Message From the Chair of the CSR Committee
CSR in the Sumitomo Corporation Group
Yasuyuki Abe
Director, Senior Managing Executive Officer,
General Manager,
Corporate Planning &
Coordination Group
CSR in the Sumitomo Corporation Group
In the preamble to the Corporate Mission Statement, the Group sets out its corporate vision: “We aim to be a global organization that constantly stays a step ahead in dealing with change, creates new value, and contributes broadly to society.” The statement continues to describe the corporate mission, which is, “To achieve prosperity and realize dreams through sound business activities,” and Sumitomo Corporation's management style, which is, “To place prime importance on integrity and sound management with utmost respect for the individual.”
The Sumitomo Corporation Group regards CSR as working to achieve our corporate vision by staying true to the management style described in our Corporate Mission Statement, engaging in responsible corporate management, and working to fulfill our corporate mission. In other words, CSR centers on sound business activities. Specifically, every member of the organization is expected to perform their daily duties with spirit and a lofty sense of ethics, thereby putting into practice our Corporate Mission Statement.
This approach is founded on gaining an understanding of social issues by engaging in dialogue with a variety of stakeholders, and working strategically through business activities to resolve them. In doing so, we create new value and promote sustainable growth of society and the Group. We will celebrate the centennial anniversary of our founding in 2019. To ensure that we are among the first to respond to the dramatically changing business environment and continue to grow along with society for another 50 years, 100 years, and beyond, we believe it is critical that we consider what we can and should do as an organization, and then follow up by devising and implementing business strategies.
Progress and Achievements of Our CSR Efforts
One key step we took to put CSR into practice over the past year was working to deepen employees' understanding of our Corporate Mission Statement-the foundation of the Group's CSR activities. We took opportunities to further entrench this statement globally. Meanwhile, since signing the UN Global Compact in March 2009, the Sumitomo -Corporation Group has also been an active participant in a local network-the Global Compact Japan Network. In fiscal 2012, we took part in workshops on supply chain CSR and human rights. We used these opportunities to exchange views with individuals from companies in diverse industries and learn from other firms' examples and experts, working to improve upon our promotion of CSR. I serve as the Chair of Sumitomo Corporation's CSR Committee, an advisory body to the President and CEO. At the end of fiscal 2012, the CSR Committee conducted a review of CSR-related measures, and established a policy for fiscal 2013. Based on this policy, we are working to further enhance the quality of our measures to promote CSR. We have started working on a mechanism for performing self-checks of current CSR initiatives making reference to the ISO 26000 international CSR guideline, identifying priority tasks, and implementing related improvement activities.
On Annual Report 2013
Sumitomo Corporation has published a print edition of the Report on Responsibility & Sustainability up until fiscal 2012. While the report will still be available on our website, we will be integrating the print edition with our annual report from Annual Report 2013 onwards. The annual report will offer greater information, including on CSR initiatives, and provide more detailed reporting of the Group's CSR promotion as well as its social and environmental initiatives. It also introduces the CSR initiatives that each business unit is implementing through its business activities in the overview of operations section.
While continuing to pursue an involvement with CSR that is appropriate for a corporate group with global operations, the Sumitomo Corporation Group will realize its corporate vision by striving to create value that nobody else can match in ways befitting our distinctive identity.
Major CSR Promotion Activities
CSR Promotion Structure
Since establishing the Environment & CSR Department in April 2008, Sumitomo Corporation has aggressively pursued CSR in cooperation with relevant internal departments, domestic and overseas business bases, and Group companies. We have also established the CSR Committee as an advisory body to the President and CEO. The committee's activities include examining and discussing the Company's CSR frameworks and promotion measures. In addition, we set up the Global Environment Committee within the CSR Committee to promote environmental management activities based on the ISO 14001 standard, and to review and discuss relevant policies and concrete initiatives.
The CSR Committee is headed by the General Manager of the Corporate Planning & Coordination Group, and its members are General Managers from the Corporate Group. The committee meets biannually in principle. At the CSR Committee meeting in March 2013, a CSR policy for fiscal 2013 was established after reviewing the steps taken in fiscal 2012. In fiscal 2013, the policy is to use international codes of conduct pertaining to CSR, such as ISO 26000, as references for measures to further raise the quality of CSR promotion. In social contribution activities, the plan focuses on developing the next generation of human resources, setting out to bolster initiatives such as the Sumitomo Corporation Scholarship and the Sumitomo Corporation Youth Challenge Program for the Revitalization of East Japan.
Promoting a Deeper Understanding of Our Corporate Mission Statement Throughout the Group Worldwide
Training for locally hired employees
We believe ongoing value creation and widespread contributions to society through business activities start with practicing our Corporate Mission Statement. Accordingly, we take every opportunity to deepen the understanding of this statement and expand its reach throughout the Group. We include employees of all ranks, locally hired employees at overseas offices, and employees of Group companies in our various training programs to enhance awareness and penetration of the Corporate Mission Statement. We also utilize tools like e-learning and training materials developed in-house to foster greater understanding of the story behind the establishment of the Corporate Mission Statement as well as Sumitomo's Business Philosophy that is its underlying foundation. Our organizations overseas are also leading initiatives to raise employee awareness in step with advancement of our global operations. By ensuring that every Sumitomo Corporation Group employee fully grasps the -Corporate Mission Statement and puts it into practice in their daily business activities, we will demonstrate our core competence-our integrated corporate strengths-on a global scale. We also believe that sharing these values with our business partners around the world will enable us to build a more solid, sustainable business foundation.
Initiatives for the United Nations Global Compact
The Sumitomo Corporation Group has declared its support for the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact, as this international CSR-related initiative and our Corporate Mission Statement share similar values. With our participation in the Global Compact, we committed ourselves to making further improvements by constantly considering enhancements to our business activities in light of the values advocated by the 10 principles.
Additionally, we continued to participate in the activities of the Global Compact Japan Network. In the Human Rights Subcommittee, we discussed CSR practices related to human rights with corporate participants from diverse industries. Topics of discussion included perceptions of human rights issues in international codes of conduct, methods of establishing human rights policies, and ways of promoting due diligence with respect to human rights. We learned from both the knowledge of experts and examples set by leading companies.
* We also support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact are derived from.
Initiatives for Supply Chain CSR
To learn more about our supply chain CSR management, please click here.