Managing CSR Across Boundaries

From the very beginning, Ricoh has been energized by combining innovative products and services with a sustainable approach to business. The company’s founder, Kiyoshi Ichimura, nurtured a unique pool of thinkers who envisioned a world where business, society, and the planet are interconnected. For Ricoh, which is present in more than 200 countries and employs more than 100,000 people, it is a major challenge to share a consistent theme and to ensure a clear message that is understood everywhere. As a group, we have a regional framework whereby we connect to the collective imagination and creativity of all our people. To support Ricoh’s goals and meet social expectations, accurately and promptly, the Ricoh Group actively introduces internationally established CSR frameworks throughout its supply chain.

To facilitate this commitment and growth, we are working to make social and environmental contributions toward the sustainable development of society. With globalization expanding and deepening in recent years, issues facing society are becoming increasingly complicated and diversified. In tandem with this social change come increasing changes in the business environment. In this situation, corporations are expected to make meaningful contributions toward overcoming multiple social issues while also creating economic value.

Ricoh was one of the first companies to become a participant to the UN Global Compact in 2002 and the first corporation in Japan to establish a dedicated Corporate Social Responsibility division in 2003, within Ricoh Europe, the CSR Office was formed in 2006. The division produced the Ricoh CSR Charter and Ricoh Code of Conduct, which was based on the principles defined in the UN Global Compact. It also incorporated the principles and philosophies of Ricoh’s founder. Currently Ricoh is reviewing the use of ISO 26000 and its operating companies in Europe are now evaluating how best to use this framework to deliver more value to all stakeholders.

Ricoh has a wide stakeholder group that is involved on a global basis. It reviews the CSR activities of its partner companies and key members of its global supply chain against international CSR frameworks and makes continuous improvements through a self-assessment process. As it pursues business growth while simultaneously helping to support the development of society, Ricoh recognizes the need to do more than just respond to constantly changing environments and to the needs of society. Ricoh believes it is necessary to work as a member of society to create new value that will facilitate sustainable social growth and to address various challenges facing society.

With this understanding, it is proactively cooperating with a variety of stakeholders globally in implementing social initiatives and activities. It proactively involves its individual employees in these activities through corporate programs and regional employee-volunteering schemes. It expects that each of these activities will increase awareness of social issues and help employees to understand how they can contribute to solving such issues by encouraging them to take action. In 2012 a Global Social Policy was launched, which covers three themes;
• Global Environment Conservation
• Community Development
• Raising the Next Generation

In its value-creating CSR activities that revolve around local communities, the Ricoh Group provides its products, services, and human resources for the purpose of contributing to the resolution of social problems in developing countries. In 2011, Ricoh launched the Education Support Program in the Medak District in Andhra Pradesh State, situated in the south of India, and has been working together with Save the Children to help improve local education conditions. Ricoh employees visited the area, where they conducted a field survey and interviewed school faculty, educational bureau staff, parents, and children, through which various issues were identified. Among the several issues listed, the study pointed out that most schools did not have any printing machines or duplicators, which meant that teachers did not have any means to print tests and teaching materials and that communities could not share information effectively.

To address this issue, Ricoh implemented a program to donate digital duplicators to local schools and educational institutions. Training is provided to children, teachers, and officials of local governments on how to use the machines for the purposes of improving the quality of classes and helping community residents to share information effectively. At the same time, with the aim of improving the educational environment in the target area, Ricoh is conducting educational activities, for instance, hosting seminars for the school management committee and organizing “children's groups.”

For the Ricoh Group to become the type of organization it envisions, not only does the Group need to realize change toward the creation of a sustainable society, but society as a whole also needs to realize such change. In 1994, Ricoh established the Comet Circle as the basis to encourage such change. The Comet Circle expresses the greater picture of its environmental-impact-reduction scheme, which includes not only the scope of the Ricoh Group as a manufacturer and sales company, but also the entire lifecycle of its products, including upstream and downstream of its business activities.

For the seventh year, Ricoh has supported the annual United Nations World Environment Day to raise awareness of its commitment to reducing its environmental impacts and to encourage positive change among employees, suppliers, and customers. Ricoh expanded its activities to 30 days, allowing employees more time to get involved and support its sustainability and biodiversity commitments. Activities planned around Europe throughout June focused upon conserving natural resources, reducing CO2 emissions, supporting biodiversity, and encouraging behavioral change. These activities fully align with Ricoh’s environmental commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by 1 percent per employee per year.

Ricoh continually reviews sustainability requirements on a people, plant, and profits basis. Ricoh takes the lead in its industry to ensure that all stakeholders are fully informed and have the opportunity to work in a collaborative way to achieve the needs of all.