Contributing to a sustainable future!
The world is currently undergoing major changes. Global warming is driving a fundamental change in the energy and transport sectors. Demographic changes with a growing population and growing middle class in Asia will in a few decades mean that the majority of the world's consumers will be located in countries outside Europe and North America.
Access to the world's resources will with a growing population will become increasingly important. A connected world will also put new demands on the ability to communicate. Nederman has made a strategic review of the trends that are expected to have the greatest the impact on the company:
1. Access to energy: A shift in the energy mix, due to efforts to tackle climate change and increasing price volatility of the fossil fuel market. With the shift to emerging markets, our customers and our operations are faced with energy shortages due to energy-grid shut-downs.
2. Economic volatility: Macro-economic trends are no longer cyclical, rather unpredictable. This will impact our customers’ ability to plan factory investments, and challenges in creating long-term value.
3. Trust & integrity: Impacting the greatest number of issues of relevance to Nederman. Customer relationships – one of the topmost relevant issues – ride on building trust. In the age of transparency, and corporate irregularities, this is of increasing importance for Nederman stakeholders as well.
4. Access to clean air: This is an integral part of Nederman’s promise. Not least in emerging markets such as China, issues relating to clean air are the entry point for local stakeholders’ interest in sustainable business practices.
5. Increasing legislation: We see growing legislation in regards to CO2 and other emissions, affecting our customers and operations, as well as human rights, anti-corruption and transparency legislation affecting our own business.
6. Public awareness: Growing interest among consumers for basing their purchasing decisions on how products are produced is affecting our customers’ and engagement with our local stakeholders and evolving legislation.
7. Connected world: With global communications, what happens in one corner of the world can immediately impact the perceptions of all our stakeholders. With the growth of the Internet of Things, all businesses have an opportunity to gain greater insight on how our products perform downstream, among customers. It will open new opportunities, and drive greater transparency.
8. Urbanization and the growing middle class: With the growth of mega-cities and urban sprawl, production centers are increasingly located together with other activities, and tolerance for manufacturing emissions is ever lower. Growth of the middle class is expected to drive greater consumerism, particularly in emerging markets, impacting both economic growth, and availability of resources.
We expect also that in the medium term the circular economy, chemicals use and the emergence of new technologies will impact our business. With the development of services and new business models, Nederman believes that it can play a particular role in facilitating our customers’ shift to circular economy, a long-term opportunity for Nederman.
These trends primarily pose opportunities for Nederman, but also present risks that must be managed well if Nederman is to maximize its ability to create value for its stakeholders.