Case study: How the Voith Group creates economic value for its stakeholders
The Voith Group is a globally active technology group which, through its broad portfolio of production plants, products, industrial services, and digital applications sets standards in the Energy, Oil & Gas, Paper, Raw Materials, and Transport & Automotive markets. Maintaining ongoing dialog with its stakeholders is vital for a global group such as Voith, as is creating sustainable value for them all.
This case study is based on the 2021 Sustainability Report by the Voith Group, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
The Voith Group is firmly committed to generating long-term value for employees, communities, and all its stakeholders. Tweet This! In order to create economic value for its stakeholders the Voith Group took action to:
- create economic value for employees
- create economic value for communities
- create economic value for governments
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) the Voith Group has identified;
- How the Voith Group proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by the Voith Group to create economic value for its stakeholders
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2021 Sustainability Report the Voith Group identified a range of material issues, such as transparency regarding business practices, promoting work-life balance, efficient use of resources, innovative, high-quality products and services. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for the Voith Group.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups the Voith Group engages with:
| Stakeholder Group |
| Shareholders |
| Supervisory committees |
| Rating agencies |
| Employees |
| The Works Council |
| Customers |
| Suppliers |
| Investors |
| Communities neighbouring company sites |
| Trade associations |
| Academia |
| Government agencies |
| Policy makers |
| NGOs |
| Broader interested public |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics the Voith Group engaged with its stakeholders through a survey.
What actions were taken by the Voith Group to create economic value for its stakeholders?
In its 2021 Sustainability Report the Voith Group reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:
- Creating economic value for employees
- In FY 2020/21, the Voith Group paid € 1,247 million for employee wages and salaries, € 268.6 million for social security contributions, retirement pensions, and benefits, and € 2.3 million for training and career development.
- Creating economic value for communities
- In FY 2020/21, the Voith Group paid € 1.98 million in donations and sponsorship.
- Creating economic value for governments
- In FY 2020/21, the Voith Group paid € 57,416 thousand in taxes.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed
Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.1, 8.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5
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References:
This case study is based on published information by the Voith Group, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:
https://voith.com/corp-en/VZ_Sustainability-Report_21_en.pdf
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