Hakuhodo Products Inc.
[Survey on Corporate Sustainability Communication] More than 50% of Sustainability Promotion Focused on “Comprehensive Communication” The key is how to involve customers and encourage their actions
Hakuhodo Products Inc. (head office: Koto-ku, Tokyo; President: Naohiko Kishi; hereinafter referred to as Hakuhodo Products), a comprehensive production company, conducted a survey on corporate sustainability communication targeting people with experience in sustainability work.
[Survey Topics]
More than 80% of employees have implemented measures to promote “recognition and understanding” of sustainability promotion. 64.0% of respondents answered that their sustainability-related budget for the last three years had increased.
The top 3 internal issues are: 1st “Insufficient measurement of the effects of initiatives (35.8%)”, 2nd “Initiatives do not lead to business growth (35.5%)”, and 3rd “Insufficient internal know-how (34.1%)”.
The top 3 external issues are: 1st “communication measures are inconsistent (33.6%)”, 2nd “does not lead to securing human resources (30.8%)”, 3rd “cannot get support for actions involving customers (28.5%)” ”
Top 3 things to focus on in order to make internal communication more attractive and effective are “promoting behavior by management (40.7%)”, “promoting behavior by general employees (36.5%)”, and “general employees”. (36.5%)”, and “promotion of action” is emphasized widely from management to general employees.
More than half of the listed companies answered that what is necessary to make external communication more attractive and effective is “communication through mechanisms and experiences that make customers want to participate.”
More than half of the companies responded that the measures they would like to focus on in the future are “formulation of a comprehensive sustainability communication plan.”
The United Nations has designated the period up to 2030 as the “Decade of Action” toward achieving the SDGs, and the role of companies in sustainability is attracting attention. As more and more companies set up a Sustainability Promotion Office at the core of their management and promote transformation to a sustainable business model, there are many problems in reporting and communication, the final stage of the five steps advocated by the SDG Compass. It became clear. In this survey, we found that sustainability has become an essential initiative for both listed and unlisted companies, and we can see a trend toward further activation in the future. However, at the same time, it became clear that the communication measures were
inconsistent, the support for actions involving customers could not be obtained, and sustainability initiatives did not lead to “business growth” or “capture of human resources”. . In order to make
sustainability communication more attractive and effective, it is necessary not only to draw and communicate a company’s growth story from a multi-stakeholder perspective, but also to create synergies through comprehensive communication and strengthen communication through exchange and collaboration with NGOs. seems to be requested. In promoting sustainability in the future, it will be important not only to formulate visions, purposes, and goals, but also to design communication through mechanisms and experiences that make customers want to participate. See below for detailed survey results.
[Table 2: https://prtimes.jp/data/corp/66685/table/86_1_74cd69ef568ea75ce23d792c8fddd23e.jpg ]
[Details of survey results] ◆ Stakeholders that are important (n=425) The main ones are “customers (client companies)” (27.3%), “investors” (20.0%), and “customers (consumers)” (15.1%). , “employees (regular employees)” (9.6%). Responses to suppliers, local communities, students, non-profit organizations, etc. have also increased, and awareness of multi-stakeholders has become apparent for both listed and unlisted companies.
[Image 1: https://prtimes.jp/i/66685/86/resize/d66685-86-05dbc55e48a535962c08-0.jpg&s3=66685-86-43a6e6d7a4863bf1fbc5c711bb0964e4-1984×1559.jpg] Implementation status of sustainability promotion (n=425) The implementation rate summarized for each of the 5 steps advocated by the SDG Compass is 82.6% for “recognition/understanding”, 61.4% for “identifying priority issues”, and 61.4% for “setting goals”. 45.2%, 47.1% for “integration into management” and 57.2% for “reporting and communication”. The implementation rate of “recognition/understanding” exceeds 80%, and many companies are able to implement it. In addition, they tend to actively implement “reporting and communication” rather than “goal setting” and “integration into management.”
[Image 2: https://prtimes.jp/i/66685/86/resize/d66685-86-cf25cced8ca928719be0-1.jpg&s3=66685-86-2b9469f2efb766c58b2f2e18003d28af-1984×1559.jpg] ◆Budget trends (n=425) 64.0% of respondents answered that their sustainability-related budgets for the last three years had increased. By industry, the “service industry” and by stakeholder, “those who place importance on investors” tend to increase their budgets.
[Image 3: https://prtimes.jp/i/66685/86/resize/d66685-86-37eb62e4d0401e31caa6-2.jpg&s3=66685-86-31992d2a95faf55f94d7fbbc51a847c6-1984×1559.jpg] ◆ Satisfaction level (n = based on the implementer of each measure) The measures that are perceived as issues are 1st “KPI setting (23.8%)” and 2nd “development of internal and external integrated communication (17.9%)”. In addition, those who implement comprehensive sustainability communication are generally more satisfied than those who do not, and are particularly satisfied with “KPI setting,” “purpose/vision formulation,” and “communication of information both inside and outside the company.” It was found that the results of the efforts could be realized by implementing the integrated communication plan with a score of 35 points or more.
[Image 4: https://prtimes.jp/i/66685/86/resize/d66685-86-8650b4d8f239d99640c4-11.jpg&s3=66685-86-e988fa4adb221c558daa08e0db689e0e-3900×3507.jpg]
[Image 5: https://prtimes.jp/i/66685/86/resize/d66685-86-e977c95c65533346c863-4.jpg&s3=66685-86-5af2b5cb608aaccc404c0c3b8f222739-1984×850.jpg] Internal issues (n=425) The top 3 internal issues are: 1st
“Insufficient measurement of the effects of initiatives (35.8%)”, 2nd “Initiatives do not lead to business growth (35.5%)”, 3rd “Internal know-how” (34.1%)”. The most important internal issue was that “efforts do not lead to business growth (13.2%),” indicating that integration into business is a major issue. In addition, people who belong to departments specializing in sustainability tend to feel more strongly about internal issues than people who promote sustainability in other departments.
[Image 6: https://prtimes.jp/i/66685/86/resize/d66685-86-6d5a01d00d7ce0d4df8c-5.jpg&s3=66685-86-d8b724727bd1fd5369d541a13504c620-1982×1660.jpg] ◆External issues (n=425) The top 3 external issues are: 1st “Disparate communication measures (33.6%)”, 2nd “doesn’t lead to securing human resources (30.8%)”, 3rd “support for actions involving customers” (28.5%)”. Since various departments are involved in implementing sustainability promotion measures separately within the company, it is thought that the attractiveness of the initiative cannot be
sufficiently conveyed as a story, creating a situation that does not lead to actions involving customers and securing human resources.
[Image 7: https://prtimes.jp/i/66685/86/resize/d66685-86-20fdd659c2a63528b295-6.jpg&s3=66685-86-bdcda484379f528eca91a3ea3be3038b-1985×1699.jpg] ◆ Points to make internal communication more attractive and effective (n=351) Top 3 things to focus on to make internal communication more attractive and effective ”(40.7%), ”Promotion of behavior of general employees” (36.5%), ”Promoting recognition and understanding of general employees” (36.5%). strong intention. Listed companies also show a willingness to work on “promotion of utilization and practice in business” (37.2%).
[Image 8: https://prtimes.jp/i/66685/86/resize/d66685-86-539015bfd50a279d29f8-7.jpg&s3=66685-86-8b9b9608335d8124458ea57be906acc6-1988×1443.jpg] ◆ Points to make external communication more attractive and effective (n=121) Top 3 things listed companies want to emphasize in order to make sustainability communication more attractive and effective “Communication through mechanisms and experiences that make customers want to participate (50.4%)”, 2nd place “Creating synergies through comprehensive communication (46.3%)”, “Telling a growth story that connects social issues and corporate value (46.3%)” ),” “Clarify and communicate high-priority social issues (46.3%),” and “Communicate through interaction and collaboration with NGOs (46.3%).”
[Image 9: https://prtimes.jp/i/66685/86/resize/d66685-86-aeaadf133d549a6035d8-8.jpg&s3=66685-86-50a17f7fee05323ef9437de9fc89d3db-1987×1514.jpg] ◆Future focus measures (n=425) Top 3: 1st place: “Formulation of a comprehensive sustainability communication plan (50.8%)”, “In-house training (25.2%)”, “E-learning (22.1%)”. More than half of the companies responded that they would like to focus on “developing a comprehensive sustainability communication plan” in the future. We can see the intention of the person in charge of the company who wants to lead to business growth and talent acquisition by integrating the communication that is currently carried out separately.
[Image 10: https://prtimes.jp/i/66685/86/resize/d66685-86-8645fb260800420a5162-9.jpg&s3=66685-86-dab6446789f9a79759ce1a33ec398fde-1987×1841.jpg ]
* Company names and product names mentioned in the text are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. * This information is current as of the date of announcement. Please note that it may be different from the search date. * When citing or reprinting data from this survey, please be sure to include the following credits. Source notation: Hakuhodo Products “Survey on Corporate Sustainable Communication” May 2023 * A detailed report of this survey is also available. Please feel free to contact us. Details about this release:
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