Ethics and Social Responsibility

                                                 

As a globally active automobile manufacturer, BMW Group takes responsibility for the environment, as well as social interests of employees and society as a whole.


The motor industry is clearly one of the world’s largest polluters; it is perhaps ironic that this gives it the opportunity to become one of the most proactive reducers of emissions. BMW is among the manufacturers taking its responsibilities in this area very seriously indeed, on both product design and corporate levels.

 In corporate terms the organization has won awards and is completely up-front about its principles around sustainability. In 2008, BMW won the Corporate Responsibility Reporting Award for best carbon disclosure; it also has production facilities based on the UN’s cleaner production program and uses preventive environmental management on a voluntary basis.

 Its real innovation, though, has to be in its vehicle design and manufacture. “We’ve been at the forefront of realizing from a product point of view that the continued growth of performance needed to be balanced against a realization that some sort of sustainability was going to be necessary,” says Duncan Forrester, a PR for the company. The company therefore initiated the scheme now known as Efficient Dynamics. 

 “Efficient Dynamics is an umbrella term for a number of technologies that come together to deliver not only the customer’s desire for increases in performance and output but at the same time decreases in consumption and improvements in emissions,” he says. Products started to emerge early 2007 and the specific elements of Efficient Dynamics in a car depends on the model. The one with the most are four cylinder manual cars, which get the whole bandwidth.

 “Efficient Dynamics is a huge number of technologies and it comes together to produce huge efficiencies in a number of our cars. When we launched the new 6 series in the Autumn of last year, a three and a half year old model, we announced up to 22 per cent increases in efficiency which is a huge number.”


BMW has won awards in 2011 and this for the Efficient Dynamics idea, leading to the current stage at which a diesel powered car with no hybrid technologies or biodiesel  won Green Car of the Year.
Sustainability is also about the future. BMW is keeping many of its future plans secret but confirms that Efficient Dynamics is a work in progress rather than a box which is now ticked and from which it will move on.
   






 
 To BMW Manufacturing, Corporate Social Responsibility means being a catalyst for change. We strive to set examples for those we work with, for, and around with high standards of environmental management, corporate giving, and maintaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be in South Carolina, and we appreciate the many different relationships we have established here.

Through education, environment, and other philanthropic efforts, we carry out our pledge to diversity. As citizens of both the global corporate economy and the Upstate community, we integrate these commitments into everything we do at BMW Manufacturing. We support dozens of local and statewide organizations, including our most visible initiative, the annual BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation. Every partnership is an instrument of change. Each contribution is a reflection of our principle.

Corporate Giving:

Nearly $28 million through 2010

• 47% to education
• 35% to the community
• 18% to the arts 

"We assume responsibility" – following this principle, the BMW Group strives to contribute actively to safeguarding and developing society at all its locations and beyond. A company's success depends in no small way on a stable social environment. Therefore, the BMW Group helps to shape important conditions – to the benefit of everyone concerned – and integrates social programs into its sustainability strategy. The BMW Group derives the core themes of its social commitment from its corporate objectives and its corporate culture, which combines success orientation, cosmopolitanism, trust and transparency. These themes are traffic safety, education, intercultural exchange, the fight against HIV/AIDS, particularly in South Africa, as well as art and culture. Our long-standing commitment not only promotes the employees' identification with the Company, but also substantiates and strengthens society's trust in the BMW Group as a reliable partner and thus enhances the Company's reputation both within its ranks and among the public at large.