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Our stakeholders
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Customers
Associates
Communities
Shareholders
Suppliers
Governance
Ahold at a glance I Business review
As a major international retailing group with
thousands of suppliers, employing over 230,000
associates, and serving a trading area population
of more than 90 million people, we have many
different stakeholders who impact or are impacted
by our business in various ways.
Our stakeholders include our customers, associates,
communities (including governments, NGOs,
academic research institutes and industry bodies),
shareholders and suppliers. We engage with these
groups in various ways, including through stakeholder
events, industry-wide conferences, round-table
discussions and supplier days. Our engagement
with them enables us to identify issues, respond to
changing needs, observe best practices and reflect
different views and feedback on how we operate
our business.
Our customers are central to our business. We aim to
offer competitive prices combined with high product
quality and a great shopping experience. In addition,
we are committed to offering them healthy choices
and providing products that are made with respect
for people, animals and the environment.
We stay tuned into what our customers want through
third-party surveys, consumer studies, focus groups
and panels, and through immediate feedback from
customers in our stores, via service departments, our
websites, social media and other correspondence.
Engaged associates are key to our success.
Their hard work and commitment define us as a
leading international retailer. We constantly strive to
make sure we provide an even better place to work,
every day. We do this by creating workplaces built
on fairness and mutual respect, and by maintaining
strong businesses to drive stable jobs and provide
opportunities for development and great careers.
We respect and protect the rights of associates: we
are committed to the principles of equal employment
opportunities, freedom of association, and respecting
the legal rights to collective bargaining.
Ahold
Annual Report 2015
We engage with our associates through various
touch points, including regular performance review
meetings and our annual associate engagement
survey. In 2015, our survey achieved a global
participation rate of 88%, a considerable
increase over the 81% rate in 2014.
As a local "community hub," we touch the lives
of millions of people every day. We are in constant
dialogue with local governments, schools, charities
and community organizations.
Our "better neighbor" promise is our commitment
to strengthening the communities in which we
operate: we do this through, for example, financial
and product donations, nutrition awareness programs
in schools and employment of local people. We also
support our suppliers and their local communities
overseas through the Albert Heijn Foundation and
other targeted initiatives.
Our shareholders are crucial to our business; they
put their trust in us by investing in Ahold financially
They monitor our company closely and challenge us
on our strategy and how we manage our business.
We communicate with our shareholders through
quarterly disclosures and financial performance
briefings and through shareholder meetings that take
place at least once per year. These avenues enable
us to seek their perspectives on our strategy and
financial performance, while our shareholders get
more insight into our operations so they can make
informed investment decisions.
We rely on our suppliers to deliver the high quality
products our customers expect from us. A flexible,
healthy and sustainable supply chain demands
transparency, efficiency and strong relationships.
With our suppliers scattered across the globe, we
connect via multiple channels, including face-to-face
meetings, online communication, and supplier events.
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