Stakeholder Engagement and Communication

Stakeholder Engagement and Communication

Description of Stakeholder Identification

To present stakeholders sufficiently representative of their categories, D-Link refers to the five attributes of the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard 2015 to identify stakeholders: dependency, influence, tension, responsibility, and diverse perspectives. After identification, five categories of stakeholders are selected based on their importance: customers, investors/shareholders, employees, suppliers/business partners, and subsidiaries. The company regularly reviews the results of stakeholder engagement each year.
 
The communication results are reported annually by the ESG Office to the ESG Committee. The communication results for the year 2023 have been reported to the ESG Committee and the Board of Directors on November 14th.

Customers/ Clients

Shareholders/ Investors

Employees

Suppliers/ Business Partners

Subsidiaries

Stakeholder Communication

Customers/ Clients 

Customer trust is the key to evaluating whether D-Link has genuinely grasped technological trends, the driving force behind our quality, technological improvements, and our sustainable developments.
Main Issues of Concern
Channels / Frequency of Communication
  • Innovation and R&D
  • Product Quality
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Information Security
  • Governance and Ethical Management
  • Green Products
  • Innovation and R&D
  • Corporate Image
  • Risk Management
  • Sustainable Development Strategy
  • International exhibitions and product conferences: At least once a year
  • Customer satisfaction surveys: Surveys will be conducted immediately after the resolution of customer service cases
  • Meetings related to specific issues: Aperiodically
  • Customer visits: Aperiodically
  • Repair center and after-sales services: Aperiodically
  • Company website: Respond to customer questions in the visitor comment section immediately
Communication Results in 2023
  • International Exhibition: Participated in MWC (Mobile World Congress) from Feb 27th to Mar 2nd.
  • Product briefing: Held AQUILA PRO AI player experience session on Jun 8th to showcase the new AQUILA PRO AI Series routers.
  • From January to September, the average customer satisfaction score globally was 86, while in Taiwan, it was 98.

Shareholders/ Investors

Investors are a significant financial resource of D-Link. Sustainable management can be achieved through capital investments and corporate governance supervision.
Main Issues of Concern
Channels / Frequency of Communication
  • Innovation and R&D
  • Business Performance
  • Product Quality
  • Governance and Ethical Management
  • Corporate Image
  • Risk Management
  • Sustainable Development Strategy
  • Shareholders’ Meeting: Annually
  • Investor Conference: At least once a year
  • Announcement on the Market Observation Post System: As needed
  • “Investor Section” of D-Link website: Disclosed at any time
  • Investor mailbox and hotline: Handled at any time
  • Corporate governance evaluation: Annually
Communication Results in 2023
  • Held one shareholders’ meeting (May 31).
  • Held two corporate briefing sessions (February 23 and May 29).
  • A total of 32 major messages in both Chinese and English were released on the Market Observation Post System from January to September.
  • Immediate update to the “Investor Relations” section on the company website for our investors to access the latest information in real time.
  • Received and replied to 188 feedbacks from the Investor Relations Mailbox and hotline from January to September.
  • The evaluation results of the annual corporate governance indicators were released in April 2023.
    In 2022, the corporate governance evaluation score was 103.04 points, ranking in the second range (top 6% -20%). Compared to the average score of 98.52 points in this level of range (6% -20%), D-Link scored 4.52 points higher and ranks in the top 5% of the same industry (with a market value of NT$5 billion to NT$10 billion). Compared with the previous year, the evaluation ranking has increased by one level and the score has significantly increased by 14.66 points.

Employees

Employees are invaluable assets for sustainable corporate development. D-Link respects, cares for, and looks after our employees, attracts outstanding talents to join us, and encourages them to fulfill their potential to create future developments together with us.
Main Issues of Concern
Channels / Frequency of Communication
  • Business Performance
  • Governance and Ethical Management
  • Corporate Image
  • Risk Management
  • Sustainable Development Strategy
  • Labor Pension Supervisory Committee: Quarterly
  • Labor-management conference: Quarterly
  • Employee Welfare Committee: Monthly
  • Education and training (outside-of-work training, in-work training, and self-development): Held according to yearly plan.
  • Employee satisfaction survey: Annually
  • Hotline and email: Handled at any time.
  • Club activities: Aperiodically
  • Appointment with supervisor: Bi-weekly
Communication Results in 2023
  • Held 3 labor pension supervision committee meetings from January to September. (January 11, April 6, August 16)
  • Held 3 labor-management meetings from January to September. (March 22, June 14, September 12).
  • Held 4 employee welfare committee meetings from January to September. (January 9, April 18, July 20, August 15).
  • Education and training from January to September:
    A total of 19,756 video clips were broadcast in the public space on the first floor of the office, covering the topics of “Human Rights”, “Integrity Management”, “Prevention of Money Laundering/ Prevention of Insider Trading”, “Intellectual Property Rights Protection/ Personal Data Protection” and “Gender” Equality/ Prevention of Sexual Harassment”.
  • The completion rate of required courses for new employees such as “Human Rights”, “Integrity Management”, “Intellectual Property and Personal Information Law” and “Gender Equality and Prevention of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace” is 98.67%.
  • “Responsibilities and Obligations of Directors, Supervisors, and Senior Managers from the Perspective of Securities and Exchange Law” was held in September, with a total of 41 trainees and a total of 102.5 hours of training.
  • Held 63 internal training sessions with 2,419 participants for 3,204.1 hours.
  • Held 38 external training sessions with 60 participants for 512.0 hours.
  • The 2023 employee satisfaction survey is expected to be launched and completed in Q4.
  • Establishing a complaint channel: There is a special channel for employee complaints and workplace sexual harassment complaints; there were 0 complaints from January to September.
  • There are currently 14 static/ dynamic clubs with a total of 766 participants in 179 events throughout the year.

Suppliers/ Business Partners

Suppliers are the driving force behind D-Link’s competitiveness. Long-term and stable cooperation can reduce operational risks and costs. We are able to continuously provide customers with reliable and high-quality products and services to realize sustainable supply chain management.
Main Issues of Concern
Channels / Frequency of Communication
  • Innovation and R&D
  • Product Quality
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Information Security
  • Governance and Ethical Management
  • Green Products
  • Corporate Image
  • Risk Management
  • Sustainable Development Strategy
  • Customer Relationship Management
  • Delivery system: Daily
  • Supplier audits: Annually
  • Abnormal quality tracking and review meetings: Weekly
  • Production and sales meetings (manufacturer communication and review meetings): Weekly/ monthly
  • Supplier questionnaire (integrity management/conflict minerals): Aperiodically
Communication Results in 2023
  • Check the order commitment system daily and respond to any changes in the supplier’s delivery time in a timely manner.
  • There are 7 major suppliers, and 5 annual audits have been completed from January to September, with a completion rate of 71%.
  • Tracked the progress of improving quality anomalies with major suppliers every week.
  • Held regular (weekly/bi-weekly/monthly) production and sales meetings with different suppliers to communicate customer order requirements, review production on capacity and material conditions, and meet resolutions to the best delivery time.
  • Conducted a questionnaire survey on our 34 suppliers (integrity management/conflict minerals) with a completion rate of 100%.

Subsidiaries

Main Issues of Concern
Channels / Frequency of Communication
  • Innovation and R&D
  • Business Performance
  • Product Quality
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Information Security
  • Governance and Ethical Management
  • Green Products
  • Risk Management
  • Sustainable Development
    Strategy
  • Customer Relationship
    Management
  • Email: multiple times a day depending on business needs
  • Instant messaging/ online meeting: multiple times a day depending on business needs.
  • Performance Review Meeting: Monthly/ Quarterly
Communication Results in 2023
  • From January to September, the Pan-European region holds 5 performance review meetings every quarter (Europe is divided into five regions, and a total of 15 meetings are held. Russia holds a monthly meeting, a total of 9 meetings.)
  • From January to September, the Pan American region held a performance review meeting once a month, a total of 9 times.
  • From January to September, the Pan-Asia-Pacific region held a performance review meeting every quarter, with a total of 20 meetings. (DIN, DCN, and DKH are held irregularly)
  • Deliver the latest marketing information from the headquarters via email every week.