Economic responsibility

Economic responsibility, a CSR pillar

“To be a leader means being able to create the conditions for exemplary employee behaviour on all markets.”

Economic responsibilities: ethics first
To meet the emerging challenges in naval defence, DCNS is counting on its expertise, winning new business on international markets and investing in new activities, including civil nuclear and marine renewable energy. The Group sees good business ethics as a key factor in its future success. DCNS’s CSR requirements are being progressively incorporated into invitations to tender addressed to suppliers and subcontractors.

“DCNS teams are encouraged to practise exemplary behaviour. Employees must observe the rules detailed in our Charter on Customer Relations in all markets. DCNS is also keen to promote its proclaimed values by example and best practice in dealing with partners and suppliers.”
Philippe Sauvageot, SVP, Marketing & Sales and Alain Fougeron, Deputy Director, Sales

Enduring value, balanced growth
DCNS’s long-term business vision calls for sustainable, balanced growth. To this end:

• DCNS is preparing for the future by opening up to new areas of growth, including civil nuclear.
• DCNS and environmental services specialist Veolia Environnement have set up Défense Environnement Services, a joint subsidiary specialising in facility maintenance and management (FM&M).
• On the investment front, DCNS takes a long-term view designed to optimise its industrial resources. One result was Group-wide certification to the ISO 14001 in 2009.
• As a socio-economic leader in the local economies in which we operate, DCNS is contributing to efforts to preserve France’s skills base in naval defence. The Group is also committed to the country’s high-tech regional clusters and to training in general.

Quality and relations are keys to customer loyalty
For DCNS, customer loyalty is a central objective of defence contracting and quality and customer relations are the key ingredients.

In DCNS’s view, quality permeates every aspect of customer relations and is best achieved by delivering end-to-end service. The Group further believes that partnering begins with helping client navies to refine statements of needs and extends to training and beyond. DCNS recently completed combined technology transfer and training programmes for Singapore, Pakistan and Norway and is now working on similar programmes for India and Brazil.

Quality determines the strength of business bonds. DCNS strives to build stronger bonds by setting up offices, subsidiaries and joint ventures close to its customers.

Last but not least, quality is also at the core of DCNS’s production methodology and its quality management system (QMS) to optimise management control and production processes while reducing costs.

Dependable partners
DCNS works closely with an extensive network of suppliers and subcontractors selected on the basis of fair, transparent criteria. The Group’s purchasing policies are based on long-term relationships, regular feedback and accountability.

Long-term supplier relations
In addition to setting up its own continuous improvement plan complete with CSR provisions, DCNS helps key suppliers and subcontractors to set up their CI plans. The Group’s commitment to healthy, balanced relationships extends to constant attention to avoid allowing any given supplier or subcontractor to become over-dependent on its business.

Responsible purchasing
DCNS buyers are progressively incorporating CSR and environmental considerations into their technical specifications. Certification to ISO 14001 demands not only that the Group’s suppliers and subcontractors be suitably certified, but also that they be contractually bound to comply with DCNS’s environmental requirements for all contract work and services provided on DCNS premises. These policies have already resulted in changes to purchasing criteria for motor vehicles (preference for vehicles offering lower CO2 emissions), travel (preference for other forms of transport over flying), office supplies (preference for environment-friendly paper) and IT hardware (preference for lower power consumption, double-sided printing, etc.).