Maximizing Total Value
At Alcan, our governing objective is Maximizing Value. A traditional business perspective says that by maximizing shareholder value, companies also contribute to social and broader economic value. They also use financial, human and technological resources to address environmental impacts. Throughout Alcan's history, which now spans more than a century, we have increasingly searched out ways to conduct business in a socially responsible way while creating superior shareholder value. And our efforts in this area are receiving more attention across the company than ever before.

As mentioned previously, our efforts on sustainability are influencing and enhancing our work in the elements of the Alcan Integrated Management System – AIMS – which include: Maximizing Value, EHS FIRST and Continuous Improvement. This is helping us to expand our view of 'value', by working to understand and include total stakeholder value in our framework.

Over the last several years, we have applied a sustainability perspective to the concept of value. Increasingly, we see that Maximizing Value creates value for all stakeholders, not only our shareholders. By taking this approach, we find we are able to explore a wider variety of types of value, as well as what different stakeholders consider to be of 'value'. Building sustainability into our concept of Maximizing Value helps us create value today and work towards preserving it for tomorrow. When successful, it encourages people to invest in us, work with us and invite us into their communities. We believe this expanded notion of value offers Alcan the opportunity to create more value for all our stakeholders – including our shareholders.

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During 2003 and the first part of 2004, under the guidance of our Sustainability Steering Team, we assembled a range of Alcan people and outside experts to explore how to put this type of sustainability-driven approach to value creation into practice. What would we need to do differently to capture this value consistently in all of our businesses and at all of our locations?

The conclusion is a three-pronged, simultaneous approach to sustainability:

•	Think broadly about issues and impacts By analyzing our social, economic, and environmental impacts and the wide range of issues important to our stakeholders, we can open our Company to new opportunities and make choices that optimize the value created for Alcan and society.
•	Engage and partner Engaging an increasingly diverse range of stakeholders in traditional and innovative ways will provide valuable insight into business opportunities and risks. Developing partnerships with a variety of stakeholders will provide more effective approaches to addressing issues of mutual importance.
•	Make connections across our business, and integrate sustainability into our business Examining the points of leverage in our business processes and incorporating a sustainability perspective help ensure that our decisions and actions are consistent with our sustainability-driven concept of value.