Stakeholder dialog

We seek to actively engage with customers, consumers, suppliers, employees, investors, media, NGOs, governments, politicians, decision makers, regulators and academics. An active stakeholder dialog is a means of ensuring that our priorities and methods are relevant in today’s society.

Customers

SCA has a broad product portfolio and many different customers, both end-consumers and customers such as the retail trade, distributors, printing houses and health and medical care services. All SCA business units maintain a close dialog with their customers and follow up customer satisfaction through surveys, face-to-face meetings and third-party assessments.

In-depth consumer insights reveal areas of improvement. SCA conducts market and consumer surveys, visits consumers’ homes to learn about their lives and interests, and arranges focus groups to gain insights into consumer preferences, behaviors and attitudes. Valuable insights are also gained through SCA’s many phone lines for consumer contact and through customer service’s handling of queries and complaints. Read more in chapter Customers and consumers.

Other

SCA regularly meets investors and analysts, including social responsible investors (SRIs). It conducts employee surveys and employee performance management reviews. Moreover, SCA communicates with other groups and individuals in matters that have a major impact on society in general and local communities in particular. SCA regularly meets with NGOs, journalists and people living close to the Group’s mills.

In Northern Sweden, there is an ongoing dialog in relation to SCA’s wind power investments. SCA’s wind farms are generally located in sparsely populated areas, but there have still been local protests against some of the wind farms. SCA arranges regular information meetings, open to all stakeholders.

In early 2015, SCA was criticized in Swedish media for its use of business air travel, and for the company’s hospitality hunts. Two independent audits were commissioned that showed no indications that the company had breached any legislation or internal policies. The criticism led to the resignation of both the Chairman and the President of SCA.

SCA is a member of several networks, including the UN Global Compact, the Consumer Goods Forum and a number of different national and regional industry organizations. SCA participates in the WWF Environmental Paper Company Index, and SCA Forest Products participates in the WWF Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN). In December, together with the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (a UN organization), SCA led a seminar during the Global Child Forum in Stockholm, which brought together 500 influential decision makers from business, governments, civil society and academia.

SCA works actively to build partnerships with policy makers in countries where new healthcare systems are under development. In 2015, SCA and Vinda participated in a roundtable discussion with a delegation from the China National Committee on Aging (CNCA) on how China’s aging population could be provided with appropriate healthcare. When the Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, visited China in March, SCA was one of the Swedish companies invited.

In October, representatives from SCA, Vinda and the Chinese city of Jiangmen signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) concerning the joint development of a pilot program for elderly care in Jiangmen.

SCA also works to raise awareness of incontinence as a medical condition, and to contribute to better conditions for people who suffer from incontinence within the scope of the health and medical care systems in various countries. One important platform for communication is through the Global Forum on Incontinence (GFI). GFI is a global platform for education and debate on incontinence for stakeholders, such as medical experts, politicians and payers. The sixth GFI Conference will take place in Berlin in 2016.

Every alternate year, the European Association of Directors for Long-Term Care Services for the Elderly (EDE) hosts a conference. In 2015, incontinence care was on the agenda for the very first time and SCA was invited to speak.

In December, the EU presented its new circular economy package, with a goal to make Europe more competitive and resource-efficient. The action plan will affect several sectors, including waste management, and SCA is aware of the need to pinpoint solutions in this area while working with others and in its operations to find ways to achieve a more circular society. During the year, SCA played an active role in a project initiated by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), in which the goal was to develop resource-efficient business models to support a faster adoption of the circular economy.

SCA encourages sustainable forest management and supports both international certification schemes for forests and wood raw materials, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC^®) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC^®). SCA also works to raise awareness of how active forest management and increasing the use of forest products can help to combat climate change, and presented this solution at the COP21 UN climate change conference in Paris.

Customers

Consumers

Employees

Investors

Suppliers

Stakeholder organizations

Society