Organisation

The ALDI North Group has always applied a reliable principle of clear, decentralised structures with short chains of command, and Corporate Responsibility (CR) is no exception to this rule. This setup ensures our ability to respond to new requirements with speed and flexibility.

[GRI 102-4, -18] The ALDI North Group is represented in nine European countries with companies as independent legal entities. In Germany, the ALDI North Group as a group of subsidiaries is comprised of legally independent regional companies, in each case with the legal form of a GmbH & Co. KG, which means that the managing directors of the independent regional companies have equal status in casting votes at regular board meetings. ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG is engaged by these regional companies to provide various services. This company is also the licensor of the ALDI brand for the legally independent foreign companies of the ALDI North Group operating in the ALDI North Group countries. This arrangement ensures a uniform market profile.

[GRI 102-18] The CR department is housed under the organisation of ALDI Buying in Germany. It reports to one of the managing directors of ALDI Buying. The department was established as a standalone unit in 2015. Previously, CR had been grouped with Quality Assurance and formed a part of Corporate Buying. In the other ALDI North countries, CR-related tasks are normally handled by the head of CR/Quality Assurance as well as other employees. All CR officers maintain close contact across national boundaries and work on the five fields of action from our CR Policy. They also coordinate at their respective companies with colleagues from Purchasing and Quality Assurance, as well as with other departments, bodies of experts and divisions. Among others, this includes Human Resources (HR), Corporate Communications, Marketing, Sales and Logistics. Overall, more than 50 staff members deal with CR at ALDI North.

Together with our colleagues in Hong Kong, we are working on establishing CR standards in the supply chain. ALDI CR-Support Asia Ltd. was established in 2015. The team there now comprises 14 employees who primarily perform production site visits and audits with our suppliers.