”Learn and share what you have learnt”: within the Sonova Group we operate in accordance with this maxim, creating the foundations for long-term decisions and leading to quick results. Its unique corporate culture makes the Sonova Group an extremely attractive employer. Our motto “Nothing works without people”, expresses the people focus within the Sonova Group. We also behave according to accepted ethical principles when interacting with customers, suppliers, business partners and shareholders. Not only does ethical conduct benefit all stakeholders – it also assures and strengthens our reputation and thereby contributes to our long-term commercial success.

Knowledge management

The hearing system industry is not a capital-intensive business, but is driven by constant product and service innovation. The highest quality standards apply in the manufacturing of hearing systems. Thus, motivated, dedicated and creative employees have a major role to play in our success story. Knowledge management is a core element of Sonova’s management philosophy: there are no barriers, no closed doors; employees can contact anybody at any time. Therefore, a strong corporate culture has evolved at Sonova which is best characterized by flat hierarchical structures, equal treatment of employees, responsibility for one’s own actions, and open communication.

We behave according to accepted ethical principles when interacting with customers, suppliers, business partners and shareholders. Not only does ethical conduct benefit all stakeholders – it also assures and strengthens our reputation and thereby contributes to our long-term commercial success.

Professional development

Dedicated and carefully planned professional development is an important success driver. The central goal is to promote specialist expertise, to develop personal, social and management skills and encourage entrepreneurial thinking beyond the individual’s own area of responsibility.

Three years ago Sonova stepped up its efforts to develop standard groupwide education and training programs. During the financial year 2007/08 the “Leadership Excellence Program” was launched for middle managers, rounding off Sonova’s global management development offering. All programs are held once a year, and refresher courses will be made available. A new and important module was added to the training program during the reporting period. While the focus has been on corporate management over the last two years, the new “Passion for Selling” program deals with sales as a growth driver. The aim is to increase the sales efficiency across the entire Sonova Group. The main building blocks for “Passion for Selling” include: understanding mechanisms in the hearing instrument market, identifying client needs and applying sales techniques, including the emotional aspects of selling. During the training program, which lasts several weeks, the knowledge acquired during study will be implemented in the local market and the concrete results analysed at follow-up sessions. This will allow participants to draw on uniform global approaches to selling. These are based on a clearly defined and communicated sales strategy which can be adapted to local market conditions as required. “Passion for Selling” will be introduced into all Group Companies in the financial year 2008/09 in a bid to further enhance the sales culture within the Sonova Group.

During the course of 2007/08, more than 50% of the employees took part in training and professional development courses.