BMW 2014 Annual Report Download - page 8

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Furthermore, both in business status reports and subsequent discussions with the Board of Management,
numerous important current events and projects were addressed, such as the extension of the cooperation
agreement with the Chinese joint venture partner Brilliance, the cooperation with Toyota and the current
state of plans for the long-term development of production facilities in Russia. Other topics reported on and
discussed at Supervisory Board meetings included the start-up of the new MINI at the Oxford plant, the
current situation with recalls and the economic impact of the Ukraine conflict.
One Supervisory Board meeting was held in Shenyang, one of the locations operated by the BMW Brilliance
Automotive Ltd. (BBA) joint venture in China. Representatives of the managements of BBA and the BMW
sales company reported to us on sales volume trends and the car market in China in general as well as plans
for additionally increasing production capacity in the plants located at Tiexi and Dadong in Shenyang. We
also visited the production facilities of the Tiexi plant. Moreover, in the course of our on-site visits we gathered
useful facts regarding cooperation with suppliers and dealerships in China. Reports from, and discussions
with, local management representatives provided us with a useful overview of local developments in China
and individual development projects, and helped provide a good insight into the specific needs of Chinese
customers.
One two-day meeting of the Supervisory Board dealt with the BMW Group’s corporate and product
strategies as well as the Long-term Business Forecast. The format of the two-day meeting was designed to
provide the opportunity for an in-depth discussion with the Board of Management on forward-looking
topics and technical innovations.
In the first part of the meeting, together with the Board of Management we discussed the results of the
corporate strategy Number ONE review, which is performed by the Board of Management once a year. Our
discussions primarily focused on challenges involving further reductions in carbon emissions and also the
electrification, digitisation and, in particular, the increasing connectedness of vehicle data. As part of its strategy
review report, the Board of Management also looked at the importance of the “Future Retail” programme,
which is designed to improve sales and after-sales services by consistently seeing things from the point of view
of customers and intensifying their product and brand experience.
In the course of various vehicle presentations, we were given the opportunity to test selected BMW, MINI
and Rolls-Royce brand cars on a test track. In addition, the current state of progress of selected vehicle de-
velopment projects was presented and explained to us.
In the second part of the meeting we deliberated at length on the Long-term Business Forecast pre-
sented by the Board of Management for the years 2015 – 2020. After diligent examination, we approved
the forecast.
We also gave in-depth consideration to the business development, strategic direction and role of the Finan-
cial Services segment going into the future. The Board of Management also reported on the latest develop-
ments on used car markets and explained individual measures designed to further improve the stability of
the segment in times of crisis.
The two boards jointly discussed the annual budget put forward by the Board of Management towards the
end of the year under report for the financial year 2015, and considered pertinent external factors.
The structure and amount of compensation of Board of Management members was examined once again in
2014 by both the Personnel Committee and the full Supervisory Board. In addition to comparing performance
trends and board compensation on a multi-year basis, we also reviewed he development of the remuneration
of senior management and employees of BMW AG within Germany over the course of time. An external