Straumann believes that sustainability is an integral part of business success, and that it is important to integrate sustainability topics in its annual reporting because they provide the context to what has and has not been achieved in the year under review.
‘Sustainability means meeting present needs in a manner that also allows future needs to be met. This holds true not only for society, but also for Straumann. In the challenging economic environment of the year under review, our approach to corporate sustainability was therefore to find a sustainable balance between short-term requirements and long-term success drivers.
Our engaged and highly competent employees are our capital for future success. While the market downturn in 2009 forced us to adapt our capacity, we minimized layoffs and created new positions in certain areas and over the full year, our workforce was more or less stable. We continued to foster employee development and learning, and increased customer training and education in terms of participants and regions covered.
Our charitable activities, which focus on providing access to dental care for underprivileged groups around the world, also continued unabated, as we recognize that such initiatives need sustained funding particularly in difficult economic times. We have also continued to monitor environmental performance carefully across the Group, keeping the impact of our operations as low as economically feasible.
Our goals for 2010 – when market conditions are expected to improve – include our second global employee survey, and the introduction of a Code of Conduct for major suppliers. I am looking forward to working with all our partners – particularly our customers, ITI members, employees, and suppliers – in making 2010 a year of shared successes.’
Gilbert Achermann
Chairman of the Board of Directors
(Former President & CEO)
*The Straumann Annual Report 2009 and the Addendum GRI-Sustainability Reporting together fulfill the requirements of the G3 version of the sustainability reporting guidelines by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) at Application Level B. This was confirmed by an Application Level Check conducted by GRI.
