Mercedes 2009 Annual Report Download - page 112

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Specific risks in the area of human resources. Daimler’s suc-
cess is highly dependent on the expertise and commitment of its
workforce. Competition for highly qualified staff and manage-
ment is still very intense in the industry and the regions in which
we operate. Our future success also depends on the extent to
which we succeed over the long term in recruiting, integrating and
retaining executives, engineers and other specialists. The appli-
cation of our human resources instruments takes such personnel
risks into consideration, while contributing towards the recruit-
ment and retention of staff with high potential and expertise and
ensuring transparency with regard to our resources. One focus
of our human resources management is on the targeted personnel
development and on the further training of our workforce. Our
employees profit for example from the range of courses offered
by the Daimler Corporate Academy and from the transparency
created by LEAD, our uniform worldwide performance and poten-
tial management system.
Because of demographic developments the Group has to handle
the changes relating to an aging workforce and to secure a suffi-
cient number of qualified young persons with the potential to
become the next generation of highly skilled specialists and exec-
utives. It is also highly important to adjust staffing levels as flexi-
bly as possible to economic fluctuations; continuous improvement
processes in production and advancing automation are key fac-
tors to combat the pressure of costs in the automotive industry.
At the same time, this represents another challenge for the
Group’s human resources management.
Other industry and business risks. The Group is exposed to a
number of risks because it has issued guarantees for and holds an
equity interest in the system for recording and charging tolls for
the use of highways in Germany by commercial vehicles of more
than 12 metric tons gross vehicle weight. The operation of the
electronic toll-collection system is the responsibility of the opera-
tor company, Toll Collect GmbH, in which Daimler holds a 45%
stake and which is included in the consolidated financial state-
ments using the equity method of accounting. In addition to
Daimler’s membership of the Toll Collect consortium and its equity
interest in Toll Collect GmbH, risks also arise from guarantees
that Daimler AG issued supporting obligations of Toll Collect GmbH
towards the Federal Republic of Germany concerning the com-
pletion and operation of the toll system. Claims could be made
under these guarantees if, for technical reasons or certain con-
tractually defined parameters are not fulfilled, if additional claims
are made by the Federal Republic of Germany, or if the final oper-
ating permit is not granted. Additional information on contingent
obligations from guarantees granted and on the electronic toll-
collection system and the related risks can be found in Note 27
(Legal proceedings) and Note 28 (Guarantees and other financial
commitments) of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial State-
ments.
Daimler bears in principle a proportionate share of the risks of its
associated and affiliated companies, in particular the risks
of EADS and Tognum. For the associated and affiliated companies
that the Group includes in the consolidated financial statements
using the equity method, any factors with a negative impact on
those companies’ earnings have a proportionate negative effect
on our net profit. In addition, such factors can mean that impair-
ment losses have to be recognized on those equity holdings,
with a corresponding impact on our income statement. EADS is
the most significant equity investment which Daimler includes
in its consolidated financial statements with a three-month lag. In
connection with recent developments in the negotiations regard-
ing EADS’s A400M military transporter program, EADS announced
on February 17, 2010 that it will update the A400M provision in
its 2009 consolidated financial statements. This update will require
certain critical assumptions and financial assessments to be made
which were not finalized when our supervisory board approved
Daimler’s 2009 Consolidated Financial Statements on March 1,
2010. Any future increase in that provision would negatively
affect EADS ’ s actual 2009 results and would also negatively affect
Daimler’s proportionate share in EADS’s results which will be
reflected in Daimler’s results for the first three months of 2010.
The resolution of this matter could have a material negative
effect on Daimler’s earnings in the first quarter of 2010.