Case studies
The Altadis Board of Directors has, since 2003, communicated in its Annual Report and Accounts a continued commitment to corporate responsibility. In 2003, Altadis adopted a Code of Conduct, in response to the corporate governance requirements of Spain’s Aldama Report and France’s Bouton Report.
The Code of Conduct communicated the company’s values and standards of business conduct, and served as a reference for the company’s approach to responsibilities to its main stakeholder groups; employees, customers and consumers, shareholders, partners, public authorities and local communities. The Altadis USA operations also adapted a Code of Conduct to meet specific legal requirements of the USA.
Prior to the acquisition of Altadis, the Imperial Tobacco Group undertook a single principle activity, being the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco and tobacco-related products. Following the acquisition, the enlarged Group has two main activities; tobacco and logistics. The logistics activities comprise the distribution of Imperial Tobacco’s and other tobacco manufacturers’ products, as well as a range of non-tobacco products and services.
Logista, part of the logistics division, has operations in Spain, Italy and Portugal, and has reported publicly in its Annual Report its commitment to running its business in a responsible manner and to integrating CR throughout its activities. This includes building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders based on mutual respect, transparency and trust. Logista is also committed to environmental protection. All of the company’s distribution centres are certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, and are working towards an integrated quality, environment and workplace accident prevention management system.
During our integration planning activities, we reviewed the Altadis approach to corporate responsibility and discussed the similarities to Imperial Tobacco’s Business Principles and Code of Conduct. We found good alignment which should ease implementation of our CR systems and processes across the enlarged Group.
