Home  English Website Company Company profile Responsibility and Sustainability

Company profile

Responsibility and Sustainability

STADA’s mission statement – established in the Group and practiced daily

In the STADA mission statement which is based on the term “all the best” it states: “Care for people’s health and well-being is at the center of STADA’s activities. From this, the Group’s philosophy and overall concept are developed.” In view of the explicitly expressed acknowledgment of its responsibility to society, the STADA Executive Board works continuously towards ensuring that this maxim and the responsibility it demands from all employees are practiced daily. Generally the economic success of the Group shall be linked with responsible action and in particular the topic of corporate social responsibility (CSR), that is gaining increased importance in the business world and deals with the role and responsibilities of companies in society and solving social problems, becoming integrated into the business process. In order to meet these requirements, the Group supports, both in Germany and in numerous other countries, – usually via the respective national subsidiaries – selected social and cultural projects, which consist for the most part of sponsoring, charitable donations and foundations.

The full STADA mission statement is available here.

Selected commercial and charitable activities

STADA supports numerous commercial and charitable activities in the framework of its social responsibility:

• The “Kinderzukunft” (Children’s Future) Foundation, which was honored as Foundation of the Year in 2009 by the Hessian state government, has been helping Romanian children in need since 1994. The primary task of the foundation is to offer children on the streets decent future prospects. Toward this aim, a home for 200 children aged 3 to 18 was built on an eight-hectare property in the city of Timisoara. The children’s village includes eleven apartment buildings, a kindergarten, a school and a hospital ward, as well as various sport and play areas. The children find not only love and a feeling of security, but also all requirements for basic schooling and careeroriented education in order to financially support themselves in the future and not to fall back into poverty. In order to improve the life and future opportunities of these children, STADA supports the children’s village through an annual donation to this transparently led aid organization that has been audited by the German Central Institute for Social Questions (DZI).
• The RTL-telethon is a 24-hour pledge drive from the commercial broadcaster RTL that has taken place since 1996. All of the proceeds go to the RTL non-profit foundation “Wir helfen Kindern” (we help children). Grippostad^® C from STADA has supported this aid project for many years.
• RED NOSE DAY has its origins in the United Kingdom. The first television was broadcast in 1988 by the British broadcaster BBC in which celebrities asked the public to make donations. In the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland RED NOSE DAY is almost treated like a public holiday. The idea of RED NOSE DAY was brought to Germany by the commercial broadcaster ProSieben in 2003. Donations for various aid agencies for the benefit of needy children are collected through the sale of red plastic noses and further campaigns. On RED NOSE DAY STADA also shows its commitment to charity. The brand Grippostad^® C supported this children’s aid campaign in 2011 as well.
• The German sales company STADA GmbH and the parent company STADA Arzneimittel AG have been a main sponsor of the non-profit association dolphin aid e.V., Düsseldorf since 2007, which promotes alternative therapies for ill and handicapped children, while also enabling these children to undertake “dolphin therapy”. In this therapy, children are closely exposed to dolphins in a nature-oriented environment, which should then enable them to find an improvement of their individual physical or psychological conditions. With the help of its sponsorship of dolphin aid, STADA deliberately decided in favor of supporting a therapy method that is not based on drugs and also wants to demonstrate an understanding of health which is holistic and not exclusively focused on drugs.
• In 2011, STADA set up a fund that provides financial support for STADA employees in Germany, along with their families, who have come into difficulties through no fault of their own. The decision of who can take advantage of this aid and to what extent will be made in coordination with the Works Council and Human Resources management. In the context of this provision, seven STADA employees have already received aid in 2011.
• In cooperation with the Hochschule Fresenius in Idstein, STADA established the STADA foundation professorship “health management” in 2003 in order to provide new impulses to the discussion regarding cost optimization in the health care system. The foundation professorship is aimed at the promotion of practice-related care research to optimize quality and efficiency in the health care system. One focus is thereby on the development of saving potential of transsectoral supply models which allow for a holistic provision of services by means of complex services. The foundation professorship includes the teaching areas health management, health care policy, health care system research, international comparison of health care systems, prevention and health promotion for economists and business administration for health care professions (speech therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy).
• Since the start of the castle festivals in Bad Vilbel more than 20 years ago, STADA has set an example for reliable partnership with its annual support in appreciation of the city’s cultural achievements and commitment, as well as to show its solidarity with the city.

Strong compliance culture

STADA’s Code of Conduct details Group-wide, binding behavioral guidelines for the entire management and staff of the STADA Group and provides the basis for all compliance activities. The goal of the Code of Conduct is to support all employees in legal and ethical challenges in their daily work and to provide them orientation for correct behavior. Furthermore, internal guidelines, the so-called Corporate Policies, make these behavioral guidelines more concrete for specific topics. Accordingly, all business processes and Group activities are carried out exclusively within the framework of respective laws in force. The Chief Compliance Officer who is responsible for the Compliance Management System reports directly to the Executive Board, coordinates the entire system and receives complaints and information – also anonymously if needed. The officer is supported by an external Ombudsman in Germany, and by Compliance Managers outside of Germany. In order to guarantee the adherence to external legal regulations and internal company policies of compliance in an effective manner, STADA regularly controls and further develops the Compliance Management System.

Furthermore, STADA also lives up to – wherever sensible and reasonable from a cost perspective – the demand for excellence (“best practice”) and continuously reviews and optimizes business processes in this respect. The Group has its own administrative department named “Development of Group Organization” for this purpose.

High importance of sustainability and environment

The STADA Group’s strategic positioning is already focused on sustainability, since Generics – which represents by far the larger of the two core segments – contributes significantly to a more efficient health care and thus to a sustainable utilization of resources in an area of life that is of great importance for people.

In general, STADA commits itself to the protection of people and the environment and works continuously to improve procedures and processes in order to minimize negative environmental impact and health risks. In view of this, all employees in the STADA Group are obliged to take responsibility for dealing with these resources in a conserving, sustainable manner and to observe the relevant regulations on the protection of people and the environment.

Within the Group, the responsibility for sustainability, especially with regard to environmental matters, is operatively met in a project-related way beyond the legal framework.

The subject of responsibility and sustainability will continue to occupy an important place in the STADA Group in the future, in order to meet the requirements of socially and environmentally responsible behavior.