A European subsidiary of the film company Fujifilm has launched an ethical programme which its operations throughout the world are to emulate in the near future.
The programme, drawn up by managers at Fuji Photo Film’s Tilburg headquarters in the Netherlands, is based on a ‘charter for good corporate behaviour’ that Fujifilm’s head office in Tokyo is distributing to all employees worldwide.
Fujifilm companies throughout the rest of the world are expected to draft programmes similar to the Dutch version, using the Tokyo charter as their framework.
Erik Martens, senior communications manager in Tilburg, who has been responsible for devising the Dutch programme with legal adviser Steven Verhoeven, said the Tokyo charter was announced by Fuji’s Japanese president Nobuyuki Hayashi in the company magazine ‘to stir curiosity’ a week before the code was distributed.
It was then officially launched with a presentation by Hayashi to the senior management team, during which he stressed the importance of board members adopting its principles.
The Tokyo charter commits employees, among other things, to ‘make the best effort to have a good understanding of the cultures of each society in which our facilities are located’.
Martens said that the company’s staff in the Netherlands had responded positively to the programme, which states that employees should ‘never discriminate on the basis of sex, age, religion or race’ and should ‘only accept or give gifts to suppliers which may be socially acceptable with a guideline value of up to €50’. Managers in the Netherlands have also signed a declaration on business ethics which commits them to the Tokyo code.
Similar ‘local declarations’ will be displayed in various Fujifilm departments and an ethical committee, chaired by a member of the company’s board in Holland, has been established to oversee the programme’s implementation.
Martens said workshops presenting ethical case studies to middle managers will begin this year, ‘in order to create a common understanding.’