SITUATION/PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: 
In the coming years, the expectations towards the biggest world corporations, so also Danone, will not only concern generating profit, but also the way how they conduct their business. Consequently, the strategy of Danone Poland sets itself a goal to be a leader among milk product producers on the Polish market, and at the same time to be a company which achieves this success thanks to responsible management, which translated into a sustainable development of the company.  Danone Way is the program that will enable achieving those goals.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION/SOLUTION:
The objective of the Danone Way is for the employees to define and assess how the Danone company functions in relation to all the principles, responsible business practices and what needs to be done in those areas to make it work better (on the level expected by the employees). Implementing the program will consist in having a group of employees (approx. 18 % of all the employees) evaluating how the company operated in reference to business practices declared in the Danone Way. To do that, 18 work groups including employees of different levels (from the lowest positions to members of the board) were created. Labour union representatives were also included in this process. The task of every group was to discuss and agree between the members on a grade/ level of fulfilling by the company a given business practice, expected level on which the organisation should realise his practice, and suggesting proposals of projects, campaigns and activities which in the opinion of a group could be realized to achieve a desired level for a given business practice.

Workshops were run by specially prepared so-called Danone Way leaders, whose task was to explain the idea of the program, what is the purpose it is carried out, and also to guarantee every participant the opportunity to express their views. After a stage of meetings, the leaders presented their results at the board meeting. The board confirmed the evaluation of business practices and proposals of changes. The most important factor in achieving success and for the implementation of the program was full involvement of the management board and Danone Way leaders. It was achieved thanks to decisive and resolute involvement of the General Director who supported the initiative in an open and unwavering manner and gave it priority among strategic goals of the company.

BENEFITS:

• Representatives of all organisational levels could hale their say in evaluating the company’s actions which can be implemented in the company;
• Thanks to workshops and workgroups of such varied composition, participants had a chance to meet other employees, learn more about the company and its operation;
• Implementation and the program character reflected corporate culture and values of the Danone company – openness, human approach, closeness and enthusiasm;
• During the implementation stage, 39 projects were submitted for realisation. Projects were submitted by the very same employees. Until the end of August 2005 almost 90% of them had already been realised;
• Danone Way was transformed into business tools used for the on-going analysis of the way the company functions in each of 6 key areas.

CHALLENGES:

• The problem was a non-standard approach to the issue which not necessarily seemed related to the regular business  practice. In general, managers do not understand the language of ”responsible business” and it was important to explain all the actions taken (and their consequence) for various stakeholders; an important argument was the conviction that workshop participants will be heard and their comments and conclusions will be taken into consideration and implemented.

WORTH REMEMBERING:

• The company itself determined that the most important success factor for the implementation is full involvement of the management board and Danone Way leaders. It was achieved thanks to decisive and resolute involvement of the General Director who supported the initiative in an open and unwavering manner and gave it priority among strategic goals of the company.