Sustainable Business Conduct

“As a leader in technology, we combine a passion for innovation with the highest standards of quality to shape the future of mobility – for a world that will be cleaner, safer, and smarter.” This is the vision of the Schaeffler Group. Both financial and nonfinancial value drivers thereby contribute to Schaeffler’s long-term success.

Corporate Strategy “Mobility for tomorrow”

With the strategy of “Mobility for tomorrow,” Schaeffler is setting the foundation for sustainably profitable growth from now on. Based on long-term trends, four fields of action and eight cornerstones for future profitable growth define the corresponding course of action. Implementation is based on the excellence program “Agenda 4 plus One,” covering 20 strategic initiatives. In its mission, the Schaeffler Group describes the task to which it is committed. Underlying this mission are three key concepts: working in partnership with customers and business partners, top-level expertise in manufacturing technology, and advanced systems know-how. The Schaeffler Group’s vision and mission complement and amplify one another, with the vision encompassing the goals and aspirations that will guide its future course of action.

As a base assumption for the future of its markets, the Schaeffler Group has identified four megatrends that will decisively determine the business of the future: climate change, urbanization, globalization, and digitalization. These trends were the basis for formulating four areas of action that create the foundation for the strategic orientation of the company:

• Eco-friendly drives
• Urban mobility
• Interurban mobility
• Energy chain

Eight strategic pillars represent the foundation for the continual further development of the Schaeffler Group, while also describing what Schaeffler wants to achieve or do better in the future. To implement the strategy “Mobility for tomorrow,” the excellence program “Agenda 4 plus One” was started in 2016 with the 16 most important strategic initiatives of the Schaeffler Group. The strategic initiatives can be divided into five categories: customer focus, operational excellence, financial flexibility, leadership and talent management, and – as a “plus One” – securing long-term competitiveness and value creation. All initiatives are united in the goal of preparing the Schaeffler Group for the future and making it even better. At the end of 2017, four additional initiatives were incorporated into the excellence program, expanding the number of initiatives in the program to 20. The declared goal is to successfully implement all initiatives by the end of 2020.

You can find additional information about the strategy “Mobility for tomorrow” in the Annual Report 2017.

Sustainability Strategy “Reponsibility for tomorrow”

Anchored in Sustainability

In addition to financial factors, ecological, product-related, knowledge-based, and personnel factors are considered in how the Schaeffler Group conducts business. The Sustainability Strategy “Responsibility for tomorrow” is based on the vision and mission of the Schaeffler Group and serves to secure and promote the long-term value of the company through value-driven corporate management. Another guideline for this sustainable orientation is provided by the SDGs of the United Nations.

Four topics – “Responsibility in the Supply Chain,” “Green Products,” “Commitment to Climate Protection,” and “Diversity” – are at the center of the Sustainability Strategy “Responsibility for tomorrow.” They form the short to medium-term focus topics for orienting Schaeffler’s Sustainability Strategy.

Based on the principles of value-oriented management, the Schaeffler Group records operational financial and nonfinancial figures in order to track and make clear its sustainability performance. In this report year, the existing set of figures was expanded and strategic performance indicators were defined that will enable the management of these focus topics. These are also the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for measuring the success of the Sustainability Strategy “Reponsibility for tomorrow.”

Sustainability Roadmap: Strategic and Operational Management

The Schaeffler Group’s “Sustainability Roadmap” describes concrete goals and measures relevant to the four focus topics and the 20 additional material topics of sustainability management. The Sustainability Roadmap is the medium-term, dynamic element of the Sustainability Strategy that strategically and operationally guides Schaeffler’s sustainability activities. The Sustainability Roadmap is updated and, if needed, expanded every year in cooperation with the responsible departments.

In 2017, the Sustainability Roadmap was restructured. The time frame for the target horizon was expanded, with the focus on achieving these goals lying in the years 2020, 2025, and 2030. This includes the plan to reach increasingly ambitious goals regarding Schaeffler’s sustainability performance between 2020 and 2030. In addition, the four focus topics of the Sustainability Strategy “Responsibility for tomorrow” were placed at the beginning of each respective field of action and the representation of progress was changed from a percentage figure to a qualitative response. It will now show whether the respective goal has already been achieved, is in process, or whether there is a delay in its achievement. There has also been an indicator added regarding which UN Sustainable Development Goal the implementation of each Schaeffler goal is connected to.