Working with Our Customers to Resolve Issues Together

The opinions of customers that we receive as a result of our day-to-day business activities are a valuable source of information when it comes to improving those business activities and generating ideas for new solutions. And to help spur innovation, we have established a co-creation workshop space at NEC that is being used to collaborate with customers and partners to help clarify the issues facing our customers and society. Then, we can better come up with ideas about how to address those issues.

Aiming to Resolve Social Issues as a Member of Local Communities

When it comes to resolving social issues, engaging in dialog with local governments, NPOs, and other organizations that are familiar with regional issues is imperative. In this fiscal year, we were able to deepen collaborative ties with local governments by signing a reconstruction cooperation agreement with Minamisanriku town in Miyagi Prefecture. This was an extension of the Great East Japan Earthquake reconstruction volunteer activities of the NEC Group' s “TOMONI” Project. We also co-hosted the Tokyo Sign Language College in cooperation with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tokyo Metropolitan University, a public-university corporation. At NEC, we will continue to work toward resolving social issues by focusing on the three themes of “Welfare & Diversity,” “the Environment,” and “Education, Culture, & Sports.” We will do this while promoting social contribution programs, such as our employee community volunteer program: the NEC Make-a-Difference Drive.

Improving Corporate Value via Dialogs with Shareholders and Investors

Our shareholders and investors provide valuable feedback that can lead to improvements in management, such as the ability to make rapid responses to changes in the external environment. At NEC, the Investor Relations Office, a department within the Corporate Strategy Division, focuses primarily on investor relations activities with the assistance of the president and CFO. These activities include meetings with shareholders, quarterly financial result briefings, and business briefings. The ideas gained through these dialogs are communicated to senior management and reported regularly to the Board of Directors. Moving forward, NEC will continue to actively engage in IR activities to make our dialogs with shareholders and investors even more fruitful.

Engaging in Responsible Corporate Activities with Suppliers

The need to work with suppliers to ensure responsible procurement is a common issue worldwide. Even the 2015 G7 Summit Leaders' Declaration included a reference to “Responsible Supply Chains.” At NEC, we established the NEC Group Procurement Policy based on ISO26000 guidance on social responsibility to address six priority risk categories related to procurement. They are human rights, labor, fair trade, the environment, information security, and supply responsibility. So, for example, we use our CSR-PMR* on-site assessment of human rights and occupational safety and health as a program unique to NEC. It has been conducted with suppliers since fiscal 2013. Rather than a simple one-sided audit, the program relies on engaging in mutual dialogs with suppliers.
*PMR = Process Management Review

Organizational Revitalization via Dialogs with Employees

The opinions of our employees serve as an essential gauge to indicate whether we are fostering an organizational culture that they are happy to be a part of. At NEC, we conduct a “One NEC Survey” annually to identify the factors that motivate employees as well as those that need improvement. For the fiscal 2016 Japan survey, responses were obtained from 64,825 employees, making the response rate about 83%. More than 70% of the respondents expressed positive opinions about their degree of trust in their co-workers, their desire to contribute to customers, and their loyalty to NEC. However, only 40% to 50% of the employees had positive opinions about career opportunities, evaluation systems, and work processes. NEC also holds regular labor-management council meetings in Japan and overseas to brief labor unions on management policies and hear the opinions of employees directly.

The Social Sector: Dialogs with CSR Review Forum-Japan

At NEC, annual reports and CSR reports are used to engage in dialogs with NPOs as a part of our CSR management. This includes dialogs that are based on ISO26000. They have been going on since 2011 with CSR Review Forum-Japan, an NPO that was jointly established by labor groups, consumer groups, and NGO/NPOs with the goal of building a sustainable society.

A dialog was held in 2016 that covered our new Mid-term Management Plan, issues with partnerships in creating solutions for society, privacy issues when promoting business using ICT, and CSR procurement.