth of data is provided. See page 57 for comment from Natura Strategy: A report which is well on its journey to integration and provides the reader with extensive information regarding CR issues material to the business. In comparison to many other reports, there is a significant focus on the presentation of quantitative data. It is also clearly written and outlines the business strategy, approach and performance. 48 The integrated journey
