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 Speech by BIL President Koike |
On July 30, 2009, the first Global CSR & Brand Strategy Conference was held at the head office of Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL).
As a guiding principle of the global business strategy, Brother has been promoting global CSR with an aim to establish "Brother" as a global "trustworthy brand". The conference was launched to enable the top management of group companies to review the progress of Brother's CSR activities and develop future plans. The conference was attended by BIL President Koike (chairman of the conference), BIL executive officers, as well as presidents of regional sales headquarters (Americas, Europe, Asia/Oceania, and China), Brother Sales, Ltd., and XING Inc.
 Global CSR & Brand Strategy Conference |
The conference kicked off with reports from presidents of regional sales headquarters and other members about CSR activities and Brother Group Global Charter sharing activities in respective regions. After these presentations, all the participants discussed ways to ensure consistent CSR efforts at all the group companies from the viewpoint of stakeholders and to enhance the penetration of the Global Charter, which is the guiding principle of activities for all group employees and the basis of CSR management. Major topics included:
- Intensify environmental measures and social contribution activities in a consistent manner
- Strengthening brand management and web governance
- Promoting global web strategy
- Developing global human resources
- Enhance the further penetration of the Global Charter
- Stepping up efforts to inform the public about Brother's CSR and environmental activities
The measures adopted at this conference will be immediately taken, and consistent CSR activities will be promoted worldwide. Specifically, the top management will continue to send messages via the intranet, while implementing their commitments to raise awareness of the Global Charter, taking the initiative and setting an example. Efforts also include developing Brother eco point activities*1 on a global scale, upgrading rules for brand management and web governance, and conducting surveys. The second Global CSR & Brand Conference is scheduled for January 2010.
*1 Brother eco point program: The points are used by BIL to undertake activities for contributing to environmental conservation.
CSR Meetings in Thailand to promote CSR management
Sharing best practices in group discussions
 Report on CSR activities implemented from an action plan |
Over the two days of February 16 and 17, 2009, the 2nd Asia Pacific CSR Meetings was held in Brother Commercial (Thailand), hosted by Brother International Corporation (BICJ) in charge of sales operations for Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. About 15 CSR promoters from BICJ and sales facilities from seven countries (Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand) attended the meeting.
 Group discussion for sharing best practices |
At the 1st meeting held in Japan in March 2007, action plans were drafted for each region, e.g., improving customer satisfaction by organizing customer information, improving employee satisfaction through trainings, environmental awareness activities for all employees including management, etc to partake in. At this 2nd meeting, CSR promoters from sales facilities respectively made a report on implemented activities based on the action plans. Also, group discussions were held to share best practices of each company on the four themes of "consumables recycling," "mangrove planting project," "CSR and brand," and "cooperation with NPOs and NGOs." One example of those practices came from Brother International New Zealand, which recounted their efforts to build a consumable recycle system in cooperation with collection/recycle operators.
Promoting CSR management around the world
In Asia, Oceania and the Middle East, various activities have been undertaken in order to increase employee satisfaction, such as to upgrade personnel training program, and year after year those activities yield results. Moreover, employees have already been well aware of environmental problems that they face, and had a strong interest on correlation between CSR activities and brand value improvement. So that it is considered that the groundwork has already been prepared for promoting CSR.
To enrich CSR activities furthermore, employees will be encouraged to take part more in activities through stronger efforts to share the principles set forth in the Brother Group Global Charter. Plans are to hold these meetings periodically in the future so as to promote and cooperate in the CSR activities of Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.
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From participants in the CSR meeting We came out highly motivated |
Brother Commercial (Thailand) Ltd. Phurit Sittiskuldech |
| Brother Commercial (Thailand) Ltd. develops a number of CSR activities, e.g., a biodiversity program, a tree-planting program and a program for providing educational opportunities to local children, and is also looking into implementing ink cartridge recycling. I manage CSR activities like these as a CSR team leader. This CSR meeting, in which I participated with other team members, gave us some clues for innovations, and highly motivated us. We will work together with all our stakeholders, with a strong emphasis on "respect," "fairness," "consistency" and "responsibility." |
A foundation for every activity: Penetration of the Brother Group Global Charter
Developing constructive activities for a common understanding of the Global Charter amongst the entire global workforce
 Explanatory meeting on the G-Charter (USA) |
The Brother Group Global Charter (G-Charter) sets forth the basic policy and code of conduct on decisions and actions that each group company and employee takes in daily operations. Aimed at having been shared these principles as the foundation of all activities of the Brother employees by the year 2010, promotional activities of G-Charter are in progress.
 Pocket-size version of the G-Charter and posters |
As the first step to building an environment in which the entire global workforce can share a common understanding of the G-Charter revised in April 2008, a portable pocket-size version of the G-Charter (in 26 languages) and promotional posters were distributed to business sites around the world. Moreover, on the group's intranet the purpose, and explanations of the revisions, thoughts from management and other related information were repeatedly posted, and also presented practices of different organizations and examples from other companies so that employees could get concrete ideas on how to transform the G-Charter into "action" of their own.
 Explanatory meeting on the G-Charter (China) |
Furthermore, in FY2008, trainings for management at group companies in Japan, China, Malaysia, Vietnam and the USA have been implemented actively. In the more than 100 sessions, some 3,000 employees gained a deeper understanding of "decision-making and judgment based on the G-Charter". After the training, participants made commitments to take actions based on the G-Charter, and some of which were posted on the group intranet.
Awareness was broadly promoted with employees alongside management. Some 300 employees mainly in Japan and China were appointed G-Charter Leaders to kick-start autonomous, long-term activities tailored to the circumstances of each organization. Also, in new employee training for about 240 hirees, the contents of the G-Charter were explained to foment better understanding and example efforts were introduced to make them think about the "connections between customers, employees and local communities," and search for ways to grow as members of society.
G-Charter DVD with familiar examples
 Image from DVD about the G-Charter |
A DVD about the G-Charter was created for employees who could not partake in training. While showing how Brother employees are working around the world, this DVD explains how the G-Charter relates to the various stakeholders and daily operations in an easy-to-understand manner. For use around the world, it was produced in English, Chinese and Japanese in 2008, and subsequently added Vietnamese and Malaysian versions in 2009.
Plans for FY2009 are to promote follow-ups of activities conducted by G-Charter Leaders. Moreover, in order to increase opportunities for training, it is planned to develop in-house trainers that can autonomously plan and implement training at key business sites inside and outside of Japan. Furthermore, studies are underway to improve training tools such as compilations of examples, Q&A and so forth, as well as to upgrade the intranet, and organize showings of the DVD.
