How the Mars Compass Helps Us Navigate Our Path Forward
Mars has been a family-owned business for over a century. Like any business, we set measures to track our progress. But unlike just any business, we are a company owned across generations who thinks in generations. We guide ourselves by The Five Principles, and firmly believe what has made us successful is more than just thinking about the bottom line. A business model that focuses exclusively on financial performance is not sustainable or desirable.
We haven’t historically shared our point of view on how we measure the success of our business, which has evolved over the years. But today’s world calls for a change. We believe in business as a power for good and we’re committed to doing our part. For 130,00+ Mars Associates, the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today.
So, in 2018, the Family introduced the Mars Compass to ensure we’re heading in the right direction.
“The Compass outlines the shareholder objectives for Mars, Incorporated, laying out the Family’s expectations for what responsible business can and should do. I believe that performance without purpose isn’t meaningful, and that purpose without performance isn’t possible.”
– Grant F. Reid, OOP and CEO, Mars, Incorporated
As both a principles and purpose-driven business, we’re focused on making choices that help us achieve near-term results without compromising on the world we want tomorrow.
Our Compass is a set of objectives as well as a philosophical approach. It has four quadrants which both guide our long-term strategy and measure our progress against medium term and day-to-day decisions. They are:
Financial performance
Top-tier performance that gives us the freedom to create the world we want tomorrow
Quality growth
Momentum and growth in our brands and categories, and the exploration of new opportunities, to help us grow for the next 100 years
Positive societal impact
Our commitment to helping people, their pets and the planet thrive, which in part we’re working to deliver through our Sustainable in a Generation Plan
Trusted Partner
The response we see from stakeholders on how we are living up to our commitments and their expectations of Mars as a business
"As a family we are passionate about having a positive impact on the world and we believe the best way to do that is through our business. That’s why we reinvest more than 90% of profits back into Mars, Incorporated. This allows us to deliver against our ambitions to have a positive impact on the planet, society, and the communities in which we operate. Creating value that is shared is at the heart of our Mars Compass and our aspirations as a family business."
- Victoria B. Mars, Member of the Board of Directors