Making perfect sense

Founded in 1895, Firmenich is the world's largest privately owned fragrance and taste company. Its goal? To create positive emotions and improve wellbeing – and all while helping protect the planet.

Around 40 years ago, the company established its core values, which focused on being a good citizen, behaving appropriately in business and always doing the right thing for people. Firmenich has followed this moral compass ever since.

"Our core values have always been there," said Patrick. "What's important to us hasn't changed. What we call sustainability now, we used to call a standard of ethics, but for us, it's the same."

The company's values remained at the heart of its operations. But by the early 1970s, a vital piece of the jigsaw was missing – proper governance: "We needed the right structure to ensure the business would continue for decade and decades. The business was organized around different family members. We needed to professionalize."

Equally, while Firmenich's values wouldn't change, the world around it wouldn't stand still: "Everything around the business – including its structure, distribution and clients – would change, so we needed to be able to adapt."

But how could the business rapidly spot new trends and reshape itself to capitalize on them?

In the 1970s, Firmenich adopted the governance it needed to succeed for generations. The company reorganized, set up a formal legal structure and documented the values that drove the business. In 1991, Firmenich published its first 'sustainability charter' – and became one of the world's first companies to produce a sustainability report.

To keep pace with changes in its sector, Firmenich set up a dedicated sustainability department. But the management team realised the topic was too big and complex to tackle on its own. "To do the right thing, we work closely with others, such as NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and government bodies. Working with them is a magical combination."

The business knew it needed to go further: "We created a sustainability council, which comprises seven experts and advisors to the company. From there, our department coordinates all our efforts."

With its sights firmly on the future, Patrick and his team are nurturing the next generation of business leaders: "We decided very early on to introduce the family's next generation to the company’s values and purpose. So we've created a family committee to take care of developing them."

Whatever might change in Firmenich and the wider world, one thing's for sure: the company will always be committed to sustainability: "There were times when the company wasn't doing too well. But that's part of the normal business cycle. Throughout, we've never questioned our sustainability strategy. Never. When you have your name on the door, you want to be proud of your company."