CSR

Japanese companies who contribute most money to CSR

Toyo Keizai’s ranking of Japanese companies who have contributed the most financially to CSR activities (either donations or “in kind” activities) show that, unsurprisingly, those sectors which most directly impact Japanese citizen’s lives are also those who contribute the most.

Financial services

MUFG is at the top for 2021/2, up from 5th – it hasn’t contributed that much more than the previous year, rather the top 4 from last year (NTT, NTT Docomo, SoftBank and SoftBank Group) have contributed less. The next biggest contributor of Japan’s financial groupings is SMFG at 17. Mizuho is way down the rankings at #77.

The insurers also feature heavily – Nippon Life at 11, Daiichi at 21, Meiji Yasuda at 22, Tokio Marine at 28, and Sompo at 29.

Securities firms Daiwa is at #38 and Nomura at #39.

Real estate, housing, construction

Mitsui Real Estate is in second place, contributing Y8.7bn (US$64m) in 2021/2 compared to Y5.5bn the previous year. Mitsubishi Real Estate just makes it into the top 100 at 98. Daiwa House is at #37 and Obayashi the construction company is at 63.

Electronics/ICT

Sony is at #3, Canon at #20, Fujitsu at #26, Panasonic at #35, Hitachi at #40 and Mitsubishi Electric at #50.

Automotive

Honda is in 4th place, down from 1st in 2019/20. Other automotive companies in the top 50 include Mazda at #23, Nissan at #25 and Aisin at 35. There is no sign of Toyota – the likely explanation is that they do not disclose their contributions, rather than that they do not make any.

Telecommunications

Japan’s telecommunications companies are active in CSR – KDDI is in 5th place, SoftBank, SoftBank Group, NTT Docomo and NTT are all in the top 15.

Pharmaceuticals

Otsuka is at #6, Eisai at #30, Chugai at #32, Daiichi Sankyou at #56 but no sign of Astellas or Takeda.

Alcohol, beverages and tobacco

Suntory is at #7, Japan Tobacco at #10, Kirin at #13

Of course for many of these companies, their turnover is so large, even a small percentage would put them into the top 50. The only trading company, which have turnover inflated by commodities and energy trading, in the top 50 is Mitsubishi Corporation however, at #48.

Toyo Keizai has also calculated the rankings based on percentage contributed of turnover. Mazda still makes it into the Top 50, as does Mitsui Real Estate and Eisai.

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Telecoms takeover of Japan’s top CSR rankings

Comparing the top ranked Japanese companies for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Toyo Keizai’s 2022 rankings* with the 2007 rankings shows how the Japanese corporate landscape has changed. The three telecoms companies – NTT, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI – have taken over the top 3 positions. In 2007 the top 3 positions went to the heavy engineering and electronics companies Toshiba, Hitachi and Canon. Sharp, Panasonic. Fujifilm and Sony also made appearances over the years, as did automotive companies such as Denso, Toyota and Nissan.

The woes of Toshiba, Hitachi, Sharp and Nissan over the past 15 years are well documented but although Toshiba and Hitachi are in the 2022 top 50, Nissan and Sharp are at 437 and 179 respectively. Canon, Panasonic, Fujifilm and Sony are still in the top 50 along with other electronics and IT companies such as Fujitsu, NEC, Omron, Mitsubishi Electric and Seiko Epson. Denso and Toyota are all still in the top 50 along with other automotive companies such as Aisin, Bridgestone, Isuzu and Honda. Despite being tobacco or drinks companies, JTI is ranked at 7, down from #4, Suntory is at #8, one down from #7 in 2021, Asahi at 28, up from #33 and Kirin at #31, down from #10.

A Japanese trading company (shosha) has entered the top 10 for the first time. Mitsui has shot up from #64 in 2021 to #4 – all the more remarkable as it used to be seen as one of the more hardcore traditionalists of the 5 big shosha. The second highest ranked shosha is Itochu, up to #22 from #37. Sumitomo Corporation is at #40, down from #26 and Mitsubishi Corporation is at #45 up from #58. Marubeni is somewhat lagging the other shosha at #112, up from #143. Toyo Keizai singled out Mitsui’s distributed power supply project, using solar power and storage batteries for non-electrified areas of India and use of carbon offsets through a company owned forest as contributing to its high ranking.

Some of the companies whose rankings have fallen considerably include Nidec (down from 67 to 174, scoring low on environment) and Recruit, down from #62 to 172, also scoring low on environment and Ricoh, down from #47 to #217, with a lower score in HR.

*500 companies ranked by scores out of 600 for finance (300), HR (100), governance (100) and environment (100).

Top Japanese companies for CSR in UK

Only around 10% of Japanese companies in the UK mention any charitable donations in their annual reports, and yet according to Toyo Keizai, many of the largest Japanese companies in the UK top the rankings for contributions to corporate social responsibility, measured in Yen.*

Top of the ranking is Honda, which spent Y9.57bn ($87m) on contributing to society in 2019/20. Activities included a national robot contest and the Honda Eco Mileage Challenge – a competition to see how far a car can be driven on a liter of gasoline, as well as beach cleanups. CSR outside Japan is also included, such as Honda’s professional training course in South America, a Dream Riding Program for women in India and tree planting in Inner Mongolia.

Pharmaceutical companies have always been big corporate givers, unsurprisingly. Takeda is the second largest CSR donor in Japan, spending Y8.55bn (a significant increase on previous years) on the Takeda Science Foundation awards, research grants etc as well as volunteer activities. Third is NTT DoCoMo who have created a DoCoMo forest in 49 locations in Japan and provide scholarships for Asian students.

Other companies in the top 50 who also have substantial presence in the UK include Suntory, SECOM, MUFG, Canon, Panasonic, SoftBank, Sony, Aisin, Eisai, Komatsu, Nomura, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Corporation, Nissan, MS&AD, Daikin, SMFG, Mitsubishi Chemical, Fujitsu, Marubeni, Asahi Chemical, Asahi Breweries, Mitsubishi Heavy and Denso.

By contrast, the largest declared donations in money and “in kind” by Japanese companies in the UK are Toyota who donated £1.3m, Dentsu who donated £900,000 (but this might be across the global network) and Ricoh who donated £500m. None of these appear in Toyota Keizai’s rankings.

Honda of the UK donated £24,000 to charities in the UK last year as well as investing in various sustainability initiatives in education and community, safety, environment and diversity and inclusion.

Fujitsu was also a top 50 donor in the UK, along with MS Amlin (part of MS&AD), Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Interactive Entertainment, Mitsubishi Corp via its subsidiary Princes and Eisai.

As for the other big donors in Japan who don’t seem to be giving much in the UK, it’s either because they are but not reporting it, or it’s an opportunity for their employees to encourage them to contribute to UK CSR activities as well as in Japan.

*Toyo Keizai counts both direct contribution to CSR and business activities which have a social purpose.

Last updated by Pernille Rudlin at 2023-05-31.

Category: CSR