CSR and Sustainability Strategy

The new fifth principle of our positioning: Future Proof

Philips TV and Sound products are designed and built to create an intuitively smart and immersive experience. It is not a coincidence that premium characteristics are consistent in all our products. Four key principles ensure that your favourite Philips television or headphone aligns with our business philosophy and product quality and design vision:

European Design: True to our European roots, we create products that look and feel beautiful – on or off.
Intuitively Smart: The best product experience is when it all just works, without thinking.
Immersive Experience: Our technology is developed to enhance the viewing & listening experience, at home and on the go: to help people escape, relax and truly enjoy.
Premium Build Quality: From the materials we select to the details in the finish: quality is built into every Philips TV & Sound product.

In a world where natural resources are getting scarcer, and environmental pollution has led to dramatic climate change effects, every company in product development and manufacturing has to review its approach. During the past year, TP Vision has developed a new fifth principle that will enable TP Vision to further integrate sustainability in its business and products: Future Proof. The focus of this principle is aimed at investments in sustainable packaging, products, supply chains and revenue streams. At the same time, the company’s efforts regarding social impact and governance are part of this principle, making the business, environment and society at large more future proof.

A global challenge: the need to rethink our product approach & business model

TP Vision is committed to take further steps in realizing a more sustainable product life cycle – from product design to manufacturing and after care. This is not just driven by legislation, but also necessary from a consumer perspective. We notice that consumers nowadays struggle with the dilemma how to keep up with rapidly developing new technology, at the same time feeling increasingly guilty about throwing away things that still work or could be repaired.

This is why our ambition is to develop products and experiences that deliver both customer value and societal value. A new approach enabling us to build a healthy business and, at the same time, contribute to a better planet for the generations to come.

We see this as our mission for the future, not just for our customers, but also to enhance our position as an attractive employer where people feel they can contribute positively to society, next to their personal development.

To bring this ambition to reality, we have developed a new approach called Future Proof. It is a strategic approach that has been developed in the context of our activities under the Philips TV & Sound brand. The principle Future Proof is thereby closely connected to the other principles of our brand positioning, namely European Design, Intuitively Smart, Immersive Experience and Premium Build Quality. The principle Future Proof entails an ambitious stretch towards the future that requires further development within TP Vision: not just for the Philips brand, but in the end for all activities under the TP Vision umbrella.

What Future Proof means for our daily way of working

Future Proof is part of TP Vision’s overarching sustainability program and refers to both ‘planet’ as well as ‘people’ aspects of sustainability. While we see the people aspect as a license to operate, the planet dimension of Future Proof – which is about the management of resources – also has the potential to give us competitive advantage as it enables us to enhance customer value through our products and services. Future Proof thinking is an actionable framework to embed a circular way of working in our organization. We do so by bringing a sustainable perspective in the decision-making process around product design, manufacturing and business model evaluation. By thinking about the complete product life cycle early in the product and service development process, we can design our products, packaging, accessories and services in such a way that they have significantly less environmental impact throughout their life cycle, at the same time adding customer value where possible.