Dialogue is important for our development

We implemented a comprehensive stakeholder analysis for the preparation of this GRI report. An interdisciplinary and cross-company GRI project team identified the relevant stakeholder groups, identifying their core concerns and determining the nature of their inclusion - see "These are our stakeholders".

The findings from this process will be used in the future to establish a systematic stakeholder process. In the first step, we want to organize a workshop based on the GRI report with representatives of the various stakeholder groups, the GRI team and the VAUDE management on key issues.

A stakeholder workshop could not be carried out in 2014; for 2015, a workshop is planned with our dealers and for 2016 a Dialogue Day with representatives from our environmental stakeholder groups.

In 2014 we interviewed our employees and external stakeholders about our first GRI Report (report year 2013). We considered the findings in the preparation of this report (report year 2014).
39 complete employee questionnaires and 80 complete external stakeholders questionnaires have been incorporated in the analysis of the survey. 81 percent of external participants were VAUDE customers, 10 percent students, one percent were press / media and one percent NGOs. Seven percent did not assign an interest group.

Overall, our Sustainability Report has been assessed very positively. 92 percent of external respondents and 79 percent of employees surveyed assessed our sustainability report as very good or good. Our report is particularly convincing due to its information content and its credibility.

Our employees rate our Sustainability Report using the following criteria:

External stakeholders evaluate our sustainability report using the following criteria:

We also asked how we could improve our Sustainability Report in the future. Based on the feedback we received, we implemented the following innovations for this report: 

• We revised our texts in terms of comprehensibility and completeness.
• We created a news page that is updated throughout the year with new CSR information. 
• We improved the search function and changed its position.
• We revised the menu to make it easier to find pages that were previously “hidden”. 

In addition, we used the survey results to verify the completeness of our report in accordance with GRI guidelines. More info at Important Aspects.

We are particularly pleased with the fact that respondents rated our commitment to sustainability very positively. This shows us that we are indeed on the right track. More about our objectives and company strategy at Our Sustainability Strategy.

Rating of VAUDE CSR Commitment by Employees:

Rating of VAUDE CSR Commitment by External Stakeholders:

You can see the detailed survey results in the right slot as a pdf-document.

As a general principle, we at VAUDE are open and interested in a dialogue with our stakeholders. In some cases there are already standardized structures, such as for the quarterly exchange with company executives. We also exchange views with stakeholders on an ad hoc basis, such as with Greenpeace and when invited to our local town council - see also "These are our stakeholders."

So far, however, we still do not have a standard formalized process for the integration of stakeholders. This should be established gradually in the years to come.