1 Saint-Gobain Today Organization and governance SAINT-GOBAIN UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2021 33 Organization and governance 5. The Group’s global organization 5.1 Priority to the local level 5.1.1 Since 2019, Saint-Gobain has been organized according to its customers and therefore by geographical areas for its regional businesses, and by global Business Units within the High Performance Solutions entity, with a view to improving agility and remaining as close as possible to its customers. Based on “Transform & Grow” plan, the Group’s corporate governance model, which is as close as possible to its markets, is part of a resolutely multi-national approach. The new organization has enabled a profound culture change, highlighting the empowerment of teams, their performance, and the satisfaction of customer needs, and granting a high degree of decision-making autonomy at the local level. The organization and culture of Saint-Gobain have therefore been profoundly transformed, with a simplified structure (“one boss principle”) and 90% of CEOs being native to the region where they operate. The new rules for executive compensation (bonus entirely linked to the performance of the country or market) are aligned with performance: priority given to cash generation, ROCE, Ebitda and ESG impact (on greenhouse gas emissions, diversity and safety). In full control of the Group’s development in their market, they also aim to shape the evolution of local construction ecosystems. The strength of a global footprint 5.1.2 At the global level, the strength of an international group allows it to build up a pool of expertise to support its local activities in the fields of research and development, marketing, technological and industrial performance, innovation and performance in distribution; it also makes it possible to test many innovative business models, in different contexts, and to promote the exchange of best practices between countries. This clearly differentiates Saint-Gobain from its competitors: in addition to its in-depth knowledge of local markets, the Group sets itself apart from local competitors through its capacity for innovation and the operational excellence provided by its cross-functional organization at the global level. Through the richness of its offering and its ability to offer complete solutions adapted to each customer segment, Saint-Gobain stands out from its local and international competitors. The search for synergies 5.1.3 upselling. It has also led to changes in commercial structures. The search for synergies is also manifested through the creation of unique platforms such as “La Maison Saint-Gobain” in France to support end-customers in their renovation projects. The Group's new organization creates synergies in support functions: with unique customer services, shared online stores and common logistics, sales forces can work more efficiently and devote more time to cross-selling and On the other hand, the objective is to offer customers combined offers and to make the Group a one-stop-shop for a given application. In Brazil, the “Façade” Business Unit thus groups the Placo®, Isover, Weber, Brasilit and Adfors solutions within a single offering. Using these synergies, Saint-Gobain facilitates the customer experience by offering complete building systems along with exclusive related services. The customer only has to place a single order to receive all of the products at the worksite, while a Saint-Gobain team also ensures the smoothness of the work on site. Thanks to its global dimension, the Group develops cross-selling and supports its customers all over the world. In addition, the creation of central centers of expertise, on which countries can rely - on topics such as industrial performance, marketing, innovation and research and development, information systems, as well as HR and Finance Shared Service Centers - facilitates the improvement of the Group’s performance in terms of critical mass, sharing of best practices, cost containment, widespread deployment of excellence programs, as well as technical and collaborative work-flows. The sharing of knowledge and expertise, essential to promote synergies, is facilitated by meetings between innovation and marketing professionals, and has materialized with the creation of the “Hive” community. Another example is the global roll-out via the Unicampus program (see chapter 3, section 4.3.5), of a training offer that includes courses on the main central functions (marketing, industrial performance, sustainable development, research and development, purchasing, etc.) combining theory, practice and experience sharing. Finally, synergies are also generated through the spreading a culture of innovation, allowing the development of dynamic project management methods, putting the customer at the heart of the approach. This culture has historically been expressed in different ways within Saint-Gobain: the Group’s industrial business lines can thus benefit ■ from the experience of retailers in terms of digitizing their product and service offering for customers; the regional businesses, in the construction markets, are ■ increasingly developing a co-development approach, a model that is in the DNA of the High Performance Solutions businesses. They thus benefit from the experiences already existing within Saint-Gobain.
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