Philips 2008 Annual Report Download - page 66

General Business Principles
In 2008 a total of 361 complaints were raised,
compared with 389 in 2007; 392 in 2006; and 318
in 2005.
All alleged GBP violations (and the status of the
investigations) are considered by the Board of
Management and the Audit Committee of the
Supervisory Board, which assess any possible
impact on Philips’ businesses and compliance
with applicable laws.
There was a sharp rise in the number of complaints
relating to the general commitment towards employees
principle (GBP 4.0). To a large extent these originated
from employees of a number of recently acquired
companies, where the pre-acquisition style of
management was in many respects inconsistent
with the underlying principles of business conduct
defined in the Philips GBP.
In 2008 the GBP most associated with alleged violations
was again GBP 4.3 (Equal and fair treatment).
As in the
previous two years, almost half of all reported complaints
related to this principle.
Business integrity issues
With regard to reporting of the typical business
integrity issues, the number of complaints remained
fairly stable in 2008 compared to 2007.
Use and protection of assets
After having been the second most frequent GBP
complaint received in 2007 at 15.5% of the total, there
was a sharp fall in the number of complaints relating
to GBP 6.1 (Use and protection of assets), with only
7.7% in 2008. A lot of attention has been devoted to
this issue, both in recent editions of the GBP
directives and the latest corporate IT directives.
Supply management
The number of complaints relating to supply
management was virtually the same in 2008 and
2007. Only eight complaints were lodged in 2008 in
the GBP Complaints database as alleged violations
of GBP 5 (Commitment to Suppliers and Business
Partners), compared with nine in 2007.
Breakdown of alleged violations GBP
as a % of total
2005 2006 2007 2008
1 General commitment 4.3 7.2 7.0 5.2
2 Commitment to customers −1.2 0.7 1.9
3 Commitment to shareholders −0.3 −−
4 Commitment to employees 48.1 58.8 55.8 62.9
5 Commitment to suppliers and
business partners 8.9 5.7 2.3 2.2
6 Assets and information 24.2 15.6 17.0 9.9
7 Business integrity 13.7 10.9 17.2 16.3
8 Observance of the General
Business Principles 0.8 0.3 −1.6
100 100 100 100
Health and safety
In 2008 we recorded 650 Lost Workday Injuries cases,
occupational injury cases where the injured person is
unable to work the day after the injury. This is an 18%
decrease compared with 2007. The rate of Lost Workday
Injuries also decreased substantially to 0.68 per 100 FTEs,
compared with 0.81 in 2007.
Reductions were particularly realized in the Lighting
sector, which initiated a dedicated action program
two years ago to drive down injury levels. Consumer
Lifestyle also achieved a lower injury rate.
Switching to a brighter world
The EcoClassic 50 is the first ever energy-saving lamp
purposely designed to suit decorative fixtures where
existing energy savers could not be used. The lamp
starts instantly, is dimmable and comes in a retrofit
design, which means that consumers can use the
halogen energy savers in all traditional lamp sockets.
Importantly, the EcoClassic 50 combines high-quality
light with a 50% energy saving.
Philips Annual Report 200866
42
Our group performance
Sustainability
18
We care about...
8
Message from
the President
6
Performance highlights
14
Who we are