Innovation

Saab Aeronautics is the part of the company that provides and produces advanced military technology, for example the fighter aircraft Gripen. This business area has sales of approximately SEK 7 billion per annum and about 3000 employees (Saab Group, 2018).

Inspiration

Saab’s vision is, “It is a human right to feel safe,” and the business idea for Saab Aeronautics is to develop and produce fighter and trainer aircraft at a top level.

Overall impact

Saab is a very large organization, and with its 16,000 employees they have a big impact on their surrounding environment. Saab conducts business in a lot of countries worldwide, where upholding the SDGs is a constant struggle. In other developing countries where they don’t conduct business, they might still leave a large footprint because of the impact from their products.

Saab works daily with the UN global goals, and from this Saab has prioritized four goals. These goals extend globally to all employees, are included in Saab's business strategy, and contribute to Saab's vision, “It is a human right to feel safe."

The four different areas are:

- Responsible business

- Reduce environmental impact

- Employer of choice

- Contribute to society

Saab works with responsible business in different aspects. One of the main parts is the absolute zero tolerance for corruption. There are several different ways Saab works within this area. For instance, before each business operation, the company examines the other part carefully, and goes through each aspect of the company: previous customers, the financial situation, the working environment, the quality of the company’s work for sustainability, etc. Another example of the work with anti-corruption is training that is done regularly and an obligation for all employees. However, corruption is still a big issue abroad compared to Sweden, which has one of the lowest corruption rates.

Saab also works within international trade associations in order to expand anti-corruption regulations and to develop their work. The company is also a member of several international anti-corruption associations.

Another way Saab works as a responsible business is the export part, with the export of defense material. This includes a big responsibility and also a risk, and because of this there are certain governed regulations that need to be followed. The Swedish Agency for Non-Proliferation and Export Controls (IPS) decides which type of products Saab can sell to a particular country, and before every export there needs to be an approval from IPS.

Also, Saab has their own Head of Export Control, who is responsible for the organization's overall issues within this area. All of the different business areas have their own export control, in order to make sure the work is done right and at all levels.

Another part of responsible business is responsible supplier relationships. Saab has suppliers worldwide, and for the company it is of highest importance that their suppliers work with social and environmental sustainability in the same manner as Saab does.

Also, there is no tolerance for child labor, which is seen as obvious for the company.

Information security is also of big importance within responsible business. Saab has an information security management system (ISMS), in order for the company to make sure every employee knows their own part in the security work.

The last part of Saab's responsible business is product safety, which is a part of the company’s development process. The work of product safety includes analyzing the product and results from reports that show the level of safety and if the product contains any risk.

The second part of Saab's sustainable development goals is to reduce environmental impact. Saab is working with reducing energy consumption, choosing transportation with low climate impact and making sure that their products are environmentally sustainable. They are also doing massive work with decreasing critical substances in their products, which requires a huge amount of safety and responsibility. It is still not possible to reduce these substances 100 percent because of the high safety level of their products, but Saab has come a long way in their job of replacing dangerous substances. Another example of how the company works to reduce environmental impact is their participation in environmental innovations in order for future environmental sustainability to be the best possible. They are also working for environmental sustainability in a smaller perspective, for instance by having the right temperature in the offices and letting employees choose environmentally friendly company cars.

Employer of choice is the third part of Saab's sustainable development goals. Being an employer of choice for Saab includes evolving leaders and employees, and having a highly qualified working environment, which is crucial in order to reach their targets, and is done in multiple ways. For instance, the company has training programs within different areas that are presented to all of their employees, regardless of position. The leaders in the company are working daily with developing their employees and the company focuses on having a “performance-driven” atmosphere. When interviewing Jan and Patrik, they talked about the importance of anchoring the goals and having individual targets that are linked to the overall targets. They also explained that there needs to be regular followup and developing plans in order for the employees and company to be successful.

"Saab applies social sustainability in our leadership throughout the entire working environment, by having open and clear dialogues with all co-workers, in order to meet the requirements and the demand from the employees. At Saab, it is also of high importance to appeal to and maintain talented employees in order to have a competitive advantage for the business to develop. This is done by having close contact with schools and universities, and we have our own technology school in Arboga, Sweden. We believe that it is important to work for sustainability in order to attract young employees and maintain these people within the business for the future. The company also surveys its employees. In 2017 Saab was ranked as the sixth most attractive employer among engineering students in Sweden."

A great amount of work is also done to increase equality. The number of women employed in the company has increased significantly. Today 23% of the employees are women, and by 2025 the goal is to have at least 30% women in the company worldwide. Saab also has a 35-65 program which means that in 2025 the goal is to have 35% women in leading positions.

It is also of high importance for the company to contribute to society, and this is the last part of Saab's sustainable development goals. When Saab is doing business with other countries, their ambition is to generate more work opportunities for the country's inhabitants. An example of this is the Gripen association with Brazil, that generated at least 400 new jobs for Brazilian engineers. Saab is also investing billions in research and development, both globally and on a national level. Saab is also investing time and money to contribute to the communities where they have business, with education. They have created and developed schools, from preschool to higher education both abroad and in Sweden. South Africa, India and Brazil, to mention a few, are countries where Saab has created and established schools, and are of big importance to the company since they believe that education is the key to success.

Business benefit

M. Ehrgott: "Saab has met various needs for stakeholders to strive for benefits due to reaching a common goal. As mentioned, Saab works a lot on creating value in the four fields, reducing environmental impact, responsible business, employer of choice and contribute to society. Saab likewise builds up schools in developing countries and therefore contributes for the future generation worldwide."

Social and environmental benefit

UN SDG Number 1, End Poverty In All Its Forms Everywhere: Saab has spread its business worldwide and has regional headquarters in, for example, Brazil and Thailand, countries where poverty is a large issue. By keeping offices in these countries, and employing local citizens, the local economy is stimulated, which also has a positive impact on SDG number 8, decent work and economic growth.

UN SDG Number 4, Quality Education: Saab supports and set up schools in these countries, supporting the next generation of the population. They also set up their own education centers, building the local knowledge. Having set up part of the production abroad, growing industries in other countries, is an important part of developing and improving infrastructure in these countries, both domestic and across borders.

UN SDG Number 5, Gender Equality: Saab actively works for goal number 5, gender equality. Applying this inside the company shows the importance of this issue and sets grounds for equal rights for women also outside the workplace. Making sure women have equal pay and power also enables them to have the same resources in society where they get the same resources to spend and choices as men.

UN SDG Number 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: Saab spends a huge amount of time and money in innovation of the industry, which is SDG number 9, and how they can perform better both in a sustainability point of view and also for the company. The company always strives to be on top in their category, and makes sure that their technology and industry are constantly developed.

UN SDG Number 13 - Climate action: From the environmental side, SDG number 13, Saab is a company that uses a lot of resources and is also therefore given a great possibility to make a large difference. “Responsible consumption and production” is one of Saab's forefront goals, and some of their goals include reducing all emissions, which is still a big task that comes with a lot of challenges. However, Saab has over the last 10 years reduced their dangerous emissions by more than 50%. At the local level in Linköping, they work on moving away the noise from the flight plan, when they are practicing, since it is an issue for the environment in the city.

Also, working for an “emission-free” business requires setting up responsible and alternative ways of getting energy and disposing of waste materials. Conducting this kind of research in different countries will give positive impact on the surrounding environment, not only because the emissions from the production are reduced but also because these innovations will in many cases be able to adapt and be used in other parts of society and therefore reduce the total environmental strain.

UN SDG Number 16 - Peace, justice and institutions: As mentioned, Saab’s vision “It’s a human right to feel safe,” is part of number 16 in UN's SDGs. Saab wants to create more peace and safety by offering a defense plan that increases safety for the population in the specific countries. The company also has a close connection to institutions and the Swedish government. Saab always makes sure to follow the regulations for security products, and they strive to have a high level of security within all business areas.

Interviews

Patrik Dahl, Vice President and Head of Human Resources

Jan Germundsson, Head of Governance and Management Support