Company:
Bavaria is the biggest independent brewery in the
Netherlands, and the only brewery with its own source of natural mineral water.
Bavaria is a 100 percent family-owned business, and currently run by the 7th
generation of the Swinkels family. Its roots date back to 1680. Bavaria
produces 6 million hectoliter of beer a year, of which 65 percent is exported
to more than 120 countries. Besides beer, Bavaria also produces malt, soda,
cereal extract and water. Its net sales exceed €500 million and Bavaria employs
about 1,000 employees. Bavaria’s headquarters is situated in Lieshout, the
Netherlands, and it has 4 subsidiary companies in Spain, France, Italy and the
UK.
Content:
At first sight, Bavaria’s 2013 CSR
report looks good, especially as it is well organized and easy to read. It is
clear that Bavaria is aware of its impacts on the (business) environment, and
takes a proactive approach. A good example is the project “Boer Bier Water”,
for which Bavaria works closely together with local parties, such as farmers,
to address local issues like draughts. Although I applaud Bavaria’s good
intentions to demonstrate the importance of stakeholders, it is a bit unusual
to elaborate on the stakeholder engagement even before introducing the company and
the report itself. I do not know whether this was done intentionally, but it
seems a bit superfluous, as Bavaria shows its stakeholder dedication throughout
the entire report.
Although I believe that the report
is already quite far developed, I feel there are some opportunities to help
bring the report to an even higher level. One point for improvement ceould be the
completeness of reported data. Bavaria chose to solely report data of Dutch
operations, since it only brews its beer in the Netherlands. However, as a
globally active company, one could imagine that this scope can be expanded.
Take for example the new developments in Ethiopia, where Bavaria bought a 54%
share in a new brewery called Habesha. What is interesting about this
arrangement, is that the other 46% belong to almost eight thousand local
investors. It would be nice if Bavaria were to report on these kinds of topics in
their next report.
Bavaria explains that it is currently
working on a new “Master plan” for its sustainability strategy. This plan
includes further development of its ambitions and goals, and, among other
things, incorporating a materiality analysis. Firstly, such an analysis can
bring the strategy (and report) to a higher level by strengthening its focus on
key issues. Furthermore, even though I believe that Bavaria is already addressing
most of the important issues, a materiality analysis can produce surprising new
topics. Moreover, the materiality analysis can stimulate Bavaria to make
choices with regard to its objectives, especially as out of the 8 current
themes, Bavaria developed 29 objectives. Managing that many objectives
automatically results in a loss of focus. In addition to a materiality
analysis, I would encourage Bavaria to include more information on its value
chain, and in particular to add a visual of this value chain. Describing the value
chain would depict what Bavaria’s business model is and how added value is
generated for stakeholders. Also, reporting on the value chain would also result
in closer alignment to the principles of GRI G4 and the International
Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).
Communication:
Finding the Dutch report online proved
to be easy, unfortunately this is not the case if someone is looking for the
English report. The fact that the report seems to be only available in Dutch appears
odd, considering that Bavaria is active in over 120 countries.
While the report is easy to read, my
impression is that it consists mostly of ´dry´ text. I would recommend Bavaria
to add more visuals throughout the whole document. Visuals increase the
attractiveness of the report. They invite the reader to read the actual text,
while at the same time clearly show what is most important. Moreover, although Bavaria
presents several overviews with figures in the appendices, not all of these figures
are of great relevance. The materiality analysis can also help with this aspect,
by selecting the most relevant issues and reporting on Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs).
Credibility:
Bavaria has engaged Lloyd´s Register
Quality Assurance (LRQA) for the assurance of its sustainability data. I
particularly enjoy the fact that the assurance statement is written as an
advisory report, because this is easier to understand for the general public.
However, some confusion arises by the verification approach, which is compiled
of principles and best practices of: AA1000AS, ISAE3000 and the Dutch NIVRA
3410n. As a combination of three standards is used, it is rather difficult to
retrace the actual verification approach. The CSR report also raises several
other questions regarding the transparency and completeness. For example, the
fact that CO2 and NOx emissions data were excluded from LRQA’s
verification and verified by another consultant.
Recommendations:
- As a globally active company, consider expanding the scope of the report by including the other countries of operation as well;
- It is our recommendation to bring further focus in the report by performing a materiality analysis;
- We would suggest to include information on and a visual of Bavaria’s value chain;
- Bavaria could ask LRQA to improve the transparency of the verification approach.
Nick de Ruiter is a partner at Sustainalize (www.sustainalize.nl), a global CSR consulting
firm that specializes in CSR, CSR reporting, CSR strategy, performance
monitoring and external AA1000 assurance.
