Building a challenging and supportive culture
25 Heineken N.V. Annual Report 2004 Report of the Executive Board Chairman's Message
RELEASING THE POTENTIAL OF OUR EMPLOYEES
AND BUILDING A TRUE PERFORMANCE BASED CULTURE
Performance management and leadership development go hand in hand. Last year we
began to truly unlock the value in developing strong leadership capability within the business through
a global performance management system amongst our most senior executives. As we move into
2005, we will have a consistent way of setting, measuring and ultimately achieving personal and
professional development objectives.
Becoming a learning organisation was a commitment we made in 2004. We established 'passion
for learning' as one of our four ways of working. We believe embedding this philosophy will help us
maintain our edge and encourage us to attempt new and different approaches to long-standing issues
and challenges.
Responsibility and sustainability
The year 2004 ended with a tragedy in Asia on a massive human and geographic scale. We take great
pride in the way in which our people have responded, raising money in a variety of ways. Alongside
this, we as an organisation have made a significant donation, our Indonesian operation has provided
vitamin-enriched soft drinks to the disaster areas and we have identified how best to focus our efforts
in order to play a part in the long-term task of re-constructing communities and, ultimately, lives.
Elsewhere in the business, during 2004, we demonstrated our approach to responsibility and
sustainability in other ways. We extended our pioneering AIDS programme, which offers free
voluntary testing and medical care for employees and their families, to Asia; we published an award
winning sustainability report covering the years 2002 and 2003; we developed and launched a
Code of Business Conduct, and we revised our already stringent approach to responsible marketing.
All of these initiatives are critical components of both our business and our culture and underpin
everything we do.
Global initiatives, local delivery
As you read through the rest of this report We hope you will recognise how some of the platforms for
growth have taken shape and how we have managed the balance between providing returns now
and securing growth in the future.
We have the people, the talent and the desire to continue this growth and we are proud of, and
grateful for what each and every one of our employees has contributed to our performance this year.
Together, we are passionately committed to ensuring that Heineken remains, as now, one of the
world's great consumer and corporate brands.
Amsterdam, 21 February 2005
Thony Ruvs
Chairman of the Executive Board