Stakeholder Engagement

As a global healthcare company, Baxter engages with stakeholders worldwide to share information, better understand their views on Baxter’s priorities, programs and performance, and determine opportunities to collaborate and to reach common goals. Stakeholders play an important role in the company’s continued success, and Baxter strives to take into account their varied perspectives.

Examples of Baxter’s stakeholder engagement are referenced in the following table and throughout this report.

BAXTER STAKEHOLDER GROUPS
Group	Description	Channels of Engagement
Communities	Baxter conducts business in more than 100 countries and operates more than 50 manufacturing facilities worldwide.	Interactions with local, state and national governments and agencies Involvement in community organizations and schools Employee volunteer efforts Collaboration with international health and aid organizations Employee participation on boards and leadership in local and national organizations
Customers	Includes healthcare professionals, hospitals/clinics, kidney dialysis centers, medical research centers, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers.	Ongoing customer product training and continuing education programs Participation in professional organizations Customer service and clinical helplines Customer publications and presentations Customer satisfaction surveys Baxter attendance at conferences, such as CleanMed
Employees	48,500 employees worldwide	Town hall meetings Employee surveys Baxter Intranet Webcasts Global inclusion roundtables Code of Conduct Ethics and Compliance Helpline Regional Ethics and Compliance Committees Certificate of Integrity and Compliance Works councils Facility health and safety committees Global citizen committees (employee groups that review, discuss and implement community outreach activities at Baxter locations)
Government, regulatory, health authorities	Examples include City of Chicago, Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products, European Medicines Valuation Agency, European Parliament, ministries of health and environment, health and safety agencies worldwide, State of Illinois, U.S. Center for Medicare/Medicaid, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Food and Drug Administration.	Representation on advisory committees Meetings, conferences and collaborations Communication of studies that demonstrate health and economic benefits of Baxter’s products Promotion of national sustainability programs/initiatives Support for legislation/regulation that aligns with Baxter’s business and sustainability objectives
Industry organizations	Includes AdvaMed, BIOTECanada, Biotechnology Industry Organization, Eucomed, EuropaBio, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, European Organization for Packaging and the Environment (EUROPEN), Institute for Supply Management, MEDEC, Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association and numerous physician organizations.	Board and committee meetings Educational campaigns Industry events Collaborative lobbying on issues of mutual concern
Investors	Approximately 85 percent of Baxter’s shares are held by institutional investors.	Analyst/investor presentations and meetings Socially responsible investment surveys Quarterly earnings announcements and news releases Webcasts/conference calls Annual meeting Road shows, one-on-one meetings and investor visits to headquarters
Non-governmental and other organizations	Examples include Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, Ceres, Chicago Climate Exchange, Climate Leaders, Compliance and Ethical Leadership Council, The Conference Board, The Conference Board Contributions Council II, Corporate Executive Board, Council on Foundations, Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, Global Reporting Initiative, Grantmakers in Health, Partnership for Quality Medical Donations, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, and World Health Organization.	Feedback on Baxter’s 2007 Sustainability Report Feedback from Ceres on Baxter’s 2015 sustainability goals and related initiatives (see below) Participation on various committees Attendance and presentations at sustainability-related conferences and events
Patients and patient-advocacy groups	Patients worldwide with cancer, hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma and other conditions, as well as patient-advocacy groups.	Strategic Philanthropic Giving Product donations Grants Fundraising Patient websites ( Advoy; American Association of Kidney Patients; Hemophilia Galaxy)
Suppliers	Baxter works with a broad network of suppliers to provide product inputs and goods and services not used in products.	Supplier Quality Standard Ethics and Compliance Standards for Baxter Suppliers Sustainability language added to Baxter requests for proposal (RFP) and standard supplier agreement Supplier audits and site visits Environmental and ethics and compliance training Ethics and Compliance Helpline Green Suppliers Network Lean and Green toolkit Lean and Energy toolkit Supplier diversity program
Universities/ Academia	The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, Cornell University Johnson School of Management, Illinois Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, University of Wisconsin	Forums on sustainability and climate change Information sharing about sustainability with administration, faculty and students Select projects and student research

Some Baxter stakeholder engagement initiatives integrate input from multiple groups. For example, Baxter assembles “advisory boards” of patients, clinicians, health practitioners and researchers to gather feedback to incorporate into the company’s operations. Baxter’s Renal business has a patient advisory council in Illinois that provides input from home dialysis patients to help Baxter improve products and services for people with end-stage renal disease. The company’s Medication Delivery business in the United States uses a pharmacy customer advisory board to identify market trends and their implications on Baxter and its customers. Baxter also assembles clinical advisory boards of preeminent physicians from around the world to guide the company’s clinical product development programs, and has academic researchers serve as advisors or consultants on specific scientific issues.

Baxter also engages stakeholders specific to its sustainability efforts, such as Ceres and its select coalition members with expertise in areas of focus for Baxter.¹ On one occasion in 2008, this group provided Baxter feedback on its recently established 2015 sustainability goals and supporting initiatives, which the company will take into account as it continues to develop its programs. During the year the group also provided Baxter feedback on its 2007 Sustainability Report, as well as input specific to its environment, health and safety program.

Affiliations and Memberships

Baxter has relationships with organizations that focus on various aspects of sustainability. See the Affiliations and Memberships page for further details.

¹ Ceres is the largest U.S.-based coalition of investors, environmentalists and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges (www.ceres.org). Baxter has been involved with Ceres since 1997. The Ceres stakeholder team designated to work with Baxter is an independent group of individuals drawn primarily from the Ceres coalition and represents a range of constituencies that have expertise in environmental, social and governance issues.