Corporate Sustainability

Group assignment on SONY Corporation

Trimester 4
2020-2021

Submitted by:
Team 8, Div E

Name SAP ID Roll No.

Aiyush Bahl 80101190092 E008
Anish Dalmia 80101190183 E018
Parshotam Jagwani 80101190292 E028
Rohit Lala 80101190402 E038
Ayuesh Raj 80101190564 E048
Khush Singhvi 80101190698 E058

Submitted to:
Dr. Meena Galliara

“We, the members of the Group Project, certify that the submitted written report is the original
work of our team and all the analysis and reporting text is entirely our own. Facts, figures and
other relevant information drawn from sources, where required, is duly acknowledged”.
Question 1(a): What were the sustainability goals of the company? How were these
goals attained by the company in 2019? In other words, what did the company do to
attain social, environmental and economic sustainability
Ans: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), an outcome of the Millennium
Development Goals, were established with an intent to a realize a better international
community. They comprise 169 targets and 17 goals relating to poverty, education etc.
Sony believes in “getting closer to people” and “filling the world with emotions, through the
power of creativity and technology”. So while their Sony’s core business strategy is to create
innovative products, content and services while also delivering world class customer service
experience, their sustainability strategy is based mainly on creating and delivering emotions
to the people and for this to be successful, it is necessary that their triple bottom line -People,
society and global environment be healthy.
To achieve this its diverse business portfolio which includes education, games, pictures
animation, healthcare etc. needs to align and incorporate all 17 SDGs. To ensure this Sony
recently did the following:

 They collaborated United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in the area of
innovation and launched the Global Innovation Challenge in April 2020 with themes
centered various issues targeted by the SDGs.
 Sony Computer Science Laboratories, established in 1988, recently implemented
Open System Science, giving its researchers freedom to conduct, explore and
experience different disciplines to put sustainable ideas into business practice. These
research projects are directly related to the SDGs and focus on making Sony’s future
business practices more aligned with them.

PS: The below table shows different achievements and some of the target goals that Sony
Global Corp achieved in the year 2019. These are categorized on basis of social,
environmental and economic slabs; however, these may be different from the convention
followed by the company and there may be an overlap of the dimension over here. The only
purpose of doing this, is for easy readability and structure to the answer required.

Sustainability Material
Achievement in fiscal 2019
Coverage Dimension
Environmenta  10% decrease in the virgin oil-based plastic usage rate.
Resource
l  20% reduction in absolute waste generation
Conservation
 Reduce single use plastics- One Blue Ocean Project
(Objective: To  52% reduction in annual energy AC device consumption
achieve a zero Climate
 12% reduction in absolute Greenhouse gas emissions
environmental Change
 327,000 tons reduction in absolute CO2 emissions
footprint during Chemical  69% reduction in amount of VOC released in air
Sony products’ Substances  Alternate use of BFR & PVC materials
  Raised awareness & educated community on
Biodiversity conservation
lifecycle)
 Alternate use of BFR & PVC materials.
 2.6 Billion Yen spent on Community Eng. Programmes
Community
 69,000 employees took part in volunteering Programmes
Engagement
 3,500 children attended Sony Science Programs
 Work-Life balance proposed through Symphony Plan
 Organised OHS programs-zero illness & zero injury
Social Employees
 25% reduction in injury caused due to accident on duty
(Objective: To
 Introduced “Global Social Justice Fund” in June 2020
carry forward
Human Rights  Conducted Human rights training sessions
their famous
tagline “For the  Implemented new AI based technologies to reduce load.
 Inspected cobalt based lithium batteries
Next Responsible
Generation”)  Assessed CSR of the 14 group & 162 suppliers of Sony
Supply chain
 Inspected conflicting materials used in its products
 Implemented Quality management system
Product
 Ensured safety, security and long-term reliability of
Economic Quality
products
Usability &  Planned and designed user-friendly products
(Objective:
Accessibility  Introduced human centric designing process
Continuously
 440 reports on Sony Group Ethics and Compliance
address
Ethics Hotline
changes and
 Created compliance action plans with monitoring group
uphold
 Introduced 3D imaging technology
consumer Technology
 Developed new AI based mobile security solutions
privacy)
 Trained employees about privacy policies
Privacy
 Strengthened their privacy protection program
Question 1(b): What parameters did the company identify to measure sustainability in
terms of environmental, social and governance criteria?

Ans: Sony’s diverse business requires multi-faceted assessment with “Technology” and
“Employees” common across all sectors.

Environmental: To ensure sustainability, the basic policy is to strive for a zero

environmental footprint generated by Sony products. It was in 2010, that the company had
announced “Road to Zero”, a global environmental plan with a goal to achieve a zero
environmental footprint by 2050. Sony set 5 years review plans and targets w.r.t to these
focus parameters:
Climate Change: Zero Emission of greenhouse gases
Resources Conservation: Identify “Key Resources” and achieve minimum wastage
Chemical Substances: Minimize risk and any serious harm to human. Reduce, substitute or
even eliminate such substances.
Biodiversity Conservation: Maintenance and recovery of biodiversity through local
contribution
Sony Group Environmental Vision along with Green Management 2020 targeted to raise
awareness through social media events, conduct protection activities, reduce CO2 and
greenhouse gas emissions, bring down waste generation among other such sustainable
practices. It also focused on securing 100% renewable electricity by 2040.

Social: Here the basic policy is to resolve the social issues of Sony business by engaging with
community and making world class products, content and technologies. Sony understand the
impact of treating its employees well and recognizes the human rights of all stakeholders.
Community Engagement: With the tagline “For the Next Generation”, Sony offers one of the
widest community engagement platforms across its diverse business portfolio.
Employees: Support & Respect for each other enables employee growth and provides them
with new challenges, experiences and opportunities.
Human Right: In accordance with Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights
Council along with the Sony Group Code of Conduct, Sony complies with all relevant laws
and regulation.
Responsible Supply Chain: Risk to human rights, health and safety concerns and conditions
of labour is addressed and taken care by Sony
Governance: Sony have always been working towards ensuring strong governance to ensure
value is created in long run. Two following basic approaches are followed here:
1. The Board of Directors nominate various committees such as The Audit committee
and the Compensation committee to ensure that the business operations are efficient
and the governance framework is sound and transparent.
2. The Board decides upon the important roles to be assigned to the top executives,
including the Chief Executive Officers to promote efficient decision making within
the firm.
Further, Sony has adopted a governance system named “Company with three committees”
which is refereed to being the most appropriate method for the companies. The directors are
working separately from the management to maintain the transparency of the activities
performed in the company. They believe to have a sizeable amount of members in board
which will make sure that there is enough contribution from everyone’s side to arrive at
decisions.

Following are some of the milestones achieved by Sony Corporation:

 1971: Started the appointment of independent directors
 2003: Adopted the Three committee system
 2005: Majority of the board became independent
Question 1(c): What sustainability risks did the company foresee and what were the risk
mitigation strategies adopted by the company?
Sustainability risk means those problems that are face by the company or a corporation
hampering their goal to sustain their growth in the business. Sometimes, in any business,
because of certain practices or production activities, there results some negative by-products
that can dilapidate the value system for the company. This is sustainability risk.
Sony Global, since 75 years into existence, came across many challenges that compelled the
company to adopt new sustainable ways for doing the business. For Sony, it was always the
principle of giving back to society, by practicing sound business and contribute in
development of sustainable society. For this mission, company has adopted a new strategy
named “Road to Zero” plan to reduce environmental footprint to zero. It was launched in
2010 and targeted to complete by 2050, with five years mid strategy reviewing.
As per the company’s “Sustainability Report 2020”, Sony Global has successfully identified
sustainability risks for its business activities and thus achieved sustainability in the following
activities / areas mentioned below:

Manufacturing Supply Chain Biodiversity

Wastage Generated Resource Procurement Ocean Plastic pollution

Technological Development Suppliers and Outsourcing Soil / Land

1. Manufacturing – Sony Global faced risk of sustainability in manufacturing products. Risk

of wasting resources, abundance use of paper, plastic wastage, CO2 emission, water
wastage and chemical substances. Sony Global realized it has to reduce the environmental
footprints in direct or indirect way.

Strategy:
a. To reduce the use of resources for developing the product and its ancillary
services, Sony started making its products light weight and compact. Also it used
technology to digitize the manuals, contracts, text guides, etc. to reduce the use of
paper.
b. To reduce the plastic footprint in pollution, Sony started recycling plants and use
of SORPLAS. It has reduced 80% of CO2 emission compared to plastic, with 99%
utilization rate.
c. To reduce CO2 emission, Sony constantly invested in technology to develop
energy efficient products.
 d. Sony developed TEC facility to ensure that fresh water used for production process
is substituted by the recycled water. Also it has invested for conserving water to
groundwater methodology.
e. To reduce use of harmful chemical substances that causes damage to people and
environment, Sony had separate units, teams and technology dedicated to conduct
quality control procedures for the same.

2. Supply Chain – Sony felt that to reduce carbon footprint, it has to adopt proper strategy for
its Supply chain and make it Responsible Supply Chain activity. It had to cover issues
like: environmental permits and reporting, pollution prevention and resource reduction,
hazardous substances, physical health of labour and other safety measures.

Strategy:
a. Sony enforced mandated CSR assessments with all the partners to ensure that the
first mile, middle mile and last mile of the supply chain can contribute to
environmental friendly process.
b. It constantly strategized for developing technology and adopting fleet of vehicles
that can reduce CO2 emission.
c. Sony created special Code of Conduct for the same, and it requires for every third
party connected to Sony to follow this Code of Conduct in order to reduce
pollution and ensure safety of labour.

3. Biodiversity – Sony, as part of contributing back to society, also had its presence in
developing Biodiversity and nature. To avoid the risk of becoming a corporation that is
ignorant to society and environmental needs, Sony started many projects to develop nature
and biodiversity.

Strategy:
a. Sony planned to develop projects that conduct nature appreciation events, engage
employees and people to understand the importance of the Flora and Fauna.
Conducted conservation activities, volunteer work, etc.
b. Sony also conducts assessments and audits for sites to check land and soil
contamination level. If found passing the standard rates, Sony thereby announce
closure of that activity until matter is solved.
c. Ocean Plastic pollution was addressed to be solved by launching Blue Ocean
project that focuses on use of recycle plastic, elimination of single-use plastics and
organising local clean-ups of rivers and oceans.
Question 2(a): How has COVID 19 crisis impacted ‘Corporate Sustainability’ aspects
from the company perspective?
Sony expresses their solace to the families of those who have died of the coronavirus, and
extends its solicitude to all those affected with it. The company was quick to turn its focus on
ensuring the safety of its various stakeholders and also curtail the spread of the disease.

 Sony was swift to adopt to the WFH pattern.

 7 manufacturing units located in China, Malaysia and UK were shut down and their
production halted as per local government instructions.
 Supply chain issues due to restrictions in the movement of people and goods, are a
major concern.

On 3rd April, Sony Corp announced a relief fund of $100 million for ongoing COVID crisis.
This was to provide help for:
i. Frontline medical staffs
ii. Children and preceptors working remotely
iii. Workers in the entertainment industry

For medical support, $10 M has been allocated to the World Health Organization's COVID-
19 Solidarity Response Fund, which is supported by the “UN Foundation” and the “Swiss
Philanthropy Foundation” to aid health workers and those on the forefront of response
services.
In the field of education, where youngsters lose educational opportunities due to closing of
schools and colleges, Sony is trying to find out ways to leverage its technology to enable
educational activities, and will collaborate with educators to implement those initiatives. The
company's Corporate Social Responsibility team is working to identify the best way towards
distributing funds in the entertainment space.
The company is also working with its partners and stakeholders and looking for more idea to
evaluate ways to expand the initiatives even farther.
Question 2(b): What has been the impact on key stakeholders of the corporation?
To reach the sustainability objectives, it is very critical that the activities adopted have a
positive impact on the stakeholders of the corporation and Sony’s CSR initiatives have taken
care of this. For an organization, it is very important that all the stakeholders are taken into
consideration while deciding upon the CSR activities so as to involve them and have their
approval for the same.
Following is the impact of Sony’s sustainability performance on key stakeholders of the
corporation:

 Customers: The customers have gotten the peace of mind that the products that they
are using are sourced and processed via sustainable measures. It further provides them
with increased customer satisfaction and ensure that the same set of customers
become loyal to the company and refer its products to people they know.
 Shareholders: This set of stakeholders get the confidence that they are investing in
the right company. It is ensured that they are involved in the meetings while deciding
upon the activities. The shareholders achieve constant growth with the company as
they stay longer knowing that the organization has adopted sustainable activities.
 Business partners: It is ensured that the ways in which the materials are procured are
sustainable and does no harm to the society. The business partners and invited to the
conferences and they are educated so that they also adopt the safe practices.
 Employees: The employees are so impacted in the positive way that the employee
turnover ratio is drastically reduced. More work force from diverse backgrounds is
encouraged to apply for the open positions. The employees are encouraged to
contribute towards the sustainable practices and they come up with ideas to take it to
next level.
 Local Communities: The local communities are provided with emergency relief
through sustainable activities. Because Sony is creating value for the local
communities, they give back by participating in the activities by volunteering for
social contribution.
 Global Environment: Through the new lifecycle adopted, they are looking at
reducing their environment footprints and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. The
impact that recycling process would have is that less number of resources would be
used in manufacturing of products and their activities. As they use minimal number of
chemical products, it has minimal impact on environment. Also, they would be
promoting activities so that all of their stakeholders adopt activities so that all of them
adopt sustained use of natural resources.
 NGOs and other organizations: As they partner with NGOs and such organizations,
these organizations would get the light and their importance would be felt by the
society. This leads to more companies partnering with such NGOs and organizations
to address the social and environment challenges. Activities held in collaboration with
NGOs help identify the best practices and educate the society about the initiatives that
should be focused upon to have almost no effect on the environment.
Question 2(c): How has the company been able to mitigate and build resilience among
stakeholders?
The company has come up with the following measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19
and build resilience among the stakeholders:
Consumers: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the consumer behaviour and lifestyle is
changing significantly. In response to these changing customer preferences, Sony is
adopting a business model that is focused on “Remote” connectivity backed by its
innovations in the field of entertainment.
Employees: In order to control the spread of coronavirus, Sony Corporation had
temporarily shut down its manufacturing plants located in China, Malaysia and U.K as
per the government mandates. It had also closed some portion of its corporate offices in
Europe, US and Japan and allowed the employees to work from home. To keep the
employees motivated at their work, the company provides guidance on stress
management and healthy lifestyle based on the suggestions from medical professionals.
The company’s health department has also setup a hotline service to help employees
facing with anxiety and stress.
Community and NGOs: Apart from the setup of a $ 100 million relief fund for fighting
against COVID 19, Sony has also initiated a fundraising activity for employees around
the world working at Sony group of companies. The amount raised was donated to
various non-government organisations helping out the workers and doctors fighting out
the virus and families affected by same.
Healthcare workers and Patients: The company is providing medical assistance to the
frontline workers in the coronavirus situation. The company has tied up with ACOMA
Medical Industry Co. for mass production of ventilators, face shields and other medical
equipment. The company has donated $ 10 million to WHO for the Covid-19 respond
fund. The company has tied up with M3 Inc. to treat patients suffering with coronavirus
disease.
Creative Content producers: In order to support the content creators, cinematographers,
and artists in the entertainment industry, the company has come up with ‘Play at Home’
initiative that will support the small independent game studios with a funding of $ 10
million.
Students: The company has come up with digital solutions as an alternative for
continuation of studies as there is lockdown of school and colleges, and is providing
educational services to students and teachers completely free of charge. It is also free
providing programming workshops to the students in Japan, US, China and other
countries.
Question 2(d): What do you think will be the impact of COVID 19 on future
sustainability strategies?
To fight back the distress caused by the global pandemic, Sony Global has announced a $100
million fund to support the following verticals:

 Medical
 Education
 Creative Community

a) In the medical field it has collaborated with M3 to serve the medical staffs and
provide healthcare support by increasing ventilator production rate and serving face
shield for protective purposes.

b) In the education sector where the learning is currently hampered due to shutdown of
schools and colleges, Sony has taken an initiative to provide world class teaching
facility by providing online teaching materials and serving them free educational kits
to enhance their learning experience.

c) In the sector covering creative community which includes artist, game developers, etc,
Sony is further helping those people who have lost their live concerts owing to
cancellation and shutting down of production houses. Under the Artist Support
Initiative, Sony is serving 500 artists.

 Apart from these initiatives, Sony has also launched a ‘Matching Gift Programme’ for
its 110,000 employees across the globe. Under this Corporate giving program, the
donations are doubled. This helps in increasing revenue for the non-profits.

 Live streaming facility: With an uncertain future and chances of covid-19 to stay for
long period, Sony has started offering live streaming facilities. Using Sony Alpha
series camera, an event can be streamed lived along with its professional camcorders.
In large gatherings using switchers for multiple camera it provides live streaming
facility.

 Further, it has created a microsite where users can browse through solutions while
staying at home. It is also offering various troubleshooting solutions through various
videos across all of its product categories. This ensures their ‘Stay home stay safe’
initiative is well taken care of. Further with the help of AI, it has enhanced its chatbot
mechanism and providing a 24x7 solutions.
  Under Corporate Governance Sony has initiated Risk Management strategies by
following business continuity plans (BCP). To fight back crisis practical drills are
conducted frequently. By following stringent surveys of various sites, repair plans are
conducted that includes renewal of sites that are unsafe to ensure safety measures.

 For Community Engagement, Sony has contributed social initiatives which tackles
global issues at large by raising awareness among people. This further builds up
engagement of employee thereby further strengthening the social responsibility. With
the advent of technology, it uses AI and ML to further simplify measures and create a
holistic approach to fight back social issues.

References
Sony Corporation (2020), Sony Establishes $100 million COVID-19 Global Relief Fund.
[Press Release]. Retrieved from
https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/202004/20-027E/

Sony Corporation (2020), Sony Global Relief Fund for COVID-19. [Press Release]. Retrieved
from
https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/202007/20-056E/

Sony Corporation (2020), Sony Sustainability Report 2020. Retrieved From

https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/csr/library/reports/SustainabilityReport2020_E.pdf