Page 197 - Performance Leadership

186 • Part III Principles from the Values and Social Dimensions

Although Metso has a comprehensive sustainability report, it still has
ambitions for the future. Some parts of the environmental and social data
could be collected and reported on more than an annual basis, prefer-
ably on a quarterly basis. These data could be utilized more for internal
purposes as well, to make sure all managers keep seeing SDM as a pri-
ority. SDM could provide tools for better internal decision making, as
well as contribute to the right management behavior. Another future
requirement could be benchmarking Metso’s performance indicators
against those of its peer group that also make use of the GRI templates.
Metso is on the way to making CSR a competitive differentiator in
its business model. The competitive differentiator doesn’t just consist
of being a responsible company itself, but—even more important—
enabling Metso’s customers to be more responsible. That’s leverage. As
a result, not only customers, but also investors rank Metso high on its
CSR strategy.

Case Study 2: Rabobank

Rabobank is one of the largest food and agribusiness banks in the world.
Rabobank’s origins go back more than 100 years, to the Raiffeisen con-
cept, in which farmers started a cooperative farmer’s loan bank to avoid
high interest rates by taking care of their own financial needs. Today,
this concept is known as community banking. Although the coopera-
tive structure of Rabobank has been modernized and is compliant with
today’s governance requirements, it still drives the organization’s man-
agement model. Rabobank is not a public company. Corporate head-
quarters are owned by local banks, including Rabobank International
and a range of other subsidiaries. The executive management of
Rabobank reports to the Central Circle Meeting, which includes the
directors of the local community banks. Headquarters is mostly a serv-
ice organization, responsible for strategy, central processes, marketing,
product development, and shared services, such as IT. Next to these
services, it also functions as a control organization.
Rabobank has a long, stable history, with increasing profits. Perhaps
the most visible sign of high performance is its AAA-credit rating by
Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. Rabobank is the only privately owned
bank in the world to achieve such a high rating since 1981. The