CSR at the Asahi Kasei Group
The Asahi Kasei heritage for CSR
The corporate philosophy adopted at our founding in 1931 was supporting the advancement of general living standards with low-price, large-volume supply of high-quality materials for daily necessities. The initial business portfolio centered on manmade fibers and basic chemicals was expanded over the decades to include petrochemicals, electronic parts and materials, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and housing and construction materials.
In 2001 the company name was changed from Asahi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. to Asahi Kasei Corporation, and “We the Asahi Kasei Group, through constant innovation and advances based in science and the human intellect, will contribute to human life and human livelihood” was adopted as our basic tenets. These basic tenets are at the heart of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the Asahi Kasei Group.
Taketsugu Fujiwara, President
Environmentally and socially responsible business operations
We have worked to heighten our performance with respect to CSR-related issues for several years. We began implementing our Responsible Care environmental management system in 1995 and established our Corporate Ethics Committee in 1998. The CSR Council, chaired by the President of Asahi Kasei, adopted the CSR Fundamentals of Compliance, Respect for Employee Individuality, Responsible Care, and Corporate Citizenship as part of our framework for CSR throughout the Asahi Kasei Group.
Tasks ahead
Our Growth Action - 2010 strategic business plan involves the expansion of overseas operations. We are gaining more international stakeholders as we increase the number of overseas production bases and foreign personnel, especially in Asia, requiring greater knowledge and awareness of local business standards and practices as we effect the sustainable growth of operations. The CSR Council will guide the advance of our CSR Fundamentals throughout our expanding global operations.
