In fiscal 2009, NTT established its NTT Group CSR Priority Activities to unite the Group behind the implementation of CSR activities. How should the NTT Group now make use of these CSR Priority Activities? What challenges do they pose? And what should the NTT Group do to gain the further trust of society?
Tokyo College of Transport Studies' Professor Hiroji Tanaka, a leading specialist in the promotion of corporate CSR activities who is also a member of the Japanese National Committee for ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility, joined Kaoru Kanazawa, NTT Senior Executive Vice President and Director in charge of CSR, and employees of Group companies to discuss these and other issues.
An age in which companies are judged as "groups"
Aiming for groupwide optimization
Tanaka: Whether you're implementing CSR as a single company or as a group, I think the most important element is your basic CSR philosophy. What is the NTT Group's thinking in this respect?
Kanazawa: The NTT Group adopted its CSR Charter in 2006, and it incorporates three key concepts. The first is that we should contribute to the resolution of environmental issues and social issues such as declining birthrate and aging population through leveraging our business strengths. The second is that we should communicate with our stakeholders, listen to them, and address their wishes and views as part of our management policy. Remember, though, that different stakeholders have different interests, and so it's important to strike the right balance. The third concept is compliance with international standards and rules. Driving the sustainable development both of society and our Group through these three concepts — hat's essentially the kind of the CSR that we seek to implement.
Tanaka: Speaking as someone who's served on the Japanese National Committee for ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility now for eight years, I feel strongly that what you just said shows that the NTT Group has a very solid understanding of the essence of CSR and international CSR trends. What is your approach to CSR management as a Group?
Kanazawa: NTT views the "group" concept as being very important, and not just from the CSR perspective. With the recent advances in information and telecommunications technology and shift to IP networks, we're seeing more and more convergence between broadcasting and communications, and between fixed line and mobile communications. As such, generating synergy as a Group is vital to expanding and improving our services. And due to increasing focus on internal controls, consolidated accounting and so forth, companies have come to be treated as groups too, and we need to earn trust as a Group from the corporate governance and compliance perspective. That's why we need to address CSR too as a Group and aim for overall optimization.
Tanaka: The NTT Group includes large companies that each have different attributes, but even so, most people see them all simply as NTT, don't they? Given this situation, you really do need, as you say, a Group philosophy and shared rules of conduct to ensure that individual companies also earn the public's trust.
Tateno: Yes, addressing customer needs and social issues that are broader than the concerns of individual companies does, I think, require actions based on a Group policy rather than each company optimizing its efforts independently.
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