Brother Group's CSR

CSR Targets of the Brother Group

Establishing Long-term Trusting Relationships with Our Stakeholders

The goal of Brother is to carry out management that will create social value through business activities with the "At your side." To achieve this, as stated in the Brother Group Global Charter, we will develop long-term trust relationships with our customers and other stakeholders by further developing our business and fulfilling social responsibilities. All employees of the Brother Group act with this sense of value to continue to evolve Brother's CSR management.

Efforts to build long-term trusting relationships with respective stakeholders

Stakeholders Brother Group Global Charter Efforts
Customers
  • Place our customers first everywhere, every time, and provide them with superior value, by quickly creating and delivering high-quality products and services
  • Quickly respond to the demands and expectations of the global marketplace
  • Take customer opinions as the starting point of our business activities and deliver products and services that meet customer needs
  • Establish quality standards and evaluation methods for products and create reliable products
  • Call the percentage of products sent back from customers for repair or return the "rate of product return and servicing," and pursue product quality improvement to reduce product defects close to zero
  • Work in proper cooperation with partners to flexibly respond to diversified business tools, markets, and changes in customers' behavior
Employees
  • Respect diversity, provide a working environment that enables our associates to utilize their talents and abilities to the fullest, and give them great opportunity through challenging work assignments
  • Provide our associates with fair, attractive financial rewards
  • Build systems and environments in which diverse human resources can demonstrate their abilities
  • Support employees with disabilities by selecting "work and life consultants," who provide advice and other assistance for employees with disabilities, from among employees in respective factories
  • Establish various systems, including homeworking and family-care leave systems, to support the work-life balance of employees
  • Institute a target management system to provide fair evaluation and compensation
  • Establish talent development systems, such as manager development and trainee programs
  • Conduct an employee awareness survey annually to grasp and improve conditions, mainly to ensure employees are working energetically
Business partners
  • Act fairly with business partners and build strong, respectful working relationships for mutual growth
  • Make the Brother Group's "Procurement Policy" and "CSR Procurement Standards" publicly available to share the group's CSR procurement concept with suppliers
  • Conduct CSR questionnaires with suppliers and make improvement requests and on-site inspections based on the results of the questionnaires
  • Recognize outstanding CSR efforts by suppliers
Shareholders
  • Effectively utilize capital from shareholders to drive sustainable growth in corporate value and have regular, open communication
  • Provide the latest information to shareholders and investors through general meetings of shareholders and financial results briefings
Local communities
  • Share our social, economic and cultural resources in all the communities where the Brother Group operates
  • Globally promote social contribution activities with a sense of unity, especially focusing on eco-conscious activities and activities involving "communities" and "personal development (including employees)"
  • Contribute to society through activities autonomously conducted by the group facilities in a way tailored to their local communities
  • Provide support for large-scale disasters
Environment
  • Help society achieve sustainable development, by positively and continuously considering the environmental impact of all aspects of our business operations
  • Create eco-conscious products
  • Recover and recycle consumables and products
  • Promote CO2 emissions and waste reduction
  • Properly manage chemicals and discharged water
  • Implement environmental communication
Governance
  • Respect the culture, rules and spirit of laws, in all countries and regions where the Brother Group operates
  • Act with the highest integrity
  • Expect our associates to be positive members of society
  • Establish and strengthen governance in line with the "Brother Group Basic Policies on Corporate Governance"
  • Conduct self-assessments by respective facilities and audits by the internal audit department to check the effectiveness of internal control
  • Put the Compliance Committee and consultation centers in place and offer employees training to prevent the occurrence or reoccurrence of misconduct and enable early response to it
  • Establish a framework for information management by setting up the Group Information Management Regulation, which is compliant with the Information Security Management System (ISMS)

Promoting Initiatives Towards Resolving Social Challenges

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030, adopted by the United Nations in 2015, has set seventeen goals to realize a sustainable world and has requested corporations to take some actions as well.

The Brother Group focuses particularly on the following priorities selected from among many social issues.

  • Seek to provide innovative products and services that make our customers happy
  • Undertaking continuous efforts in environmental conservation
  • Continuously promote social contribution activities
  • Enhance collaboration with business partners on ways to address social demands quickly

The SDGs related to the priorities of the Brother Group and the group's initiatives

Priority Seek to provide innovative products and services that make our customers happy
Goal 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
3 GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Initiative
  • Deliver products and services that can ensure people's healthy lives and promote well-being
Goal 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
8 DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
Initiative
  • Deliver products and services that lead to improvement of customer productivity and reduction of simple work
  • Deliver products and services that can contribute to the employment of people with disabilities, the fields of medical and welfare
Goal 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
9 INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Initiative
  • Create new businesses that will solve social problems
Priority Undertaking continuous efforts in environmental conservation
Goal 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
7 AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
Initiative
  • Provide products and services that support eco-friendly systems for creating, storing, and utilizing electricity and heat with zero CO2 emissions
Goal 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
12 RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
Initiative
  • Promote resource circulation in the value chain
  • Evaluate water risks at business sites and promote water saving and water recycling
Goal 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
13 CLIMATE ACTION
Initiative
  • Promote/implement energy-saving activities (including energy generation) and reduce the use of lubricant agents containing greenhouse gases
  • Reinforce eco-conscious design of products
Goal 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss
15 LIFE ON LAND
Initiative
  • Identify the impact of business operations on biodiversity
  • Build a system to consider biodiversity
  • Promote activities to restore/conserve the ecosystem
Priority Continuously promote social contribution activities
Goal 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
3 GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Initiative
  • Conduct projects, such as the Golden Ring Project for cancer patients
Goal 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
4 QUALITY EDUCATION
Initiative
  • Further promote educational support for local communities
  • Provide educational support for people with disabilities
Goal 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
11 SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
Initiative
  • Provide reconstruction support to affected areas
Priority Enhance collaboration with business partners on ways to address social demands quickly
Goal 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
8 DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
Initiative
  • Strengthen CSR in the supply chain using the RBA* know-how
  • It stands for the Responsible Business Alliance, an international organization dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility.
Goal 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
12 RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
Initiative
  • Comply with the laws and regulations of each country and region, and build a stronger chemical security system throughout the group

Participation in External Initiatives in accordance with the Brother Group Principles

To realize the sustainable society discussed in the "Brother Group Principles of Social Responsibility", Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL) participates in external initiatives to enhance its CSR activities which will win the confidence of our stakeholders.

United Nations Global Compact

The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is a voluntary initiative by businesses and organizations which was proposed by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1999 and launched in 2000 to actualize sustainable growth.

UN Global Compact Logo

In February 2020, BIL showed its support for the initiative and the president and representative director signed the agreement to participate in UNGC. Through compliance with the UNGC's 10 principles focusing on four different areas: human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, all the respective Brother Group employees will continue to maintain high awareness of social issues and to pursue activities to become a company that contributes to sustainable development of society further.

The 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact

Human Rights Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
Labour Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and
Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Environment Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
Anti-corruption Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

Responsible Business Alliance

The Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) is an international industry organization that promotes corporate social responsibility through establishment of sustainable supply chains. BIL joined RBA in January 2019.

The RBA Code of Conducts sets out standards to ensure that working conditions are safe, that workers are treated with respect and dignity, and that business operations are conducted environmentally responsibly and ethically. The organization requests its members to pursue compliance with the respective standards through their management systems.
As a member of the RBA, BIL, will monitor manufacturing processes of the entire group from global perspectives and propel activities to establish sustainable supply chains further to become a company trusted by all the stakeholders.

The RBA Code of Conduct Version 6.0 (2018)

A. LABOR
  1. Freely Chosen Employment
  2. Young Workers
  3. Working Hours
  4. Wages and Benefits
  5. Humane Treatment
  6. Non-Discrimination
  7. Freedom of Association
B. HEALTH and SAFETY
  1. Occupational Safety
  2. Emergency Preparedness
  3. Occupational Injury and Illness
  4. Industrial Hygiene
  5. Physically Demanding Work
  6. Machine Safeguarding
  7. Sanitation, Food, and Housing
  8. Health and Safety Communication
C. ENVIRONMENTAL
  1. Environmental Permits and Reporting
  2. Pollution Prevention and Resource Reduction
  3. Hazardous Substances
  4. Solid Waste
  5. Air Emissions
  6. Materials Restrictions
  7. Water Management
  8. Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
D. ETHICS
  1. Business Integrity
  2. No Improper Advantage
  3. Disclosure of Information
  4. Intellectual Property
  5. Fair Business, Advertising and Competition
  6. Protection of Identity and Non-Retaliation
  7. Responsible Sourcing of Minerals
  8. Privacy
E. MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
  1. Company Commitment
  2. Management Accountability and Responsibility
  3. Legal and Customer Requirements
  4. Risk Assessment and Risk Management
  5. Improvement Objectives
  6. Training
  7. Communication
  8. Worker Feedback, Participation and Grievance
  9. Audits and Assessments
  10. Corrective Action Process
  11. Documentation and Records
  12. Supplier Responsibility

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