Case study: How Cerved creates economic value for its stakeholders
Cerved is a leader in data intelligence in Italy, supporting businesses, Public Administrations and Financial Institutions in managing the opportunities and risks in their business relations. Cerved generates almost 100,000 extra jobs every year, a value added of Euro 6 billion and a tax contribution of Euro 1.5 billion. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2021 Sustainability Report by Cerved, 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.
Cerved is committed to building relationships of trust with its stakeholders, based on an approach that places central emphasis on dialogue, listening and generating sustainable value for all. In order to create economic value for its stakeholders Cerved took action to:
- create economic value for employees
- create economic value for suppliers
- create economic value for lenders and shareholders
- create economic value for the community
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Cerved has identified;
- How Cerved proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Cerved 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 Cerved identified a range of material issues, such as privacy, security and integrity of information, reliable, independent and accurate data for the national economy, business continuity, governance and risk management, diversity and inclusion. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for Cerved.
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 s 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 Cerved engages with:
To identify and prioritise material topics Cerved engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Employees | · Bootcamp & Team building · Employee satisfaction · Surveys · HR Hotline · Open innovation |
| Customers
| · Customer satisfaction · Customer Care · Product development workshops · Training workshops and webinars · Campaigns and events |
| Institution & organisations
| · Opening dialogue channels · Explorations · Studies and papers · Events · Collaborations |
| Community | · Workshops · Training · Career Lab · Sponsorships and donations · Cara Cerved ti Scrivo |
| Financial community
| · Shareholders’ meetings · Roadshows · Press releases · Mandatory disclosure · Conference calls |
| Suppliers | · Knowledge transfer · Joint offers to the market · Awareness-raising · Questionnaires · ESG Screening |
What actions were taken by Cerved to create economic value for its stakeholders?
In its 2021 Sustainability Report Cerved reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:
- Creating economic value for employees
- In 2021, Cerved paid 179,165 thousand euros for personnel remuneration.
- Creating economic value for suppliers
- In 2021, Cerved paid 150,311 thousand euros to suppliers.
- Creating economic value for lenders and shareholders
- In 2021, Cerved paid 18,041 thousand euros to lenders and 2,553 thousand euros to shareholders.
- Creating economic value for the community
- In 2021, Cerved paid 471 thousand euros to the community.
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 Cerved, 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:
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