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Sustainability

Management with an Emphasis on Sustainability

Stakeholder Engagement

Sustainability

Establishing Long-Term Trusting Relationships With Our Stakeholders

Based on the "At your side." spirit, Brother aims to create social value through business activities.
The foundation of this is the building of long-lasting, trustful relationships with our stakeholders that put the customers first. This is contained in the Brother Group Global Charter. All employees of the Brother Group act with this sense of value to continue to evolve Brother's management with an emphasis on sustainability.

Relationship diagram of the Brother Group and stakeholders

Customers

Brother Group Global Charter Efforts to Build Long-Term Trusting Relationships
  • Place our customers first everywhere, every time, and provide them with superior value, by quickly creating and delivering high-quality products and services
  • Quickly respond to the demands and expectations of the global marketplace
  • Take customer opinions as the starting point of our business activities and deliver products and services that meet customer needs
  • Establish quality standards and evaluation methods for products and create reliable products
  • Call the percentage of products sent back from customers for repair or return the "rate of product return and servicing," and pursue product quality improvement to reduce product defects close to zero
  • Work in proper cooperation with partners to flexibly respond to diversified business tools, markets, and changes in customers' behavior
  • Expanding business that connects with customers, including contract-based services

Please see below for details of specific initiatives

Employees

Brother Group Global Charter Efforts to Build Long-Term Trusting Relationships
  • Respect diversity, provide a working environment that enables our associates to utilize their talents and abilities to the fullest, and give them great opportunity through challenging work assignments
  • Provide our associates with fair, attractive financial rewards
  • Introduce a new human resources system to implement the Human Resource Policy of "true autonomy and effort"
  • Introduce new compensation and evaluation systems to implement the Human Resource Policy of "properly reward achievements and contributions"
  • Establish talent development mechanisms, such as manager development training and trainee programs
  • Introduce systems and implement measures to support diverse work styles, such as homeworking and childcare/elderly care leave
  • Have been conducting "Employee Awareness Surveys" since 2008 and "Employee Engagement Surveys" since FY2022

Please see below for details of specific initiatives

Improving employee engagement

In order to realize the transformation necessary to achieve the Brother Group Vision and encourage employees to take on challenges, the Brother Group has set visualizing employee engagement on a global level and improving engagement survey scores as sustainability targets for FY2024 with the aim of building relationships in which employees and the company contribute to one another's growth. In addition to an employee awareness survey that has been conducted annually since 2008, BIL conducted a new employee engagement survey in FY2022. The results of the survey revealed that about half of the employees felt "support for their growth" from the organization, with a high level of "alignment with the organization" and "sense of contribution," indicating that engagement was high overall. In addition, in FY2023 we conducted an employee engagement survey at more than 90% of our locations globally to gain an understanding of the status of employee engagement. Alongside activities to share the Global Charter, the Brother Group plans to improve engagement across the Group by implementing initiatives to enhance the quality of each employee's target setting and to promote self-directed career development, as well as by promoting a global engagement survey.

Business Partners

Brother Group Global Charter Efforts to Build Long-Term Trusting Relationships
  • Act fairly with business partners and build strong, respectful working relationships for mutual growth
  • Make the Brother Group's "Procurement Policy" and "CSR Procurement Standards" publicly available to share the group's CSR procurement concept with suppliers
  • Implement CSR Procurement Level-up Program. Continue to require suppliers to understand and comply with the RBA Code of Conduct, conduct CSR surveys, and request and monitor improvements based on survey results
  • Recognize outstanding CSR efforts by suppliers
  • Proceed with audits of Brother Group sales facilities by an RBA-approved third-party auditor and receive certification from the RBA

Please see below for details of specific initiatives

Shareholders and Investors

Brother Group Global Charter Efforts to Build Long-Term Trusting Relationships
  • Effectively utilize capital from shareholders to drive sustainable growth in corporate value and have regular, open communication
  • Provide the latest information to shareholders and investors through general meetings of shareholders and financial results briefings
  • Conduct meetings with institutional investors and securities analysts in and outside of Japan

Dialogue with shareholders and investors

The Brother Group actively engages in fair and highly transparent information disclosure, as well as constructive dialogue with capital markets throughout the year, with the aim of sustainably improving corporate value. On our website, we disclose the latest information including the Integrated Report. We also provide information for institutional investors and securities analysts in and outside of Japan through quarterly financial results briefings, small meetings, individual interviews, and other means.

Results of meetings with institutional investors and securities analysts in FY2023
Corresponding persons Number of meetings Main themes of dialogue
  • BIL Directors (internal and external), Executive Officers, General Managers, and persons in charge of IR
  • President of a Group Company
  • Institutional investors / securities analysts in Japan: 196
  • Institutional investors / securities analysists outside of Japan: 58
Total: 254
  • Brother Group Vision "At your side 2030"
  • Outline and update of the medium-term business strategy "CS B2024"
  • Capital policy / capital allocation
  • Approach to business portfolio
  • Growth strategies for each business
  • ESG efforts
  • Materiality identification process and progress
  • Overview of quarterly financial results

Opinions received through dialogues are reported at the quarterly management meetings and reviewed annually by the Board of Directors. This leads to them being reflected in our medium-term business strategy and the strengthening of our ESG disclosure.

The 132nd ordinary general meeting of shareholders

As for the general meeting of shareholders, BIL held the 132nd meeting at the hall of the Mizuho Factory, located in Nagoya City, on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, with the attendance of 135 shareholders. In addition, a live webcast (virtual general meeting) was held so that those unable to attend could view the meeting online.

At the general meeting of shareholders, we explained the following:

  • Performance in FY2023 and outlook for FY2024, and shareholder return
  • Updates on the medium-term business strategy "CS B2024"

and other matters

All items on the agenda were approved and passed as drafted by a majority of the shareholders during the deliberation.

The meeting was followed by a social gathering between shareholders and BIL executives. With approximately 60 shareholders in attendance, we were able to further deepen our dialogues with them by directly obtaining their valuable opinions on future management.

The 132nd ordinary general meeting of shareholders The 132nd ordinary general meeting of shareholders

Disclosure policy

The Brother Group has published the Brother Group Global Charter as its foundation for all Brother Group activities in the global marketplace. It proactively discloses information in a fair and highly transparent manner to build a long-lasting relationship of trust with all of its stakeholders, including customers, employees, business partners, shareholders, and local communities, and to stay environmentally responsible. The Company also strives to enhance its corporate value continuously through various communications with its stakeholders.

Disclosure Policy

Data related to shareholders and investors

Financial results briefing Held four times a year
Medium-term report (only in Japanese) Issued twice a year
(The full-year newsletter is integrated with the convocation notice of a general shareholders' meeting, and the second-quarter newsletter is published only in Japanese.)
FTSE4Good Index Series Included since June 2020
FTSE Blossom Japan Index Included since June 2020
FTSE Blossom Japan Sector Relative Index Included since March 2022
MSCI Nihonkabu ESG Select Leaders Index Included since June 2023
MSCI Japan Empowering Women (WIN) Select Index Included since November 2019
Morningstar Japan ex-REIT Gender Diversity Tilt Index Included since 2022
S&P/JPX Carbon Efficient Index Included since 2018
The SOMPO Sustainability Index Selected since 2012
Health & Productivity Stock Selection Program Recognized in 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2024
Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organization Certified since 2017

Local Community

Brother Group Global Charter Efforts to Build Long-Term Trusting Relationships
  • Share our social, economic and cultural resources in all the communities where the Brother Group operates
  • Globally promote social contribution activities with a sense of unity, especially focusing on eco-conscious activities and activities involving "communities" and "personal development (including employees)"
  • Support recovery from large-scale disasters and pandemic response

Please see below for details of specific initiatives

Environment

Brother Group Global Charter Efforts to Build Long-Term Trusting Relationships
  • Help society achieve sustainable development, by positively and continuously considering the environmental impact of all aspects of our business operations
  • Create eco-conscious products
  • Recover and recycle consumables and products
  • Promote CO2 emissions and waste reduction
  • Properly manage chemicals and discharged water
  • Implement environmental communication

Please see below for details of specific initiatives

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