Mercedes 2010 Annual Report Download - page 70

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Target system. Our overriding corporate goal is to achieve sus-
tainable profitable growth and thus to increase the value of the
Group. We intend to be among the world’s leading automotive
companies. As shown in the diagram on page 67, the Daimler target
system consists of six strategic dimensions. It provides a stra-
tegic framework and defines in which dimensions we want to play
a leading role. We aim to inspire our customers with our brands,
products and services. And we strive to occupy the leading posi-
tion in each market segment. With pioneering technologies,
we want to be the world leader for sustainable drive systems and
safety. To us, having a global presence means that we want to
secure our position in traditional markets while expanding in new
markets. Operational excellence and efficiency along with inspired
and high-performing people are the key to our future corporate
success. At the same time, our entrepreneurial activities are
guided by the principle of sustainability: in the areas of econom-
ics and corporate governance, environmental protection and
safety, as well as in our relations with employees, customers and
society in general. Since we want to anchor sustainability more
firmly not only in our operations but also formally, we have included
it as an additional target in the Daimler target system. Our
employees direct their actions towards the corporate values of
passion, respect, integrity and discipline, and they aim to set
an example with ethical behavior in conformance with applicable law.
Excellent products offering superior customer experience
form the basis for our success. Through the constant search
for the best solution and in line with the lifecycles of our prod-
ucts, we are launching 16 new models at Mercedes-Benz Cars in
the years 2010 and 2011 alone. We are expanding our product
portfolio in all divisions to address increasing differentiation within
customer segments as well as varying regional requirements.
Some examples are the CLS Shooting Brake and the long version
of the E-Class for China. At Daimler Trucks, we renewed a large
part of our product range with five new models in the year 2010.
As ever, our main goal is to be Number 1 in terms of customer
satisfaction. We place high priority on our activities directed at
improving product and service quality as well as on providing
a range of services appropriate to our customers’ needs.
Leading brands contribute towards the Daimler Group’s long-
term success. Leading brands also provide customers with orien-
tation, create trust and arouse the emotions. The Mercedes-Benz
brand is one of the most successful and well-known brands in the
world. We intend to maintain and extend this position also in the
future. Our divisions’ brand strategies, such as “The best or noth-
ing” at Mercedes-Benz, help us to further sharpen our brands’
profiles compared with the competition and to organize our activi-
ties accordingly.
Innovation and technology leadership. We want to be the
innovation leader for green technologies and safety: With “Green
Technology Leadership” at Mercedes-Benz Cars and “Shaping
Future Transportation” at Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-Benz Vans
and Daimler Buses, we will live up to our ambitions today and in
the future. Differing mobility demands require different drive-
system solutions. Our portfolio of solutions ranges from the opti-
mization of internal-combustion engines to hybridization to
vehicles that are free of local emissions. We also intend to further
strengthen our pioneering role in the fields of active and passive
safety for cars and commercial vehicles.
With new business ideas such as car2go and Bus Rapid Transit
(BRT), we are pursuing innovative mobility concepts and business
models to fulfill customers’ needs and to utilize additional growth
potential (see pages142 f).
Global presence and networking. Our goal as a company
is to continue our profitable growth and to be among the best in
the industry: in our core business, in traditional and new markets.
In particular in the rapidly growing markets of China, India, Russia
and Brazil, we are intensifying our local activities by establishing
and developing local production and sales operations, to some
extent together with local partners.
Operational excellence and sustainability. We achieve opera-
tional excellence by means of efficiency targets and related pro-
grams in the areas of production, development, sales and admin-
istration. This is based on a culture of excellence. By means of
standardization and modularization, we can significantly enhance
efficiency with new products, new technologies and new pro-
cesses. We are improving our cost position with support from
cooperations, for example with Renault-Nissan. At the same time,
we are expanding our product portfolio in the small-car segment
and with small vans. Due to our flexibility, for example in produc-
tion at Daimler Trucks, we can cope better with market cycles.
Programs such as Truck Operating System (TOS) at Daimler
Trucks create a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
Through this holistic management approach, all of the direct
and indirect areas of the worldwide sites of Daimler Trucks are
gradually improving their efficiency.