3. Compliance Management
1997-
(1) Practicing CSR Management
- 2006
- To clearly demonstrate the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) both inside and outside the company, DENSO announced the “Declaration of Corporate Behavior” and the “Code of Conduct for Associates.” The DENSO Spirit was positioned as the foundation of CSR and was steadily integrated into business activities.
Entering the 2000s, the business environment became increasingly complex due to the worsening global environmental issues, consumers' growing emphasis on safety and comfort, and a series of corporate scandals. In response to these changes, companies began to explore new ways of conducting business, with a heightened awareness of CSR.
In DENSO VISION 2015, announced in 2004, “Corporate Behavior Trusted and Empathized by Society” was identified as one of the company’s goals. This emphasized the importance of valuing relationships with all stakeholders for sustainable growth, encapsulating the essence of CSR.
DENSO's CSR activities began organically from internal discussions while formulating the management vision. Pioneering efforts ahead of social demands, in 2005, DENSO established the “CSR Promotion Department” to spearhead these initiatives.
The company considered it crucial to integrate CSR with management policies and company initiatives rather than treating it as an isolated activity. Therefore, CSR was incorporated as a function within the corporate planning framework. DENSO's approach to CSR was characterized by proactive and voluntary activities aimed at becoming a company trusted and empathized by society, rather than viewing CSR as a passive obligation.
As a strategy, DENSO first developed a long-term CSR activity plan for the entire group. Each extensive activity item was assigned numerical targets. Similar to regular business operations, DENSO established a “CSR Management Cycle” to clearly manage progress and identify subsequent challenges.
In April 2006, DENSO announced the “Declaration of Corporate Behavior,” thereby declaring the practice of “CSR Management” to both internal and external stakeholders.
Reference：Overview of DENSO Group Declaration of Corporate Behavior
- Deep DiveInitiatives in CSR
- In 2006, DENSO designated the year as the “First Year of CSR at DENSO,” and began earnest efforts in this area. Believing that the first step in genuinely promoting CSR was to firmly establish a framework for action, DENSO started with the creation of policies, the setting of key issues, and the establishment of a promotion system, treating it with the same rigor as regular business operations.
To clearly indicate that CSR was being driven by the top management's will, DENSO established the “CSR Promotion Meeting” chaired by the president. Concurrently, at each workplace level, “CSR Leaders” were appointed in each department to plan and promote specific activities.
Subsequently, the existing Code of Conduct for Associates were revised to reflect the contents of this corporate behavior declaration. DENSO aimed to extend CSR from the corporate level to individual employees, emphasizing “the social responsibility of each employee” for concrete implementation.
The company expected employees to adopt the DENSO Spirit as the fundamental stance in practicing CSR. One of the keywords of the DENSO Spirit is “Collaboration.” While individual actions of employees were important, DENSO also emphasized expanding actions through communication and teamwork among employees.
- Deep DiveHosting the DENSO CSR Forum
- To promote CSR through “Collaboration,” DENSO placed emphasis on ensuring that initiatives were a two-way interaction between the company and its employees. To this end, the “DENSO CSR Forum” was established. This forum was held approximately every other month and served as a platform for setting themes for each major area of CSR activity. It provided information to employees while also collecting their feedback to reflect in company policies, thus facilitating bidirectional communication.
DENSO's commitment to CSR has been highly praised by external experts for its outstanding efforts on a global scale. The unique background that allows DENSO to practice such distinctive CSR includes a “culture that encourages bottom-up, field-driven initiatives” and a “culture of thorough execution once a decision is made.”