Bayer: Improving corporate social responsibility management system

Company profile 

Bayer is a global multinational company based in Germany, with a more than 150-year history and core completeness in the fields of health care, crop nutrition and high-tech materials. Bayer started its trade with China as early as 1882. In line with the commitment of “Bayer Plan for China’s need”, the Bayer Group in Greater China has become the largest single market in Asia currently, possessing 23 companies, and 6500 employees. 

Challenges 

Corporate social responsibility requires enterprises to effectively manage the impact of business operations on stakeholders and natural environment. As a company with long history, as early as 100 years ago when the vocabulary, like environmental protection and ecology, has not drew great attention from society, Bayer has established firstly wastewater treatment committee to address the environmental issues in the factory. The company has always been adhering to the concept of sustainable development, and all activities enacted its commitment to economy, ecology and society. How to carry out the three commitments in the process of research and development, production, and the whole operation, and further extend to all external actions to create sustainable corporate value?

Solution

Innovation is the key to get sustainable success for enterprises. As the mission of Bayer -- Innovative Technology Make Life Full of Vitality--shows, Bayer makes continuous optimization of product portfolio, and focuses on activities in its three potential, efficient and independent subsidiaries: Bayer Healthcare, Bayer CropScience and Bayer MaterialsScience. By making innovative technology and its business expertise as the company’s promise, Bayer initiated specific actions to enhance the well-being of mankind, enact its social commitment and actively promote the sustainable and environmental development. 

Strategy and Management  

Bayer developed a set of special management structure and strategy, and has continuously expanded its sustainable management, mainly showing the main composition and changes of business activities, rapid economic development and further internationalized development. By planning clear strategic view and detailed sustainable plan, Bayer aims to quickly prepare for dealing with the current and future challenges, and carrying out target-oriented business operations. 

The future-oriented product portfolio shows the harmonious relationship between innovation and sustainability. Bayer re-evaluated the existing products, and has developed the unique product evaluation system to make comprehensive and effective evaluation of the product characteristics, covering economic, health, environment, life cycle, technological and public value. 

The systematic analysis provides the basis for the strategic decision, and also can promote to improve the products, thus benefiting the most advanced product management system. In Bayer, environmental protection is not only the concern of senior managers, but the principles that every employee have to follow in their daily work, which has been clearly demonstrated in the Responsibility Care Principle and Health and Safety Principles. Bayer has developed a comprehensive HSE (health, safety and environment) management system. It combines international standards with the principles of Bayer policy to promote communication and guarantee transparency. HSE system reflects each target through facts and figures, covering the safety and health care of all group employees and residents living in the vicinity of factories and factories related to emissions.  

“Six Steps" and "Six Methods" to fulfill social responsibility 

For Bayer, corporate social responsibility is not just an action of goodwill, but also has it on its to-do list. There are six steps to fulfill social responsibility. Firstly, the management needs to determine the definition of corporate social responsibility. Secondly, to confirm whom the company should be responsible for, who are the stakeholders and with whom the company has a responsibility relationship. The thirdly, to confirm what kind of responsibility should the company be responsible for, what is the philosophy of the company and what kind of issues should the company participate. The fourthly, to determine the objectives, tasks and schedules. The fifthly, to determine the standard to measure key performance. The sixthly, to measure and report according to the procedure. 

Bayer also creatively summarizes six kinds of methods to fulfill corporate social responsibility:

Event promotion: Through various means such as sponsorship funds, including cash or resources, to support or promote non-profit campaign, such as sponsoring Special Olympics or Paralympics; 

Business-Related Marketing: Use its own product sales to promote non-profit campaign, that is, to donate a certain proportion of product sales to support non-profit campaign. For example, donate 1% of every product sale to the Red Cross. 

Corporate Social Marketing: By supporting an activity to change the behavior of the public, promote the public health, safety or environmental protection, such as to organize the anti-AIDS campaign; 

Love dedication: to directly donate to a charitable organization or the society; 

Voluntary service: to encourage employees, suppliers, shareholders and other volunteers to provide services, such as to give lecture for children with mental retardation; 

CSR business practice: by investing in certain business to improve community construction, environmental protection and other public welfare undertakings, such as public health media research room.  

Committed to improving life 

Bayer has its operations in 150 countries around the world, and also sponsored about 300 different projects in the world. The company provides knowledge of company economic and the key technology, and employees exercise their responsibility and put a lot of efforts. Actions are louder than words, and Bayer practices its social responsibility commitment comprehensively from environmental protection, public health, community caring, education and poverty alleviation in China by combining social responsibility activities with its core business and core value, which make the corporate social responsibility not only be beneficial to the society, but serve the company’s goals.

For example, as a solution provider and professional product provider in crops and   health fields, Bayer keeps close contact with farmers, rural areas, crops and breeding, which makes Bayer understand the situation of the rural areas well and know their needs. By working with China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and others organization, Bayer established small loan programs and carried out agriculture, aquaculture and health knowledge training with the help of its core capacity in CropScience and Bayer healthcare (including Bayer animal health), in order to assist the community development in remote and poor areas, further supporting the progress of Chinese rural areas and farmers.

Achievement

As all activities were held with economic, ecological and social commitment as the center, Bayer has good marketing performance in its three core businesses. It also has maintained a good growth in performance in the over 100-year development history. At the same time, a series of targeted and effective projects on environmental protection, education, poverty alleviation, and disadvantaged groups has won the company a responsible brand image in the community.

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