Strategy
Our Purpose and Mission
Creating a socially and environmentally sustainable leather value chain together
Our mission is to create value for customers, shareholders, employees, and society by developing product and process innovations and raising awareness of the need for sustainable solutions in the entire leather value chain. We aim to cooperate with all the stakeholders, from research centers to competitors and beyond, in the leather value chain and share knowledge and innovations to get more sustainable solutions for the manufacturing of leather. By working together towards the same goal, we aim to improve the leather industry as a whole and to keep Royal Smit & Zoon relevant and on top of the market.
For our customers, this means they can always rely on our safe, efficient, and sustainable solutions. Our shareholders are given continuity, profit, and further growth, leading to a strong sense of pride in our achievements. Royal Smit & Zoon’s employees are always part of our family; through our employability programs, they remain competent, involved, and engaged. Our mission helps society by not only offering leather as a sustainable source for all kinds of products but also by taking care of our planet and of the next generations of people that will be living here.
Our Philosophy
Towards the future of leather
As a 7th-generation family business celebrating our 200th anniversary, thinking about the next generation is always on our minds. That is why we offer our customers sustainable solutions that meet the latest quality and safety standards. In our labs, our highly qualified chemists, product developers, and leather technicians continuously search for quality improvements and environmentally friendly innovations that support the sustainability of our customers’ businesses. We believe that their future is our future.
Our 2025 Strategy
Innovation and family values as the Guiding Principles in our thought-driven leadership
The heart of our strategy is creating sustainable leather together, keeping in mind the continuity of our family-owned company, building on its rich history since 1821. This context of ‘taking care of the next generation’ is not only relevant in the family setting, but it is also something that affects our customers, industry partners, and other stakeholders.
The fundament of our business strategy for the years to come lies in our purpose and mission. We will continue to play a catalyzing role in making the leather value chain sustainable. To fulfil our role as a catalyst, we work with many stakeholders in the sector and act as transparently as possible, respecting our Guiding Principles - a set of statements that express our shared ideals and values. All of our business areas, segments, regions, and brands have specific roles, but together they can contribute to an industry that will remain relevant, thanks to Royal Smit & Zoon’s guiding principles. In 2025, as well as right now.
To support this, our ESG Roadmap 2025 describes our commitments to our stakeholders and addresses our most material economic, environmental and social impacts. The execution of this ESG Roadmap is closely monitored and facilitated by the ESG Steering Team, consisting of all the Board members and the Global Directors for Commerce, Marketing & Communication, Operations, R&D, and ESG.
Guiding Principles
Objective: Royal Smit & Zoon Guiding Principles support the company mission
The company culture is embedded in five clear Guiding Principles, contributing to our mission ‘to create a socially and environmentally sustainable leather value chain together’. With this mission, we have set a double goal. Not only will we do whatever we can to drive continuous improvement of sustainability aspects in all our activities, but at the same time, we are committed to a collaborative effort: only by working together throughout the value chain can we meet society’s big challenges.
Our Guiding Principles help us to make decisions, guide us in our daily behavior and are essential to the long-term protection of our culture. We emphasize the importance of ensuring that short-term decisions do not have a negative long-term impact. The Guiding Principles help us to align with our mission and are secured in employee documents and tools.
Worldwide, we create awareness among our employees on the Guiding Principles to ensure that they are part of everybody’s ‘DNA’. In an ongoing process, the Guiding Principles are internally communicated and secured in our Employee Code of Conduct (ECoC) and onboarding tools, etc. In 2022, we trained the employees of our Dutch entities on the ECoC and took the opportunity to, again, create awareness of the Guiding Principles. For the Dutch entities, we also implemented the Guiding Principles in our HR performance management system. Employees are asked to consider how they integrate them into their daily work. In 2023, the ECoC training program will be rolled out globally, including creating awareness of the Guiding Principles worldwide.
We care for our customers, for each other and for the world
We are driven team players
We value and are united by diversity
We are committed to make a difference
We are passionate experts
These five Guiding Principles are:
Worldwide, we create awareness among our employees on the Guiding Principles to ensure that they are part of everybody’s ‘DNA’. In an ongoing process, the Guiding Principles are internally communicated and secured in our Employee Code of Conduct (ECoC) and onboarding tools, etc. In 2022, we trained the employees of our Dutch entities on the ECoC and took the opportunity to, again, create awareness of the Guiding Principles. For the Dutch entities, we also implemented the Guiding Principles in our HR performance management system. Employees are asked to consider how they integrate them into their daily work. In 2023, the ECoC training program will be rolled out globally, including creating awareness of the Guiding Principles worldwide.
We care for our customers, for each other and for the world
We are driven team players
We value and are united by diversity
We are committed to make a difference
We are passionate experts
These five Guiding Principles are:
Guiding Principles
Objective: Royal Smit & Zoon Guiding Principles support the company mission
The company culture is embedded in five clear Guiding Principles, contributing to our mission ‘to create a socially and environmentally sustainable leather value chain together’. With this mission, we have set a double goal. Not only will we do whatever we can to drive continuous improvement of sustainability aspects in all our activities, but at the same time, we are committed to a collaborative effort: only by working together throughout the value chain can we meet society’s big challenges.
Our Guiding Principles help us to make decisions, guide us in our daily behavior and are essential to the long-term protection of our culture. We emphasize the importance of ensuring that short-term decisions do not have a negative long-term impact. The Guiding Principles help us to align with our mission and are secured in employee documents and tools.
Our 2025 Strategy
Innovation and family values as the Guiding Principles in our thought-driven leadership
The heart of our strategy is creating sustainable leather together, keeping in mind the continuity of our family-owned company, building on its rich history since 1821. This context of ‘taking care of the next generation’ is not only relevant in the family setting, but it is also something that affects our customers, industry partners, and other stakeholders.
The fundament of our business strategy for the years to come lies in our purpose and mission. We will continue to play a catalyzing role in making the leather value chain sustainable. To fulfil our role as a catalyst, we work with many stakeholders in the sector and act as transparently as possible, respecting our Guiding Principles - a set of statements that express our shared ideals and values. All of our business areas, segments, regions, and brands have specific roles, but together they can contribute to an industry that will remain relevant, thanks to Royal Smit & Zoon’s guiding principles. In 2025, as well as right now.
To support this, our ESG Roadmap 2025 describes our commitments to our stakeholders and addresses our most material economic, environmental and social impacts. The execution of this ESG Roadmap is closely monitored and facilitated by the ESG Steering Team, consisting of all the Board members and the Global Directors for Commerce, Marketing & Communication, Operations, R&D, and ESG.
Our Philosophy
Towards the future of leather
As a 7th-generation family business celebrating our 200th anniversary, thinking about the next generation is always on our minds. That is why we offer our customers sustainable solutions that meet the latest quality and safety standards. In our labs, our highly qualified chemists, product developers, and leather technicians continuously search for quality improvements and environmentally friendly innovations that support the sustainability of our customers’ businesses. We believe that their future is our future.
Our Purpose and Mission
Creating a socially and environmentally sustainable leather value chain together
Our mission is to create value for customers, shareholders, employees, and society by developing product and process innovations and raising awareness of the need for sustainable solutions in the entire leather value chain. We aim to cooperate with all the stakeholders, from research centers to competitors and beyond, in the leather value chain and share knowledge and innovations to get more sustainable solutions for the manufacturing of leather. By working together towards the same goal, we aim to improve the leather industry as a whole and to keep Royal Smit & Zoon relevant and on top of the market.
For our customers, this means they can always rely on our safe, efficient, and sustainable solutions. Our shareholders are given continuity, profit, and further growth, leading to a strong sense of pride in our achievements. Royal Smit & Zoon’s employees are always part of our family; through our employability programs, they remain competent, involved, and engaged. Our mission helps society by not only offering leather as a sustainable source for all kinds of products but also by taking care of our planet and of the next generations of people that will be living here.
