August 10, 2018 - We seek to engage with all stakeholders in order to share views and experiences and discuss controversial issues in a constructive manner. Our goal here in every situation is to achieve a fruitful dialog that benefits all parties.
We define stakeholders as individuals and organizations that have legal, financial, ethical, or ecological expectations regarding Mercedes-Benz. One of the criteria for identifying and weighting stakeholders is the extent to which a person or group is affected by our company’s decisions or, conversely, can influence such decisions. Our primary stakeholders are our employees, customers, creditors, and shareholders, as well as our suppliers. However, we also communicate regularly with civil groups such as NGOs, as well as with analysts, professional associations, trade unions, the media, scientists, politicians, municipalities, and residents and neighbors in the communities where we operate.
Dialog at the Group level
In order to maintain effective relationships with our stakeholders, we have defined areas of responsibility, communication channels, and dialog formats that are valid throughout the Mercedes-Benz Group. Our Corporate Responsibility Management department is responsible for establishing an institutionalized and proactive dialog with our stakeholders. This dialog is then coordinated by our Corporate Sustainability Board and the Corporate Sustainability Office. The central format for our stakeholder dialog is the "Daimler Sustainability Dialogue", which has been held annually in Stuttgart since 2008 and brings various stakeholder groups together with representatives of our Board of Management and executive management. Each "Daimler Sustainability Dialogue" event focuses on sharing ideas in a variety of themed work-shops. The Mercedes-Benz representatives obtain feedback from the external participants and work together with the stakeholders to achieve agreed targets throughout the course of the year. They then report at the event in the following year on the progress made in the interim. In 2018, we already held our 11th Daimler Sustainability Dialogue in Stuttgart.
In order to discuss local challenges and promote the implementation of sustainability standards around the world, we organize "Daimler Sustainability Dialogue" events in other countries as well. Such dialog events have been held in China, Japan, the US, and Argentina. During the year under review, external experts and stakeholders also attended the fifth "Daimler Sustainability Dialogue" in Beijing, where they spoke to Mercedes-Benz representatives about environmental protection, economics, human resources, and integrity and legal affairs.
The Advisory Board for Integrity and Corporate Responsibility
The Advisory Board for Integrity and Corporate Responsibility has been an important source of input for Mercedes-Benz since 2012. The board’s independent members from the fields of science and business, as well as from civic organizations, utilize an external point of view to offer critical and constructive support for the integrity and corporate responsibility process at Mercedes-Benz.