To Grow with Society
- Top
- Global Policy for Social Contribution Activities
- Education Support Program in India
- The Ichimura Nature School in the Kanto Region
- The Ricoh Science Caravan
- Support Activities for People and Areas Affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake
When society is faced with various issues, corporations, which operate as a part of society, have the responsibility to address such issues in good faith. And such social issues are most likely to lead to potential market needs.
The Ricoh Group is pursuing business growth whilst simultaneously helping to support development of society. To this end, the Group needs to do more than just flexibly respond to constantly changing environments and to the needs of society. 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, we are proactively cooperating with a variety of stakeholders globally in implementing social initiatives and activities, including those aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). By involving our individual employees in these activities, we expect to help each of them increase their awareness of social issues and understand that they can contribute to solving such issues by engaging in business operations and encouraging them to take action, thereby achieving our CSR management in the true sense of the term. This is the way the Ricoh Group is working to fulfill its commitment to contributing to a sustainable future, for business, society and the Earth.
Contributing to solving social challenges
As globalization progresses, our society faces an increasing number of challenges on a global scale that are diverse in nature, traverse various aspects of society, the economy and the global environment. These issues are too intricately intertwined by multiple factors to be addressed by the public sector alone, including national governments, international organizations and the social sector. Against this background, expectations are rising for private companies that possess a wide range of global resources to contribute to solving these complicated social concerns.
As such a corporate entity, the Ricoh Group works to meet these social challenges, clarifying its stance under two principles: "contribution to resolution of social issues through business activities" and "commitment to and responsibility for social contribution."
The contribution to resolution of social issues through business activities constitutes a pillar of our "value-creating CSR," a concept promoted as our growth strategy aimed at simultaneously achieving both social contribution and corporate growth. More specifically, we intend to accurately understand factors involving global issues, and identify new business opportunities for providing effective solutions by utilizing our technology, products, services and human and other resources as well as organizing cooperation with related parties. With these efforts, we expect to tap into new markets, find new customers and drive innovation that can resolve or alleviate global concerns as part of our ongoing and future business activities.
We also place importance on commitment to and responsibility for social contribution. This represents our firm determination that we will continue social contribution activities in a steady responsible manner once we decide to commit to them, within or outside of our business functions. These activities include initiatives led by the Group and its employees as well as support to outside social non-profit organizations.
To facilitate these efforts, we offer training to help individual employees raise awareness and sensitivity toward social issues and to encourage them to take action, thereby fostering a corporate culture that can contribute to solving social challenges.
Example of Value-Creating CSR: BOP project
Aiming to develop new businesses which lead to community development in rural villages in India
While rapid economic growth is being witnessed in many emerging and developing countries, there are still considerable population groups in these nations living in severe poverty, often referred to as the BOP (Base of the Pyramid). These people are suffering from a wide range of social challenges.
In order to offer remedies to such challenges, Ricoh launched the BOP project under the concept of value-creating CSR that aims to create business and provide social resolution at the same time. The first step in this project was taken at a rural Indian village in Bihar state in 2010. Under the project, Ricoh employees were sent to stay in local communities to understand their culture and customs and to build trusting relationships with village residents. The staff then conducted interviews and surveys to accurately grasp concerns facing the area. Based on the findings obtained from this field research, Ricoh is discussing plans for sustainable business projects with local parties that can support the lives of the people living there.
Since 2011, the project has implemented a range of initiatives designed to cultivate entrepreneurship and assist start-ups, focusing on business creation and female empowerment. Going forward, we intend to develop Ricoh's own business by offering our new products and services to those local entrepreneurs so that they can expand their businesses.
