Manifesting a Corporate Conscience

Kunio NAKAMURA Vice Chairman of the Board of Councillors, Nippon Keidanren Chairman of the Board, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

I say this with a feeling of self-reproach but I feel that we do not hear the word "conscientious" used much any more these days. I believe that words such as "conscientious product" or "conscientious service" may be just about the best praise a company can receive from customers who have great trust in the products, services and conduct of the employees.

Therefore, what is first needed for a company to "manifest its conscience" is to be thoroughly customer-oriented and offer products and services of high quality and value in its core business. Related to this, providing an appropriate, quick and, most importantly, sincere response in the event of a quality problem or misconduct, which should of course never happen, is another example where the conscience of a company is in evidence. In addition, a company, being a social entity, should proactively fulfill its responsibilities and mission as a corporate citizen for the betterment of society. Along with various social action programs, I believe that the attitude of a company as a sponsor of TV programs is also very important and a concrete example of what I mean. There are so many variety and comedy shows on TV these days. It is certain that such programs are necessary, but I feel that having only such programs will surely not result in enriching humanity. I feel that sponsors need to carefully examine the contents of TV programs. This surely is another way for a company to manifest its conscience.

Nowadays, we see that many vicious crimes and acts of abuse occur where innocent children are the victims. We have also observed a string of events where the raison d'etre of a company and the morality of the management and employees have come into question. Bad manners in public places are also too much in evidence. I cannot help but feel the desolate state of Japanese people's minds when viewing such phenomena. It seems that we are losing the noble set of values and fine customs that Japanese people used to possess, such as "diligence," "patience," "earnestness," "propriety," "mutual help," "sense of public morality," the feeling that "children are a treasure of society," and the belief that "a child cements a marriage." I hope that all of the people in society will work together to somehow regain these virtues. To achieve this, I believe that companies are strongly obligated to seriously think of ways to manifest their conscience and then carry through by taking concrete action. I firmly believe that as more and more companies are judged to be conscientious, the better direction society will take.