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Professor Katsuhiko Kokubu
Graduate School of BusinessAdministration, Kobe University
He assumed his current post in 2001, following an associate professorship at Osaka City University and Kobe University. His major is environmental management, environmental accounting, and CSR.
He has held positions including:
- Chairman of Research into Promoting the Development of Environmental Business / Environmental Accounting Promotion Committee funded by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
- Member of Setting Environmental Accounting Guidelines Committee by the Ministry of Environment
- Expert member of the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development Expert Working Group on Environmental Management
In 2003, he founded the Institute for Environmental Management Accounting and now serves as a director. His major publications include An Introduction to Environmental Management Accounting and Material Flow Cost Accounting.
The NTT Communications Group is taking a very proactive approach in implementing its basic CSR policy, undertaking activities in the areas of contributing to society, global environmental protection, and respecting employees.
In contributing to society, NTT Communications takes active steps towards a safer, more secure society as befits a company that is responsible for safeguarding social infrastructure. In the field of global environmental protection, the Group amply demonstrates its understanding of power-intensive business systems and has worked successfully to achieve its CO2 emission reduction targets. As a global player, NTT Communications affirms its respect for employees by taking the initiative in promoting diversity. These efforts fully justify a high evaluation. NTT Communications and its Group companies are attaching the highest importance to implementing CSR activities, and the results of these initiatives are expected to resonate widely throughout society.
The Company has undertaken its environmental protection activities based on specific targets, and looking to the future, it will no doubt be necessary to set targets and implement the PDCA cycle in relation to the Company's societal contributions and respect for employees as well. This issue is common to nearly all Japanese companies, and it is an important point in pursuing thorough CSR initiatives.
In setting the direction of its CSR efforts, NTT Communications must seek out the opinions of diverse stakeholders both within and outside the Company. Since NTT Communications is responsible for maintaining social infrastructure, its CSR activities are directly linked to the public interest, and therefore, the Group has a duty to seek out a wide range of opinions, and to establish a framework for reflecting this in formulating and carrying out its CSR plan. One suggestion would be to start with a stakeholder dialogue on the CSR Report.
Judging from the Company's environmental accounting, its efforts towards environmental protection are achieving significant economic effects. The next step would be, by making use of such information, to develop overall indices for environmental and CSR management, which will make the Group's activities even clearer. In doing so, devising several Key Performance Indicators (KPI) would increase the scope for CSR management while increasing transparency. Therefore, I would suggest making the next step by identifying important (key) activities for CSR and setting the direction, with qualitative indices also taken into account.
Finally, NTT Communications is working hard to implement CSR activities proactively throughout the whole Group. However, specific plans and the activities of the main Group companies have yet to be fully disclosed. NTT Communications has business sites scattered around the world. Promoting CSR activities in each region and location and disclosing the relevant information would further reinforce the Group's CSR management.
Communication is the very basis of CSR. I fully expect that the NTT Communications Group, a group whose business is communication, will also become a frontrunner in CSR management.
Masaki Mitsumura
Chairman,
NTT Communications Group CSR Committee Senior Executive Vice President NTT Communications Corporation
As described in this report, the NTT Communications Group's CSR activities are still in the establishment stage. We established a Basic CSR Policy in June 2006, and are working to share this basic policy widely among all Group employees. In the future, we will deepen the Group's CSR activities, including implementing CSR workshops for all Group employees and proactively exchanging opinions and information with as many stakeholders as possible at every available opportunity. Though it is not easy to understand CSR management in terms of quantitative indicators, I would like to consider the adoption of qualitative indicators to more objectively evaluate our CSR activities and also devise ways to establish, as much as possible, specific and easy-to-understand targets. We will disclose these targets widely among stakeholders and make clear the direction that the Group is moving. In addition, we will share the outcomes and make an effort to turn them into a driving force that continually advances forward the Group's CSR activities.