Business Ethics Sony

Introduction of the Company

Sony Corporation is a multinational corporation established in 1946 and is headquartered in Japan. It is one of the leading manufacturers for electronics, videos, communications, video game consoles and information technology products for the consumers and professional markets. Other than this, Sony Corporation involves in financial services like insurance and banking sectors. Meanwhile, Sony is the parent company of the Sony Group which is engaged in business through few segments that makes Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. With its slogan that says; Sony. Like No Other; has made this company listed among the 20 Top Semiconductor Sales Leaders. Being one of the top sales leaders makes this company as the center of consumers’ attentions. To retain the existing customers and as to provide good deed as long as to maintain its business ethics besides mainly doing business, this company does its responsible towards the publics as their customers. Its corporate social responsibility is to pursue the enhancement of  corporate value through innovation and sound business practices. The Sony Group recognizes that its business has direct and indirect impact on the societies in which it operates. Sound business practices requires that business decisions gi.ve due to consideration to the interests of stakeholders, including shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers, business partners, communities and other organizations. The Sony Group endeavors to conduct its business accordingly. There are a few CSR activities that the Sony Group is trying to pursue in strengthening its business ethics which are among those activities are focused on product responsibility, community and environment.

Business Ethics (Corporate Social Responsibility) Product Responsibility In this CSR activity, the Sony Group is giving efforts to improve product and service quality as well as to strengthen supply chain management. Through this product responsibility, it guarantees to ensure that they improve their quality management, responsiveness and customer service as well as the usability of the product. The Sony Group is committed to improve the product and service quality from the customer’s viewpoint with the aim of maintaining and enhancing customers’ trust, confidence and satisfaction. To achieve this, Sony Group has its own philosophy and policy to give priority to provide customer oriented, high-quality products and services as an operating foundation. The co-founder of this group has came out with this philosophy to find ways to comply with or  exceed legally mandated standards n all aspects of its business activities in order to keep the customers safe and satisfied with the products and services. To strengthen this philosophy, Sony formulated the Sony pledge and Quality that rules out the company’s basic policy on product and service quality on product and service quality in electronic business. Moreover, Sony is trying to introduce new product quality improvement measures into all processes, from development, planning, design and manufacturing measures into all activities. This effort includes the measures such as establishing the position of Corporate Executive in Charge of product Quality and Safety, appointing personnel within each product and business group who are set to be responsible for quality, holding regular Quality Strategy meetings to discuss the strategies and set policies as well as formulating corporate quality standards applied to Sony’s electronic products. Not only that, Sony use two-way communication with its customer to measure its product and service quality by allowing the customers to actively provide feedback to improve its products. Customers can make complaints, give suggestions and ideas as well as file reports of  malfunctions of the products at the Customer Information Center. These complaints are further  evaluated by the responsible groups so that improvements in product quality can be achieved in a timely basis. Not only Sony allows customers to give feedback to know where the product went wrong, the group also allows the employees to corporate in improving the quality as they view it is important to detect product quality-related problems early. Thus, the group formed the Product

Quality Information Channel to collect information about product quality-related which includes the reports of problems so as opinions from Sony Group Employees. To improve its responsiveness and customer service capabilities, Sony uses the internet as the effective tool to communicate and reach to its customer. This includes FAQs section, downloads of manuals and prompts information about products and services. Furthermore, repair and service networks are provided worldwide to the customers. This is to ensure that customers get full satisfaction with the products and services.

Community.

Sony undertakes a wide variety of social giving activities to deal with the needs of communities in regions around the world where Sony carry out their business. Sony strives to have a positive impact through these activities by making effective use of its resources, namely, its technologies, products, business activities and personnel.

1. Social Contribution Activities.

Sony’s main concern is on activities in two areas: promoting education for children which are the next generation, and contributing to the building of a sustainable society. In the area of  education for children, Sony focuses on providing support for science education, and arts education in the areas of music and film, which allows Sony to use its huge entertainment resources.

As a company with worldwide operations, Sony also attempt to fulfill its responsibilities as a global business citizen by providing emergency disaster relief and by implementing different activities in association with international organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

2. Where are they? Sony’s Social Contribution Committee, located at its business headquarters in Tokyo, implements programs in agreement with Sony Group’s social contribution policies. Group companies and six Sony foundations around the world spearhead a variety of activities

designed to deal with local needs and support their employees to play an active part in their  communities.

3. For the Next Generation

The Sony Foundation for Education attempt to encourage children’s interest and creativity through science. The Foundation does this with the mission of helping children in Japan mature into individuals who are always open to challenges.

3.1 Science

Sony Science Education Program for Children has promoted science education for children continuously since its inception in 1959 as the Sony Fund for the Promotion of Science Education.

3.2 Music

Sony Music Foundation create programs every year that recommend children the prospect to enjoy performances by world-class artists. In 2006, the Foundation offered programs to coincide with the first performance in Japan of a new production of the lyric comedy Paladins

Les

by France’s well-known Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu that combines baroque opera

and modern dance.

3.3 Film and Photography

Sony Corporation donated the digital cameras used in this digital photo project for children, organized by UNICEF. The aim of this initiative was to provide children in areas distressed by the Pakistan Earthquake with a means of sharing their perspectives and fostering creativity and, in the process, to contribute to the healing process.

4. Sony Volunteer Program. Someone Needs You is a global, in-house volunteer program designed to enhance community relationships. Some of the activities are at:

1. London. The company took part in protection activities at a local park. 2. Hong Kong. Employees of six Sony Group companies in Hong Kong, including Sony

Corporation of Hong Kong Limited, assist in the “Walks for Millions—Hong Kong & Kowloon Walk” charity occasion. 3. Dubai. Sony Gulf FZE, in association with the municipality of Dubai, prepared a desert

cleanup program.

Environment

1.

Product recycling

To use limited resources effectively and respect the principle of extended producer  responsibility, Sony is promoting the collection and recycling of end-of-life products and the design of products conducive to recycling. Sony is committed to the development and efficient operation of new recycling systems harmonized to the social needs of different regions and countries.

2. Sony’s Recycling Philosophy

To ensure the effective use of resources, Sony strives continuously to improve resource productivity through enhancement of its business processes. Sony also acknowledges the importance of recycling end-of-life products and extracting resources for reuse. As a manufacturer, Sony recognizes its responsibility for ensuring the appropriate disposal of end-oflife products and complying with applicable national and regional laws and regulations. Sony harmonizes its collection and recycling programs accordingly around the world in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including the Home Appliance Recycling Law in Japan, the EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (the WEEE Directive) in Europe and

the Electronic Waste Recycling Act in the state of California, as well as other U.S. state-enacted recycling laws. Sony’s Green Management 2010 plan contains two targets related to recycling. These are to continuously increase the volume of resource recovery from end-of-life products and to continuously improve its reused/recycled materials utilization ratio. There used recycled materials utilization ratio refers to the percentage of reused/recycled materials, by weight, to a product’s resource input. Accordingly, Sony strives not only to increase recycling but also to ensure the efficient use of recycled resources. To achieve these targets, Sony implements product collection programs and development and adoption of new recycling technologies. Moreover, to facilitate an increase in the volume of reused/recycled product resources, Sony promotes the incorporation of recycling considerations into product development and design. In fiscal 2006, Sony recovered 36,355 tons of resources from end-of-life products and its resource reusing/recycling ratio was approximately 3%.

3. Promoting Product Energy Saving Sony is working to reduce product energy consumption and indirect emissions of CO2 from product use by customers. Sony’s mainstay BRAVIA line of LCD televisions, which was launched in fiscal 2006, earned the five-star label under the Energy-Star labeling program of  The Energy Conservation Center, Japan, indicating the highest score on a multistage evaluation. In addition, in a ceremony held in February 2007, Sony received a Sustainable Energy Europe Award, the first consumer electronics and entertainment company to earn this prestigious prize. This award is given as part of the European Commission’s Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign. The award recognized Sony for its voluntary commitment and efforts to improve the energy efficiency of its products, as well as for its disclosure of information to consumers. As of February 2007, all Sony televisions sold in Europe had standby power  consumption below 1 watt, with 30 models achieving a standby power consumption of only 0.3 watts, below the market average.

4. Reducing the Environmental Impact of Sony Facilities Sony is making progress in reducing energy consumption and ensuring more efficient resource use at its business facilities. Their new headquarters building, completed in October 2006, utilizes a high-efficiency heating system developed and introduced jointly with a system manufacturer for industrial use, as well as making efficient use of waste energy. In addition to planning for CO2 emission reductions directly from the construction stage, Sony has worked to

reduce energy consumption since moving into the building. Consequently, they expect the building to produce 40% fewer CO2 emissions than conventional buildings.

5. Use of Renewable Energy Sony is also actively promoting the introduction of renewable energy. In Japan, Sony has used the Green Power Certification System, which Sony jointly developed with an electric power  company, since 2001 to purchase electric power generated using renewable energy sources. Initially, Sony agreed to generate 4.5 million kilowatt hours annually under the Green Power  Certification System. Since then, however, this amount has increased with the adoption of the system by other companies in the Sony Group, and in April 2007, Sony concluded a contract to purchase 10 million kilowatt hours of geothermal power, Japan’s largest Green Power  Certification System contract to date. As a consequence, Sony’s annual purchase of renewable energy using the Green Power Certification System currently amounts to 20.4 million kilowatt hours, equivalent to the reduction of approximately 11,000 tons CO2 emissions. Sony is also installing solar power generation systems at its offices in Japan and is purchasing green power  in Europe.

References 1) Website http://www.sony.com.my

2) Sony CSR Report 2009 http://www.sony.net/csr/report