Malmö
Marina Ahlenblad Strandberg works with energy efficiency improvements to buildings. "The best thing about my job is being able to help clients save money. I think it’s great that ÅF has such breadth. It makes me feel confident that we can help our clients solve more or less whatever technical challenge they’re faced with."
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Objectives and strategies
Strategies
Operations will be decentralised
- under one and the same brand,
- with common processes and systems,
- with shared values and a common corporate culture in order to concert efforts and fully exploit the potential of all the experience that is represented within the ÅF Group.
One ÅF is a huge, shared bank of knowledge available to all ÅF co-workers that enables ÅF to improve profitability for its clients by proposing safe, sustainable solutions to a wide variety of challenges.
One ÅF is a common workplace where co-workers are encouraged to pursue their career within ÅF, for example in a different country or with new, technical challenges.
One ÅF is a joint sales organisation through which clients are offered the entire range of ÅF’s services.
One ÅF is the firm base for the corporate culture and shared values of ÅF.
Acquisitions strategy
ÅF’s acquisitions policy is based on the above. Every effort will be made to develop the business when the right opportunities arise, but expansion will not take place at the expense of profitability.
Business support and shared processes
ÅF is constantly developing its consulting business and its capacity to carry out assignments in the best possible way. The ambition is to assure successful, sustainable, long-term development for both clients and ÅF.
One example of this is ONE, ÅF’s recently developed IT platform. At the same time as it acts as a driving force for collaboration within ÅF and with clients and subcontracted suppliers, ONE also guarantees a modern approach to working with processes, projects and knowledge retrieval at ÅF, freeing up time for development and innovation in client assignments.
ONE is a web-based tool, mostly in English, that is accessible to employees throughout the ÅF Group.
ONE also serves as ÅF’s business support system, a central operational control system that makes ÅF’s business operations considerably more cost-effective while assuring quality and consistency in the company’s approach. The system includes tools for shared processes, project documentation and a searchable database of engineering and business experience that pinpoints any similarities between the many assignments undertaken by ÅF. When a client commissions ÅF to perform an assignment, the chances are great that ÅF has already successfully completed a similar assignment elsewhere.
ONE enables ÅF management to control and support operations and meet the criteria for certification for environmental and quality management in accordance with ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 9001: 2000.
Long-term objectives
Financial objectives
ÅF shall be the most profitable company among its closest comparable competitors in the industry and achieve an operating margin (EBIT) of at least 10 percent over a business cycle.
ÅF shall have net debt over a period of time, but net indebtedness shall not exceed 40 percent of equity.
Growth objective
Sales of 1 billion euros by 2015.
Market objective
Client surveys to show that at least 90 percent of clients perceive that the service provided by ÅF exceeds their expectations.
Human resources objectives
Better balance in the gender ratio. An initial target is for at least 25 percent of the company’s consultants and managers to be women.
Staff turnover to be 7–13 percent.
All employees to take part in a personal development interview each year.
Sustainability objectives
In the autumn of 2009 ÅF conducted a sustainability review of its operations. This included environmental objectives for 2009 relating to electricity consumption in ÅF’s offices, reduced environmental impact from business travel, and the indirect effect that ÅF has through the projects it performs for its clients. The result formed the basis of "The ÅF Green Advisor Plan", which sets sustainability targets for the period 2010–2015 that incorporate the Group’s previous environmental objectives. The plan was presented to and approved by ÅF senior management in December 2009.
By the year 2015 ÅF aims to:
- have halved its direct climate impact (baseline year 2009, calculated per individual)
- include a proposal in every offer or tender that ÅF submits, to enhance the sustainability aspect of the project
- be perceived as the technical consulting firm that, from a sustainability perspective, best solves the technical challenges that its clients are faced with.
For further details, please refer to Sustainable development and social responsibility.