During 2009, Kinnevik took an important step when the Board of Directors adopted a revised policy to guide Kinnevik in its work with Corporate Responsibility (CR) issues. By this we mean issues relating to social responsibility, environmental consideration and ethics. Kinnevik based the formulation of its policies in these areas on the UN’s Global Compact and its ten principles and the OECD’s guidelines for multinational companies.

The main purpose of Kinnevik’s operations is to generate sustainable profit for its shareholders. As shareholder and investor, Kinnevik is also responsible to stakeholders for its holdings (subsidiaries and associated companies). Taking stakeholders into account by working actively on CR-related issues is a prerequisite for Kinnevik’s continued favorable and long-term profitability.

Working with CR not only involves managing risks, it is also a way to utilize opportunities. The fact that Kinnevik’s holdings have excellent CR strategies may in certain instances be a prerequisite that enables the companies to gain assignments from customers that place high demands on their suppliers in terms of responsibility. Excellent CR efforts can also have a positive impact on how the company’s brand is perceived, as well as entail increased opportunities for the companies to recruit and motivate sought-after employees. 

With our new CR policy, we have established clear guidelines for our expectations of our holdings and a distinct control to drive CR issues. The new guidelines were discussed during Board meetings at all our major holdings and we elected a Board representative in each company, with particular responsibility for following up CR issues with the management of each company. We believe this will create an excellent model to further develop these issues, in cooperation with our holdings. I look forward to continuing this work during the coming year.

Mia Brunell Livfors
President and CEO