Stakeholder Dialogue in FY2019

Recent Activities

Dialogue on SDGs

In July 2019, KDDI invited Ms. Ayako Sonoda, President of Cre-en Inc., to the company's headquarters and held a stakeholder dialog session for the President and executive officers from the Deputy General Manager level up on the theme of "what role KDDI is expected to play in the drive towards a sustainable society." KDDI's new Medium-Term Management Plan for fiscal 2019-2021 released in May 2019 [1] sets out the company's vision, to which a new, third, point―"contributing to the sustainable growth of society"―has been added. The company also presented an overview of KDDI's target SDGs [2] alongside the Management Plan. This dialog session was held with the aim of exploring how KDDI can achieve its target SDGs.

Participants

Participating expert:

Ayako Sonoda, President, Cre-en Inc.

KDDI participants:

106 executive officers at the Deputy General Manager level and above, including:
Makoto Takahashi, President, Representative Director
Yoshiaki Uchida, Executive Vice President, Representative Director
Takashi Shoji, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Director
Shinichi Muramoto, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Director
Keiichi Mori, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Director
Kei Morita, Managing Executive Officer, Director
Toshitake Amamiya, Managing Executive Officer, Director

What role KDDI is expected to play in the drive towards a sustainable society

KDDI: The KDDI Group has always been engaged in various activities to promote sustainability with the aim of fulfilling its stated mission of "achieving a truly connected society", but the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) means that we are now expected more than ever to link our core business activities (i.e., providing products and services) to solutions to the challenges our society faces. With this trend in mind, the company vision presented in the new Medium-term Management Plan for fiscal 2019-2021 released in May 2019 includes a third point, "contributing to the sustainable growth of society." We have also published an overview of KDDI's target SDGs, distilled from goals set by each of our business divisions and sectors as well as the KDDI Foundation.

Sonoda: Since their adoption in September 2015, the SDGs have been embraced across the world. The interest among citizens (customers) in the global goals is also increasing rapidly in Japan. This is particularly the case with children now that the SDGs are included in the official curriculum guidelines; the next generation of world citizens are growing up with the concept of SDGs instilled in them as part of their daily life. Soon we will have new recruits joining companies with a full awareness of the SDGs, and perhaps they will even use companies' commitment to the SDGs as criteria for choosing which company to work for.
Many companies are increasingly seeing SDGs as a driver of growth, regarding the innovations required to solve social and environmental challenges as new business opportunities. The leaders of many companies consider commitment to the SDGs an essential requirement, and this is accelerating SDG-related initiatives as part of business activities. Companies not working on the SDGs risk being left behind.

KDDI: We presented KDDI's target SDGs in May 2019 and have been working to achieve these targets. What roles are we expected to play in this area?

Sonoda: Businesses of tomorrow are expected to play their part in bringing about social innovations. They must innovate to provide products and services that solve the challenges our society is facing. At the same time, they need to minimize their negative impact on the society. In other words, what businesses are required to do is to aim for "integrated management", where value creation through solving social challenges by making use of their business strength and continuous improvement of their own corporate value are achieved at the same time. The KDDI Group too should be leading social innovations as "a company that contributes to the sustainable growth of society", working to achieve the SDGs in areas such as the inclusion of marginalized people, continuous development of the economy and society, and operating in harmony with the environment.

Understanding KDDI's unique strengths that contribute to the SDGs

As part of this initiative, KDDI held a workshop on the topic of "understanding KDDI's unique strengths that contribute to the SDGs." During the workshop, group discussions took place on themes such as "which goals could we achieve using KDDI's unique strengths?" and "unique ideas for SDG initiatives that reflect KDDI's company culture." Many ideas were offered and lively exchanges took place.
Comments from participating officers in the workshop include: "the event confirmed to me that KDDI has been and will continue to be a corporate member of the society that makes positive contributions"; and "SDGs workshops should also be held for younger employees and mid-career staff."