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The Japanese information technology giant NEC has begun for the first time to formally assess the social and environmental performance of its suppliers.
NEC began extending its social and environmental policies into its supply chain in December 2005, creating guidelines for all suppliers on health and safety, environment, information security, fair trade and human rights.
The guidelines were published on the company's website and printed copies were sent to 600 suppliers of materials and services for the computer, mobile phone and electronic components business. However, NEC now wants to audit those companies, and during the next year it will investigate how closely the most important ones are following the guidelines.
Initially this will be done by questionnaire, and NEC will investigate further those areas where suppliers are not thought to be up to scratch. NEC, which employs more than 150,000 people and has an annual turnover of ¥4824billion ($41bn, £21.8bn), says it will work with suppliers in areas where they are not following its guidelines so as to 'build strong partnerships with suppliers to tackle issues from a long-term perspective'.
The Tokyo-based company is also collaborating with other companies on CSR issues. It belongs to a 12-member working group of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association which is producing a sector-wide CSR guide available to all companies in the industry.
'The aim is to identify priority CSR-related initiatives within the electronics industry and also to help member companies to respond to CSR-related requests from customers,' it said. NEC hopes the initiative will supplement its own supply chain work by enabling other companies to put pressure on shared suppliers.
NEC was advised to extend supply chain work last year by the International Institute for Human Organization and the Earth, a Japanese non-governmental organization that audits its social and environmental performance. The institute said NEC should take its CSR policies at headquarters into the field and have a more proactive relationship with suppliers.
Hideto Kawakita, the institute's chief executive, said that while NEC's communication of its guidelines to suppliers was an 'area of excellence', the company should now improve the scope and content of the questionnaires sent to suppliers to 'gain a more exhaustive grasp of progress in these areas'. He said it should also focus more on what small suppliers are doing.
Almost nine in ten NEC staff now believe the company has a 'strong commitment' to promoting business ethics, compared with only a third five years ago. Figures in the company's annual CSR report show that 85 per cent of employees feel NEC has a strong stance on such issues - up from 36 per cent in 2000.
NEC began extending its social and environmental policies into its supply chain in December 2005, creating guidelines for all suppliers on health and safety, environment, information security, fair trade and human rights.
The guidelines were published on the company's website and printed copies were sent to 600 suppliers of materials and services for the computer, mobile phone and electronic components business. However, NEC now wants to audit those companies, and during the next year it will investigate how closely the most important ones are following the guidelines.
Initially this will be done by questionnaire, and NEC will investigate further those areas where suppliers are not thought to be up to scratch. NEC, which employs more than 150,000 people and has an annual turnover of ¥4824billion ($41bn, £21.8bn), says it will work with suppliers in areas where they are not following its guidelines so as to 'build strong partnerships with suppliers to tackle issues from a long-term perspective'.
The Tokyo-based company is also collaborating with other companies on CSR issues. It belongs to a 12-member working group of the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association which is producing a sector-wide CSR guide available to all companies in the industry.
'The aim is to identify priority CSR-related initiatives within the electronics industry and also to help member companies to respond to CSR-related requests from customers,' it said. NEC hopes the initiative will supplement its own supply chain work by enabling other companies to put pressure on shared suppliers.
NEC was advised to extend supply chain work last year by the International Institute for Human Organization and the Earth, a Japanese non-governmental organization that audits its social and environmental performance. The institute said NEC should take its CSR policies at headquarters into the field and have a more proactive relationship with suppliers.
Hideto Kawakita, the institute's chief executive, said that while NEC's communication of its guidelines to suppliers was an 'area of excellence', the company should now improve the scope and content of the questionnaires sent to suppliers to 'gain a more exhaustive grasp of progress in these areas'. He said it should also focus more on what small suppliers are doing.
Almost nine in ten NEC staff now believe the company has a 'strong commitment' to promoting business ethics, compared with only a third five years ago. Figures in the company's annual CSR report show that 85 per cent of employees feel NEC has a strong stance on such issues - up from 36 per cent in 2000. Super Featured
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