Stakeholder dialogue promotes understanding

To enhance transparency, we strive for open and regular dialogue with our key stakeholder groups. Awareness of the expectations held by others is essential for development.

Our wish is that information is shared openly. We meet our stakeholders face-to-face in many forums – at seminars, workshops and discussion panels, during road shows, and at fairs and exhibitions. We offer local stakeholders visiting opportunities and "open house" days. We also maintain ongoing dialogues, especially with analysts, investors, employees, customers, goods suppliers and service providers. Our other key stakeholders are NGOs, local communities, authorities as well as industry and business associations. Our stakeholders' involvement in what we do and the trust they have in us are fundamental elements of our business operations.

The main function of the Outokumpu Corporate Responsibility network during 2009 was to distribute information to stakeholders about the Group's corporate responsibility achievements. Feedback from stakeholders proved useful in developing our operations. Plans for 2010 include a webinar for key stakeholders on corporate responsibility issues. In 2009, webinars were organised to provide information and training to our customers and non-customers.The first meeting with Finnish environmental NGOs at corporate level took place during the year, and close interaction with both investors and analysts continued the trend established in earlier years.

In this section the focus is on dialogue with our external stakeholders. The very important interaction with internal stakeholders – our employees – can be found in the social responsibility section.

Stakeholder expectations

	Stakeholders	Outokumpu
Customers	They want high quality, safe products and services at a competitive price, reliable deliveries, flexibility	We need them to buy our products – we also need them to trust us, be responsible and willing to cooperate with us
Suppliers	They want to cooperate with us and expect us to be responsible, be their partners and engage in open discussion	We need raw materials, other consumables and services; we expect them to be responsible
Personnel	They expect us to be responsible and give them challenging tasks, security, occupational safety and well-being, development opportunities, recognition for their work	We need their professional skills – we expect them to be responsible, motivated and committed
Future employees	They expect competitive benefits, challenging tasks, development opportunities, responsibility, work-life balance	We will need them to work for us in the future and expect them to be motivated, responsible and seek to improve themselves
Associations and federations	They expect active participation, joint efforts to promote the industry's interests	We expect them to provide equal support to us, oversee our interests and our business opportunities
Local communities	They expect us to participate, interact, provide support, be responsible, provide jobs	We need their approval, confidence, willingness to cooperate
Shareholders	They expect us to be profitable, provide a return on their investment, and be responsible	We hope they consider us as good, attractive investment – we hope they have confidence in us
NGOs	They expect us to be responsible, transparent and to have joint efforts to promote environmental and social issues	We want their understanding, willingness to cooperate in promoting environmental and social issues

How do we meet stakeholder expectations?

Ethical operations
Open and regular communications and dialogues, interaction
A culture that stresses corporate responsibility
Open and transparent CR reporting
Operating as one company
Safe working environment
Personnel development, job rotation
Development of products and processes, R&D
Stainless steel is a safe and sustainable material