Mercedes 2015 Annual Report Download - page 59

66 A | TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS | OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY
The “Mercedes-Benz 2020” growth strategy is designed to
ensure that our Mercedes-Benz Cars division will play the leading
role in the premium segment worldwide by the end of the
decade. We also plan to further enhance the smart brand’s
pioneering role in urban mobility. In addition, we want to
further strengthen Daimler Trucks’ position as the leading truck
manufacturer in the global truck business. Mercedes-Benz
Vans aims to achieve further profitable growth with the help of
its “Mercedes-Benz Vans goes global” strategy. Daimler Buses
will further strengthen its leading position in the segment
for buses above eight metric tons gross vehicle weight. Daimler
Financial Services plans to maintain its position as the best
captive financial services provider; it will continue to grow in line
with our automotive business and also in the area of mobility
services.
In order to safeguard our profitability also under difficult market
conditions, we are adapting our business system in a way
that enables us to react quickly and flexibly to market fluctua-
tions and create value as near to our markets as possible.
Sustainability is a fixed element of our philosophy. For us,
sustainability means conducting business responsibly
to ensure long-term success in harmony with the environment
and society. E pages 105 ff
Four strategic focus areas
We plan to achieve our goals through four strategic focus
areas.
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We will focus on
– strengthening our core business,
– growing globally,
– leading in technology
– pushing digitization.
Four objectives
Technology leadership and innovation
We set standards for technology and innovation. We want our
products from all the divisions to be industry leaders in terms
of safety, autonomous driving with cars and commercial vehicles,
and green technologies. We also seek to be the leader in the
use of digital technologies, both in our products and services
and as channels for maintaining contact with our customers.
We utilize the potential generated by Group-wide research
activities and predevelopment and, where possible, we make
use of standardized systems and solutions.
Delighted customers
Our leading brands in all the divisions create added value for our
customers. We aim to finish at the top of all relevant customer-
satisfaction rankings and convince customers with our outstand-
ing quality. For that purpose, we create interfaces for sales
and aftersales processes that ensure we can maintain contact
with customers at all times. We also offer our customers
tailored transport and mobility services.
Best teams
We work in teams whose diversity in terms of gender, nationality
and age is of great importance. Our employees are proud to
work at Daimler, and we are one of the employers most sought
after by job applicants. Our core corporate values – passion,
respect, integrity and discipline – form the basis of our actions.
Integrity is particularly important to our company. It is one
of the key principles that stand behind our actions, and it guides
our dealings with respect to the company and its employees,
business partners and customers. We are firmly convinced that
conducting business with integrity makes us more successful
over the long term and is also good for society as a whole.
E pages 185 f
Profitable growth
We intend to achieve an average return on sales (EBIT in relation
to revenue) for the automotive business of 9% on a sustained
basis. This overall figure is based on the return targets for the
individual divisions. These targets are 10% for Mercedes-Benz
Cars, 8% for Daimler Trucks, 9% for Mercedes-Benz Vans and 6%
for Daimler Buses. For Daimler Financial Services, we have
set a target for return on equity of 17%.
Objectives and Strategy
As the inventor of the automobile, we believe it is our mission and our duty to shape future mobility
in a safe and sustainable manner, with outstanding products and services and trend-setting
technologies. We strive to attain the leading position in all of our business activities. Our goals are
to be the leader in technology and innovation, to inspire our customers and to continue to grow
profitably. In this way, we intend to continually increase our enterprise value. We plan to achieve
our goals by focusing our activities on four strategic areas in the coming years.