Responsibility begins with an avowal. Budenheim sees itself as part of the modern world. But what is the modern world? On the one hand: confusing - for example through globalisation, the opening of borders and the formation of numerous new states in the East. On the other: unbelievably fast - just think of the World Wide Web. Things that were negotiated in fixed cycles before - and with before, we mean just a few years ago - now often change overnight. The main responsibility of large companies is, therefore, to provide orientation. And the basis for this is a fixed set of values.
Society the day after tomorrow
Nothing has experienced more change than demographic conditions. A quick look at the contemporary family structure shows that today's questions demand completely new, flexible and highly innovative answers. The number of single mothers and fathers alone causes considerable changes to consumer behaviour. Raw materials must be more complete, the processing methods more sophisticated, and the product on the shop shelf more nutritious, tastier and, above all, easy to prepare. This is an immense challenge for product finishing and innovation.
Respect workers worldwide
Along the lines of "Respect workers worldwide" the Ethical Trading Initiative, ETI for short, intends on improving the working lives of people across the globe. This ground-breaking alliance of companies, trade unions, and voluntary organisations keeps a close eye on working conditions. From tea to T-shirts, from flowers to footballs, from mines to performance materials and ingredients - the production of consumer goods is examined carefully in all its facets.
Ensuring that Budenheim products are ethically and responsibly sourced is only part of the story. Being accountable, transparent and continually responsible is the real key. This is why Budenheim clearly argues in support of the principles stated in the ETI base code.
For further information on how the alliance is working to make a difference, please visit
> www.ethicaltrade.org.
The company takes the implementation of the ETI base code as a minimum requirement, but sees many other opportunities to go beyond this in order to keep improving working conditions. As can be seen from the downloadable file, Budenheim’s code of conduct even exceeds the ETI base code.
Budenheim avails itself of this opportunity to voice its best wishes to the ETI-group for its future success worldwide.
