Demonstrating strong global citizenship is essential to HP's long-term success. Our efforts enhance HP's brand reputation and value, deepen our relationship with customers and other stakeholders, open up new market opportunities, and provide us access to fresh ideas that feed innovation and creativity.
Our investments in this area strengthen our business in numerous ways:
- Customer insight Global citizenship helps us understand and meet customer expectations in areas including product environmental performance, privacy, and supply chain responsibility. (See Customers.)
- Market access Preparing for upcoming legislation, participating in public policy discussions, and preserving our record of legal compliance help us maintain access to markets.
- Competitiveness Responsible supply chain management and strong environmental performance are increasingly important criteria for purchasing decisions in the enterprise and public sectors. (See Customers.) For example, ensuring diversity in our supplier base is critical, particularly for contracts with federal and state agencies in the United States. (See Supplier diversity.)
- Employee engagement With increased interest in environmental, ethical, and social concerns, demonstrating our commitment to global citizenship helps us attract and retain top talent. HP offers educational programs to show employees how to reduce their environmental impact, encourages and sponsors them to volunteer in their communities, and updates them on the company's global citizenship goals and progress. (See Employees and global citizenship.)
- External engagement When we engage with our stakeholders, we gain insight into emerging trends, risks, and opportunities. We can also better understand their perspectives and respond to their expectations. HP works with numerous global nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to address issues ranging from energy use and climate change to providing greater access to quality healthcare. (See Stakeholder engagement and Health.)
- Reputation management Our reputation as a responsible company is important to customers worldwide and integral to building trust with governments, NGOs, investors, and others.
- Risk assessment and reduction We exercise due diligence in evaluating social and environmental risks in areas such as supply chain responsibility, HP operations, human rights, health and safety, privacy, and ethics and compliance.
- Cost savings Efforts that improve energy efficiency and conserve resources reduce our costs and increase productivity. We also control costs by retaining skilled, engaged employees. (See Energy and climate—Operations, HP operations, and Employee engagement.)
- Innovation Developing groundbreaking technologies to help solve challenges in environmental sustainability, education, and health sharpens our competitive advantage and opens new markets. (See Environmental sustainability and Social innovation.)