Our strategy
Sustainability – forever better
The foundations for sustainable development
Regular customer surveys
Miele market research has been conducting customer surveys in Germany and many other countries for over 30 years. As a result, we receive more than 25,000 consumer opinions every year from across the globe. In addition to quantitative surveys, these also include numerous qualitative studies such as in-home interviews and work with focus groups. This research provides us with useful information on market perception, purchasing decisions and user behaviour. In 2014, we conducted a survey in which we asked our stakeholders to rate our sustainability performance. The public online survey was completed by 570 customers whose ages ranged from 18 to over 80. Of these participants, 99 percent reported that they were owners of a Miele appliance at the time of the survey. Over 90 percent of the respondents rated our sustainability performance as either 'high' or 'very high'. 88 percent of all respondents ranked Miele as the leading household appliance manufacturer in terms of sustainability.
A transparent dialogue with policy makers
As a household appliance manufacturer, we are also influenced by political decisions and legal requirements. Directives that affect us – for example on energy efficiency classes or ecodesign – are conceived, to a large extent, at European level. Since the end of 2015, we have been registered in the public transparency register for interest groups in Brussels. This register is intended to provide an insight into which representatives of the EU commissions, EU Parliament, and the European Council are in direct contact with Miele. We regularly welcome regional, national, or European politicians on visits to our sites. We hosted a visit from Dr Barbara Hendricks, the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and Klaus Müller, Executive Director of The Federation of German Consumer Organisations, in August 2015. The topics of service life and wear (obsolescence), as well as the Ecodesign guideline were the focus of their visit. Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society portfolio, visited us at the Trade Show for Consumer Electronics & Home Appliances (IFA) in Berlin in September 2015, and at the end of 2015 at the company's location in Gütersloh. The opportunities and challenges of the digital transformation made up a large part of this discussion.
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