Focus areas, brand and innovations

Our focus areas

• We set ourselves goals along the value chain for our focus areas

We used a materiality analysis to identify and rank relevant sustainability issues. These topics include, for example, energy and climate, water, resources and ecosystems, responsible production, and employment and employability.

Our long-term economic success is dependent on societal acceptance of our business activities. That is why we have formulated clear expectations for our conduct along the value chain:

• We source responsibly.
• We produce safely for people and the environment.
• We produce efficiently.
• We respect people and treat them fairly.
• We drive sustainable solutions.

The BASF brand

• Above-average awareness of, and trust in, BASF brand in chemical industry

We rely on a strong brand in order to further expand our position as the world’s leading chemical company. Our brand is derived from our strategy and our corporate purpose – “We create chemistry for a sustainable future” – as well as our strategic principles and values.

“Connected” describes the essence of the BASF brand. Connectivity is one of BASF’s great strengths. Our Verbund concept – realized in production, technologies, knowledge, employees, customers and partners – enables innovative solutions for a sustainable future. The claim that “We create chemistry,” as stated in the BASF logo, helps us embed this solution-oriented strategy in the public consciousness. Our brand creates value by helping communicate its benefits for our stakeholders as well as our values.

Wherever our stakeholders encounter our brand, we want to convince them that BASF stands for connectivity, intelligent solutions, value-adding partnerships, an attractive working environment and sustainability. This contributes to our customers’ confidence in their buying decisions and to our company value.

We are constantly developing our brand image. We regularly measure awareness of and trust in our brand, and therefore in our company. A global market research study conducted every two years showed in 2016 that, in terms of awareness and trust, BASF is above the industry average in numerous countries. The study collected data on respondents’ aided awareness of BASF and our most important competitors. Our goal is to continue increasing awareness of BASF in all of our relevant markets.

Innovations for a sustainable future

Innovations in chemistry are needed to meet the needs of the growing world population on a long-term basis. The development of innovative products and solutions is, therefore, of vital significance for BASF. In the long term, we aim to continue significantly increasing sales and earnings with new and improved products. Effective and efficient research is therefore indispensable.

We drive intensive research and development activities in our established business areas. One focus of our research is on the enhancement and innovative application of specific key technologies. They pool the diverse competencies of our international Research and Development Verbund to strengthen our competitive ability in the long-term. We also work on specific growth fields in order to develop future business fields for BASF. With our research, we aim to make a decisive contribution to innovative solutions for global challenges and contribute to sustainable development.

Our three global technology platforms are each based in one of the regions particularly significant for us: Process Research & Chemical Engineering (Ludwigshafen, Germany), Advanced Materials & Systems Research (Shanghai, China) and Bioscience Research (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina). We want to continue expanding our research and development activities on a global level, and are also adapting this to the growth in regional markets. The stronger global presence of our research and development opens up new opportunities to actively participate in worldwide innovation processes and gain access to talent.