Logistical infrastructures as drivers of societal development
People’s access to medical care and the transformation of logistics into a sustainable industry are issues of paramount importance that are related to the global development goals of the United Nations in various ways. However, this connection is strongest in normal day-to-day business. Deutsche Post DHL Group provides services that are indispensable for a modern society.
Through its cross-divisional function, the logistics sector enables an economy based on division of labor. Thanks to the global logistical infrastructures of Deutsche Post DHL Group, companies find customers all over the world, while consumers can source goods from all regions of the world. The logistics sector ensures that overcapacities in one region can balance out shortages in another. World trade leads to growth and prosperity – and a higher living standard. Logistics also promote the specialization of companies and entire economic regions, while also facilitating the emergence of innovative products.
However, this view of logistics also has a downside. Because the more important the logistics chains become for the functioning of societies and markets, the more serious the impact is when supply chains are disrupted by natural disasters and man-made interventions, or when they collapse entirely. In order to respond to these disruptions as quickly as possible, Deutsche Post DHL Group has developed a continuous risk-management platform for supply chains with its Resilience360 solution, which keeps customers informed, in near real time, about worldwide disruptions and dangers for their global supply chains. Resilience360 is used by customers in Asia, Europe and on the American continent. The platform is deployed most intensively by the automobile industry, followed by the chemical industry, life sciences and the technology sector. Interestingly, SOS Children’s Villages also uses the system. The aid organisation, which maintains 500 locations in 140 countries, can therefore respond faster and better to threatening situations and, for example, evacuate fosterlings and employees more quickly from crisis areas.
Societal benefit as an income source
The Impact Wheel of Deutsche Post DHL Group, which illustrates the connection between the economic core of the business and the special societal benefit, has many spokes. However, the focus is always on one thing: logistics. As a result, business and sustainability strategies overlap – and corporate responsibility isn’t a cost factor, but rather part of a business model from which everyone gains. The customers of Deutsche Post DHL Group benefit from a better service and receive support in achieving their own environmental and sustainability goals. Society benefits from efficient logistics services, from low environmental costs associated with logistics, and from supply chains that behave in a robust and stable way even in an emergency situation. Finally, Deutsche Post DHL Group also benefits from taking on corporate responsibility. Because a better world provides a better market environment from a business perspective as well.