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Comparative Research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):

Japan and South Korea

School of International Liberal Studies

So Hyun Cho 1M150030-9

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Abstract

This paper aims to understand Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in two East

Asian countries Japan and South Korea. The role of companies in the modern world is not

limited to economic responsibilities but further expanded to encompass ethical and

philanthropic roles, in order to pursue co-development with the community. Development of

Corporate Social Responsibility activities has led to dynamic changes in a company’s

business strategies in diverse aspects such as management structure, product development,

and not to mention marketing and reputation management strategies. Japan and South Korea

share similar culture and values to some extent, while both countries have passed through

different phases of business development and each has different social norms. The two

countries began to perceive CSR as important issues in the late 1990s and early 2000s, so that

it can be expected that CSR activities of the both countries are still at the early stage of

development. The paper will look into the background, current level and possible

improvements of CSR in Japan and Korea. Several case studies will be conducted to compare

and understand the two nations’ corporate social responsible actions.

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Table of Contents

I. Introduction 4

1. Objectives and Research Methods 4

2. What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? 4

3. Why CSR Matters 7

II. CSR in Japan and Korea 9

1. Historical Background 9

2. CSR Today 10

III. Case Studies 13

1. Case Study of Selected Companies: Japan 13

1.1. Canon 13

1.2. Shiseido 15

1.3. Nissan 18

2. Case Study of Selected Companies: Korea 22

2.1. LG Electronics 22

2.2. Amore Pacific 24

2.3. Hyundai Motors 26

IV. Comparison of CSR in Japan and Korea 31

V. Conclusion 33

VI. References 34

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I. Introduction

1. Objectives and Research Methods

The purpose of this thesis is to gain comparative understanding of Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR) of two countries in East Asia (South Korea and Japan) and to find out

ways for improvement. With increasing impact that companies give to the society, businesses

are reflecting social needs and values into corporate strategies, and CSR is used frequently as

it is one of the most practical ways of showing the companies’ efforts to the public. It is

expected that Korea and Japan experienced different steps in terms of CSR evolution, and are

on different phases today. Furthermore, it is predicted that the companies’ approach and

investment on CSR may vary depending on the society’s culture, legislative regulations,

social pressures and expectations. Led by the above assumptions, this thesis will look into the

history of CSR in both countries, current achievements made by renowned companies

through case studies, and investigate similarities and differences of the countries, ultimately

seeking for what can be done for the both countries’ improvement. In order to figure out the

result, 6 conglomerates -- 3 multinational companies from each country -- will be analyzed as

case studies. The research will be mainly based on secondary data retrieved from online

webpages such as company’s official websites and annual reports officially published by the

company.

2. What is Corporation Social Responsibility (CSR)?

Traditionally, the companies’ goal was to create economic profit, while it was the

government’s job to resolve social problems and provide social welfare. For this reason, the

word CSR was not familiar to the general public a decade ago. However, business scandals

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such as Samsung BioLogics accounting fraud1 from Korea and Kansai Electric bribe case

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in Japan were among the big issues that cast doubt on companies’ ethical responsibilities.

Unethical and irresponsible acts damage the company, which can be seen from the Samsung

BioLogics case where trading had to be suspended after the ruling (Nikkei, 2018). Before

CSR came into the shape of today, the concept of businessmen taking responsibilities first

came into awareness and recognition in the 1950s. By then CSR was more commonly

referred to as social responsibility (SR).This is because Howard R. Bowen used the phrase

‘social responsibility’ in his book Social Responsibilities of the Businessman published in

1953, which could be said as the start of the modern publication in relation to CSR. In the

1980s and 1990s the Western countries started to take serious notice of CSR (Carroll, 2008).

Then what is the definition of CSR? As CSR itself is a very broad concept mixed

with numerous social elements connected, definition varies depending on organization and

scholars. To give several examples, International Organization of Employers (IOE) explains

CSR as: voluntary positive initiatives by business that look to go beyond legal compliance in

a diverse range of social, economic and environmental areas (IOE, 2003). European

Commission (EC) defines CSR as the responsibility of companies for their impact on society,

by integrating social, environmental and other social concerns into their business operations,

while also following the law. The EC stresses that CSR should be led by the company (EC,

2019).

A concept referred by a lot of sources relevant to CSR uses Carroll’s four step model

of CSR that was explained in 1991. According to his model, CSR is classified into four stages:

1 Samsung BioLogics Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. executives were prosecuted for suspicion of eliminatin

g evidence with regard to allegation of accounting fraud; see

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20191028008300315. 2 Kansai Electric executives received illegal bribes directly from companies; see

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201910040056.html.

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economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. Economic responsibility is

achieved by being financially profitable, which is the foundation of all others. This is a

traditional perception, where firms were asked to maximize profit, and it was the

government’s role to solve social problems and welfare. Second stage, which is to be legally

responsible, is to adhere to the law, based on an idea that legislations are society’s

codification of right and wrong. Third responsibility is to be ethical, where a company is

obligated to do what is right, just and fair, and to avoid harm. The top level of responsibility

is to be philanthropically responsible which is fulfilled by being a good ‘corporate citizen.’ A

lot of enterprises carry out diverse contribution activities for development of community and

improvement of life quality (Carroll, 1991).

Many organizations and scholars today are also trying to standardize and categorize

corporate responsibility at an international level, so that companies can be guided to the right

track. United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), published The Ten Principles of the UN

Global Compact, which addresses fundamental responsibilities a company should undertake

on doing business, upholding responsibilities to society and also stepping up for long-term

success. 10 principles are classified into 4 basic values: Human Rights, Labor, Environment

and Anti-Corruption (UNGC, 2019). ISO 26000 is published by the International

Organization for Standardization (ISO). It provides more specific guidance on how

organizations and companies can operate in a socially responsible way. It helps businesses

and organizations implement principles into practices, to assist them to contribute to

sustainable development (ISO, 2014). Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) offers reporting

guidelines ‘G4’, and it is the most commonly used framework in the world. It is made to

encourage the use of sustainability reports for companies and organizations, set goals and

measure performance to promote more sustainable operations (GRI, 2014).

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3. Why CSR Matters?

The importance of CSR can be proved in different aspects. Research conducted by

Business in the Community demonstrates the following results: companies that consistently

measure and manage CSR achieve better performances on the total amount returned to

investors. Further, after the financial crisis in 2008, they recovered more quickly in the

following year compared to the companies that did not. In other words, being responsible is

helpful not only in terms of company’s financial accomplishment, but also beneficial in the

aspect of risk-management (Business in the Community, 2010).

(Business in Community, 2010)

Moreover in the point of investment companies and institutions, they are recently

taking socially responsible investing (SRI) into consideration, which is an investment strategy

to seek not only financial performance but also non-financial factors. Since 2008, global

leading companies such as Goldman Sachs have measured corporate social responsibility

with non-financial elements such as ESG, which stands for environment, society and

governance, incorporating them into investment standards. In 2017, ESG investments

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increased by 25% since 2015 which accounts for about one-quarter of all professionally

managed investments in the global market (KPMG, 2019).

Although CSR may be used as a means for companies to deal with unexpected crises

and risk management, it may also be considered as a key element for sustainable

development and competitiveness. According to a research conducted to understand the

relationship between CSR and company’s competitiveness, it is complicated to clarify a

positive relationship between corporate social responsibility actions and a company’s

competitiveness because the research requires long-term investigation and there are numerous

factors that affect the result. However, it is important to acknowledge that although the

impact of CSR may vary depending on businesses and companies, CSR is a core factor to

develop competitiveness in businesses (Loikkanen, 2011). Under such perception, many

companies are proactively implementing CSR activities, and they understand that CSR is a

valuable investment for the company to reinforce its competitiveness.

Viewing the significance of CSR from the consumer point of view, CSR is

commonly used in a company’s marketing strategies and methods to upgrade brand

reputation. A survey conducted by PR agency Cone in 2017 illustrates that 87% of those

questioned answered they will purchase a product because a company advocated for an issue

they are interested in. On the other hand, 76% answered they will refuse to purchase a

company’s products or services that go against their beliefs (Cone, 2017). A wider range of

choices that became available in the recent days allowed consumers to choose products not

only considering price or quality but even taking into account of how responsible a company

is.

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II. CSR in Japan and Korea

1. Historical Background

Japan and Korea are thought to share philosophical aspects and cultural values

stemming from Confucianist ideology. Despite the similar aspects, they have opposing

features especially in terms of business and economic development. The history of CSR in

both nations started in the 1960s when people started to recognize and pay attention to social

issues caused by businesses.

To begin with Japan in the 1960s, industrial pollution created by heavy industry

companies during the rapid economic development period reached a detrimental level, and

aroused distrust against businesses. Along with the oil crisis in the 1970s, life expenses

increased, and the companies were criticized for excessive profit-oriented business. In 1974,

corporate responsibility was mentioned during the amendment of commercial law. During the

expansion of the bubble economy in 1980, gender inequality and long working hours were

raised as social problems. The distrust against companies aggravated and continued in the

1990s, and it was then when Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) arranged Charter of

Corporate Behavior. Moving on to the 2000s, firms started to establish their own CSR

divisions, especially after the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) established a

CSR committee in 2002 (Kim, 2005). The committee was generated to raise awareness of

CSR in Japan at a governmental level. Further in 2004, the Japanese government organized

round-table conferences on social responsibility for business representatives, consumers,

NGOs, which was the government’s plan to promote collaborative works in CSR (METI,

2012). In the legislative efforts, the Japanese government enacted the Basic Environment

Law for environmentally responsible acts. Regarding human rights, the government intended

to encourage equal opportunity between genders by the Revised Equal Employment

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Opportunity Law. Consumer protection was another issue driven by the Consumer Protection

law. Meanwhile, Korea’s legislative efforts regarding CSR started about a decade later than

Japan (Ebashi, 2011).

Serious unemployment problems were raised as social issues in the 1960s in Korea;

as a result, creating job-market was deemed as the primary responsibility of the companies.

With the rapid economic development in the 1970s followed by increase of exports, people

expected companies to take responsibility in economic growth. However in the 1980s, it was

found out that companies have been bidding with governments, and this was when legal

responsibilities and compliance obligation appeared. Major big firms worked as the

mainstream of CSR in the 1990s, and in the 2000s, CSR acknowledgement grew and

companies installed CSR division for more strategic use of CSR (Chung, 2018). In terms of

governmental efforts, Korea currently has no binding force in legislation system for CSR, but

many relevant laws indicate and stipulate corporate responsibilities. For example, the Labor

Law illustrates moral deeds of company while environmental problems are demonstrated in

the Environment Law such as Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth. It was in the year 2012

when the Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Act was revised to add the phrase

Corporate Social Responsibility management for the first time in Korea (Kim, 2014). Small

and Medium Enterprises Promotion Act Article 62-5 revised in 2015, stipulates that the Chief

of Small and Medium Enterprises shall enact and execute socially responsible management

plan every 5 years, for the sake of promoting small and medium enterprises, where the plan

must include contents such as socially responsible management goals and directions

(National Law Information Center, 2019).

2. CSR Today

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Since there are countless numbers of CSR programs and investments are made in all

sorts of shapes and sizes, it is hard to track down how much money was spent on socially

responsible activities. However, what is relatively visible is how much financial support and

effort the company put on social contribution activities. Of course, the amount of money

spent on social contribution does not necessarily mean that a company is doing a good job

being socially responsible. This is because social contribution is a part of social responsibility

activities, and companies put different values to it. Nevertheless, in order to get a grasp of

how much Korean and Japanese companies make financial dedication, a brief understanding

of social contribution expense is necessary.

According to Japan Keidanren, about 597 million JPY in average was used for social

contributions per company and 204.9 billion JPY as total expenditure for social contribution

in 2016, according to data collected from 343 companies. Especially the expenditure

increased continuously in the last 4 years with sustainability development goal set since the

announcement of Tokyo Olympics in 2020 (Keidanren, 2017). In detail, Japanese firms spend

their most expenses on Education and Social Education (19.4%), Culture and Art (17.2%),

Health and Sports (14.4%), Academics and Research (8.9%) in 2016 (Keidanren, 2017).

Meanwhile in Korea, data collected from 173 companies showed that approximately

240 billion JPY (2.4 trillion KRW) in total and 1.4 billion JPY (14 trillion KRW) per

company in average amount was spent on social contributions. More than double expenses

were thus spent on social contributions per company in Korea than Japan. In specific, Social

Security took over the most percentage (42%) of where the grant was spent. Secondly,

Education and Schools (25.6%) were supported, while Culture Arts and Sports accounted for

9.2% (KCCI, 2018).

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To give consideration to the big difference of social contribution expenses, it is

expected that Korean companies tend to perceive CSR similar to the concept of Social

Contribution. According to a research, 46% of articles and journals analyzed for 1 month

from October 9th to November 9th in 2016, were found that they equated ‘social contribution

actions (社會貢獻活動)’ with Corporate Social Responsibility (Lee, 2017). Based on the

result, it is assumed that Korean companies spend more money on social contribution because

they understand social contribution in a broader term, which relates that they may be

perceiving social contribution activities as being responsibility. What can also be assumed

from the above research is that the word CSR, has been manipulated and limitedly used in

Korea, because it is equalized to that of social contributions. This is assumed to be one of the

biggest differences of CSR from the western definition.

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III. Case Studies

1. Case Study of Selected Companies: Japan

1.1. Case Study: Canon

Founded in 1937, Canon is a Japanese manufacturer of imaging and optical products

such as cameras, business machines and medical equipment. Referring to data from the

Canon annual report published in 2018, it has total assets of 4.8 trillion JPY and consolidated

net sales reaching more than 3.9 trillion JPY as of 2018. It is a multinational enterprise with

workforce numbering 25,891 people. It was also selected in the Forbes as the 8th reputable

worldwide, the most well-known in Japan for corporate responsibility.

Today, many Japanese companies acknowledge the value of being socially

responsible and communicating with the stakeholders. The word Kyosei has been used in

many statements as code of conducts in Japanese corporate philosophies. However, it was

Canon who introduced the concept Kyosei as its core philosophy in 1988. According to

Canon’s interpretation, Kyosei pursues a society in which all people live and work together

for the common good. It puts effort on diverse programs that help to build a society where all

people can comfortably and peacefully live together, while also making meaningful

contributions to society through its business operations. Like Canon, Kyosei philosophy and

its corporate social responsibility performances were paid much attention to and many

companies refer to this trend and became more involved in CSR activities, setting Kyosei

philosophy as their fundamentals (Hayama, 2015). Based on this Kyosei philosophy, the

company focuses on three ideological themes: ‘create new value and solve social issues’,

‘protect and conserve global environment’ and ‘respond to people and society as a good

corporate citizen’.

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Canon invests a great deal of effort into its CSR reporting, by publishing a separate

sustainability report. It started publication with an Environmental Report from 1999 to 2002,

and began releasing the Sustainability Report since 2003. The Environmental Report

provided and mainly focused on Canon Group’s environment assurance activities, while the

sustainability report mentioned environmental impacts as well as covering economic and

business operation responsibilities such as governance system. Recent reports are following

GRI guidelines.

To explain in detail about Canon’s CSR activities, in its first goal, which is to create

new value along with addressing social issues, Canon applied its technological strength and

developed superlative optical lens AXIS A1659. The company expects such devices can be

used in national defense, anti-terrorism and also prevention of crimes, especially where

infrastructures are needed for the safety of residents. Expanding health care business,

developing cutting-edge medical devices taking aging population of Japan into concern, is

another strategy Canon stresses.

Regarding environmental problems, Canon is contributing to reduce carbon

emissions by improving energy efficiency. It is frequently developing devices that can save

energy and also trying to save energy in office equipment. Eventually Canon products could

achieve energy savings equivalent to a reduction of 20,762,000 tons of CO2 from 2008 to

2018. Carbon reduction initiatives at operational sites, carbon reduction in logistics and

increasing use of renewable energy are ongoing plans executed by Canon.

As for social contribution activities, Canon proactively works on foreign

contributions. The Miraisha Program, which is a social investment initiative in Africa, was

launched in 2014. Through the program, the company plans to improve technical skills and

offer employment opportunities for African young people. Among a variety of education

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programs the company is working on, Canon Hope Elementary School is an ongoing

campaign which funds construction of 10 elementary schools in China and provides monetary

donations, not to mention assistance with educational activities by Canon employees. Canon

foundation was founded in 2008, and the goal is to promote research into science and

technology and contribute to development. The foundation has been disbursing research

grants for 10 years and it is calculated to reach 2.5 billion JPY, as of data released in 2019

(Canon, 2019).

Placing CSR Division directly under top management, Canon could more effectively

promote and coordinate CSR related activities across the Canon Group. The division

cooperates with relevant teams to discuss any CSR related issues that require inter-

departmental cooperation such as environmental, quality, procurement, human resource, legal,

IR or PR issues (Canon, 2019).

1.2. Case Study: Shiseido

One of the cosmetic giants in the global market, and the strongest of all Asian

cosmetic companies, Shiseido Company Limited was founded in 1872. Running for more

than 140 years, it started as Japan’s first western style pharmacy and is currently producing

skin care, hair care and fragrance products worldwide. As of 2018, Shiseido recorded net

sales of 1,094.8 Billion JPY, with total of 44,990 employees including domestic and overseas

workers (Shiseido, 2019). Shiseido was awarded as one of the 2016 World’s Most Ethical

Companies for 5 consecutive years, nominated by Ethisphere Institute.3 Also in 2015,

Shiseido’s social business model in Bangladesh was recognized as an excellent initiative of

3 Ethisphere Institute defines and develop standards of ethical business practices to enhance corporate

character and bring public trust for business success. See https://ethisphere.com/.

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‘Business Call to Action (BCtA)’ led by the United Nations Development Program, which

was the first Asian cosmetics company to be selected (Business Wire, 2015).

According to Shiseido Group’s claims on sustainable activities, the company’s

practices are rooted in its founding spirit of ‘creating new values to pursue the joy of

customers and contributing to society’. Accordingly, it stresses the importance of Creating

Social Value (CSV). Creating Social Value is about a company creating management

procedures and new policies that allow it to achieve economic profits, as well as to offer

benefits to the society (Michael, 2011). In 1997, the SHISEIDO WAY was enacted, which is

equivalent to that of CSR Charter. In the same year, the company unveiled THE SHISEIDO

CODE that provides business ethics and conduct standards working as the basis in executing

CSR activities and was revised in the year 2003. In 2004, Shiseido signed the UNGC and

supported the ten principles together with all subsidiary companies. Shiseido newly

established a CSR department and positioned it directly under the CEO to strategically decide

and conduct CSR activities.

Under the corporate mission of ‘Beauty Innovations for a Better World’, Shiseido

Group addresses mainly three approaches to CSR practices. Its first approach, Protect Beauty

is relevant to environmental sustainability actions, Empower Beauty falls into the social

category that is specifically related to diversity and inclusion. Last but not least, the Inspire

Beauty approach is to promote art and heritage using Japanese beauty.

Shiseido prioritizes reduction of CO2 emissions, stating it is a primary cause of

climate change. As the same time, the company is putting effort to resolve problems such as

deforestation, water overusage and single use of resources. Setting to reduce 20% of CO2 as

its goal by 2020, Shiseido Group has been conducting diverse ways such as using solar power

for its Shiseido America factory since 2007, contributing to reduce 1,200 tons of CO2 every

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year. What is more, approximately 38% of power are supplied from renewable energy in

several factories located in Japan such as Osaka and Kakegawa since 2018 and which helps

the company to reduce emitting CO2 (Shiseido Group, 2019).

A variety of programs are operated to fulfill the goal of ‘Empower Beauty.’ Shiseido

launched Shiseido Spots Cover in 1956 to help the wartime burn victims, and since then it

has been working on producing products concerning skin health. The Life Quality Makeup

program offers support for people with skin problems such as redness, burn scars or problems

caused by cancer treatment. Also, Shiseido is the first Japanese firm to make an agreement

with UN Women and pledge to dedicate to foster gender equality. Additionally, it has been

holding workshops to raise gender awareness since 2017 and has been developing own

educational materials on gender issues. As a result, a total of 1,915 participated the

workshops for three years during 2017 to 2019. At the same time, Shiseido is well-known for

supporting good childcare programs for its employees. It opened two nursery schools in 2003

and 2017 respectively to help employees maintain balance of work and childcare. It also

ranked top for two straight years, in the overall 100 best companies of Female Workers’

Workplace Opportunity Rankings announced by Nikkei Business Publications in 2015

(Nikkei BP, 2015). Ratio of female managerial level has been increasing steadily every year

and reached 30% as of 2019 January (Shiseido Group, 2019).

Shiseido Group provides funds to raise awareness of beauty especially using

Japanese beauty, for the sake of devoting to the development of Japanese culture and art. One

of its major programs conducted was to exhibit arts at Shiseido Gallery which was founded in

1919 and claims to be the oldest art gallery based in Japan. It sponsors various art works to

help publicize potential art works. Recently in 2019, Shiseido established Japanese Beauty

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Institute (JBI) where it launches events and distributes online contents to spread the beauty of

Japan.

As for social contribution activities, Shiseido states it has conducted 408 activities by

all groups of Shiseido, 10,040 employees joining the dedication in 2018. Shiseido Group in

Japan spent 210 million JPY for donation including grants in cash and product give outs.

Shiseido Company Limited alone used 203 million JPY for donation.

1.3. Case Study: Nissan

Japanese giant automobile conglomerate Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. was founded in

1933 under the name Jidosha-Seizo. It was renamed as Nissan Motor Company in 1934. The

company manufactures automobiles in 20 markets across the globe and sold over 5.5 million

units solely in 2018, to more than 160 markets worldwide. In the fiscal year of 2018, Nissan

recorded net sales of 11.5 trillion JPY with total number of 161,684 employees (Nissan Motor

Corporation, 2019). In 1999, Nissan Motor and French auto maker Renault Corporation Ltd.

agreed on forming a partnership to allow both companies to share their strategies. The

companies could spread out to new markets more effectively by sharing distribution networks

and plants. Moreover in 2016, Mitsubishi Motor joined the alliance which resulted in the

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance of today. Renault Nissan Alliance ranked the 3rd

biggest

car manufacturer in the global market, while Nissan Motor itself was listed on the 5th

largest

automaker brand. In 2014, Nissan Motor Corporation was placed the 3rd

for being a trusted

company in terms of CSR activities among 700 companies in Japan, according to a research

conducted by ToyoKeizai.

Nissan Motor started its CSR activities in the 1990s focusing on eight key issues:

Corporate Governance and Internal Control, Economic Contribution, Quality, Employees,

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Philanthropy, Value Chain, Safety and Environment. The company has participated in the

UNGC since 2004 and started to release an annual Sustainability Reports in the same year.

Since its start, Nissan Motor has put emphasis on three primary areas: the environment,

governance and corporate citizenship.

In order to set a clear pathway and to promote internal and external communication

on sustainability, Nissan authorized a corporate officer in 2004 and established a

Sustainability Office placed inside the Communication Division. After the reformation of the

structure in 2019, the company’s Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) leads the Global

Sustainability Steering Committee, dealing with CSR related issues, from setting targets to

monitoring progress of the company’s CSR activities. The committee consists of

representatives from global headquarters and regional offices, and holds biannual meetings to

discuss activities and to report process to the Executive Committee, which is the highest

decision-making party that determines Nissan Motor sustainability actions.

In the year 2018, Nissan Motor Company announced its new sustainability plan

‘Nissan Sustainability 2022’. This long-term vision is designed by taking two factors into

consideration, sustainable growth of Nissan Motor in business aspect and sustainable

development of the local community. As a means to manage sustainability plans, the

company is carrying out activities based on PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act). After the

direction is provided by the Global Sustainability Steering Committee and Executive

Committee, the plan is taken into action. As for the next step, the process is also checked by

external parties such as rating agencies and SRI funds. Finally Nissan defines which field and

program to put priority on, while also taking external evaluations and research on competitors

into account.

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From the environmental point of view, the company has been setting a midterm

action plan ‘Nissan Green Program (NGP) to resolve environmental problems since 2002.

Under the NGP 2016 launched in 2011, Nissan achieved its goals for initiatives such as fuel-

efficient vehicle expansion and minimizing use of natural resources. In 2017, the company

announced Nissan Green Program 2022 as another long term action plan, and gives targets on

4 key issues: Climate Change, Resource Dependency, Air Quality and Water Scarcity. In

particular, Nissan is contributing to reduce CO2 emission through efforts such as developing

and promoting sales of 100% electric vehicle Nissan LEAF, which exceeded 400,000 units as

of 2019 march. In addition, the company is planning to develop eight new EVs by 2022.

Regarding social issues, Nissan Motor is continuing various business activities based

on the awareness of society’s needs. It is promoting initiatives in 6 ranges, traffic safety,

diversity and inclusion, quality, supply chain, employees and community engagement. One of

its actions evaluated as good practice was efforts put into diversity and inclusion. Achieving

sustainable development by creating innovation through building an inclusive organization

where individual employees with diverse backgrounds in terms of race, nationality, gender,

religion, disability and sexual orientation can be demonstrated, is what Nissan address as its

vision toward diversity. Looking at its achievement in the past years, the number of female

managers has increased to account for 13.6% in 2019 from 7% in 2008. Moreover, it is

providing personal counseling sessions and career advisors for female employees to help

them resolve issues and problems occurred in workplace. With Nissan’s endeavors to create

working environment where women can take part in all business processes, the first female

plant manager could be appointed in 2017 (Nissan, 2019).

From responsible governance aspects, Nissan Motor seeks to display high level of

ethics and transparency as well as a strong foundation for the organization. In 2001, the

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company enacted a Global Code of Conduct in order to guide and foster high ethical

standards for employees. Unfortunately in 2018 April, Nissan Motor’s respected Chairman

Carlos Ghosn was arrested for alleged financial misconduct. He was found using corporate

funds for personal use and under-reporting his income. Another board member Greg Kelly

was also closely involved in the misconduct. The arrest in 2018 negatively affected the

company, its profit and value have degraded by 30% since the incident. Nissan downgraded

its net profit forecast, a 66% decrease to 110 billion JPY, especially showing sluggish sales in

the U.S. market (Nikkei Review, 2019).

In order to regain the trust from the stakeholders, Nissan Motor started discussion on

the reformation of its corporate governance system after the incident. In 2018 December,

Nissan proposed creating a Special Committee for Improving Governance, to which three

Independent Outside Directors and four Independent Third Party members were appointed. A

General Meeting of Shareholders was held in 2019 June and amendments were approved for

the purpose to prevent concentration of power and to avoid similar incidents in the future

(2019, Nissan). Given the example of the former Chairman’s wrongdoings, it became clear

that unethical behavior leads to disadvantage of the company, and that company’s reaction

toward ethical issues should be highly valued. The significant change in Nissan Motor’s

governance system is something not only the automobile industries but also a lot of

businesses are paying attention to, which may determine the future of Nissan Motors.

Nissan has made sincere endeavors to contribute to zero emissions, zero fatality and

zero inequality, in other words a cleaner, safer and more inclusive society. It has been

investing 1.79 billion JPY solely in 2018 for social contributions.

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2. Case Study of Selected Companies: Korea

2.1. Case Study: LG Electronics

Founded in 1958, LG Electronics is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers, and

one of the subsidiary companies of LG Group that produces devices such as electric

appliances, mobile phones and vehicle components. Its sales reached 61.3 billion KRW as of

2018, with employees more than 73,773 around the world. According to an analysis made by

The 1st Asia CSR Ranking, LG Electronics ranked the 1

st place and 2

nd place in 2015 and

2017 respectively, for being a socially responsible company in South Korea.

LG Electronics has been maintaining its Jeong-do (正道, ethics) philosophy since its

establishment, which emphasizes customer value creation and people-oriented management.

Through this, it aims to become ‘No. 1 LG’, respected among industries and a market-leading

company. It makes commitment aimed at three strategies: ‘Technology that Cares’, efforts to

resolve social issues by using company’s technology and products, ‘Trustworthy Partner’ that

supports the growth of stakeholders through partnership, and ‘Sharing and Comfort’ which

stands for LG’s endeavor to increase employee engagement (LG, 2019).

LG Group defines CSR actions as ‘minimizing the risk of negative social and

environmental impacts in operating business, and at the same time making positive changes

to the society and environment.’ This shows its two approaches towards CSR: first to act out

social contribution practices to maximize positive influence; second, to undertake CSR risk

management actions to reduce and prevent social problems, by monitoring whether

companies comply with relevant standards or policies. The company applies CSR

management to LG Electronics but also to suppliers and partners.

In 2008, the two internal organizations, Corporate Sustainability Management Office

and the Social Contribution Group were merged to form a single CSR group. The next year in

23

2009, LG created its CSR Committee, which was responsible for reporting and making

decisions on CSR issues at board meetings. In 2014, it launched a company-wide Executive

Council for Sustainability management composed of executive levels. The council is in

charge of deciding CSR agenda reported to the board of directors and CSR Committee. At the

same time, LGE is operating working-level CSR Staff Council to plan specific actions and

realize CSR objectives into actual performances (LGE, 2019). It has published an

Environmental Report from 2008 to 2012 and began to release Sustainability Report since

2005 until today.

The company has been carrying out diverse and long-term social contribution actions

having the three above-mentioned principles. To give examples of representative

performances, LGE selected children and elders in need to preserve medicine or food, and

donated its refrigerators as a contribution to carry out its third principle ‘Technology that

Shares.’ Moreover, it granted refrigerators powered by solar energy to places that lack

electricity. With its third principle Sharing and Comfort which is to increase engagement of

employees, LGE employees are voluntarily joining social contribution actions for the

community. Social Contribution Charger and Social Contribution Principle employees are

gradually creating a sharing culture. Its weekday-voluntary vacation encouraged employees

to involve in voluntary activities, and it has been operating ‘Life’s Good Volunteer Group’

since 2010. They participated in programs such as managing science-lab for kids in Korea,

diverse education programs internationally such as the US, Mexico and provided free

repairmen for countries damaged by natural disasters such as Croatia, Bosnia, etc.

In general, LGE spent 3 billion, 11.4 billion, 103.8 billion KRW in the last three

years since 2015 on operating its social contribution program, which is a steady increase

every year. The amount of funding decreased in three years which can be expected that LGE

24

is putting more efforts on running programs rather than granting for charity (LEG

sustainability report, 2018)

LGE’s proactive CSR practices and aggressive business strategies have been

recognized by consumers even during the harsh business environment, and has stabilized its

financial profit. This demonstrates that it has strengthened business competitiveness (2015,

Kim)

2.2. Case Study: AmorePacific

Starting business in South Korea since 1945 with the name of Pacific Ocean

Chemical, AmorePacific has grown to become what it is now, operating 34 beauty and health

brands, becoming the largest cosmetic and beauty firm in Korea. Recording over 6 trillion

KRW of sales and hired with 13,032 numbers of employees as of 2018, AmorePacific was

nominated as the world’s 14th largest beauty and cosmetics conglomerate.

Its philosophy is to share the legacy of Asian Beauty around the world, as the ‘Asian

Beauty Creator’, with tree vocations: ‘service to humanity’, ‘respecting for individuals’ and

‘creating the feature’.

AmorePacific has been trying to make a diverse commitment to the society since its

foundation. In November 2007, it was the first cosmetic brand in Korea to join the UNGC,

and from then on it has gradually moved its step toward to solving and contributing to human

rights, labor, environment and corruption problems. AmorePacific created a sustainability

management system and Sustainability Management Committee in 2008, under the CEO as a

top body for making decision. Moreover in 2011, a Sustainability Management Team was

established to integrate the company’s commitments with its key corporate strategies (Ebashi,

25

2011). It has been publishing sustainability reports since 2009, in accordance to the Standard

Core Option guideline of GRI, as well as referring to the main agendas of SDGs.

From an environmental point of view, AmorePacific targets on recycling and

reducing the use of plastic. One of the representative campaigns would be its Green Cycle

Campaign. It is an environmentally friendly campaign that recycles empty cosmetic bottles

collected from customers to ‘upcycle’ them into artworks. One of AmorePacific’s brand

‘Innisfree’ store in Samchung-dong Seoul was made out of 230,000 of recycled bottles in

2017.

With regard to social issues, it aims to improve the problem of gender equality.

Especially, given the fact that the majority of AmorePacific customers are women, they

endeavor to create women-friendly culture by developing diverse programs and systems, and

reinforcing government regulations. One of the main campaigns ‘20 by 20 Commitment’ is a

goal set up to enhance health, well-being and economic condition of 200,000 women by 2020.

It tries to create an atmosphere where employees can take maternity and childcare leave

freely. The number of people requesting for such leave increased from 237 in 2016 to 248 in

2018. Also, the company operates several children’s centers and nursing facilities, in order to

ease the stress of childrearing while at work. Two in-house and one external childcare centers

have been operating since 2004, 2005 and 2007 respectively (Ebashi, 2010). There are also

nursing rooms, which provide breastfeeding facilities and amenities. Such efforts encouraged

92.3% of female employees in 2018 to return to work after giving birth. The women friendly

atmosphere has resulted in more female workers in permanent positions than males. Male to

female ratio has been rising gradually, reaching 34:66 in 2018. Women in managerial roles

account for 68.4% in 2018.

26

In terms of social contribution programs, AmorePacific is attempting to achieve

gender equality and to be responsible in consumption & production, which are demonstrated

in the UN’s sustainable development goals. In order to achieve the goal, AmorePacific made

full investment in the creation of The Korea Breast Cancer Foundation in 2000, Korea’s first

non-profit public health foundation for breast health. It is currently carrying out a Pink

Ribbon Campaign, providing breast cancer education session, free medical screening,

supporting free surgery of low-income patients and etc. The Pink Ribbon Love Marathon, an

annual event initiated in 2001, has raised more than 2.6 billion KRW to subsidize surgical

treatment for 760 of low-income patients. The Hope Shop, sponsored by AmorePacific and

run by The Beautiful Foundation, supports low-income single mothers to start a business.

Since the opening of the first shop in 2004, the campaign assisted 200 shops to launch their

businesses. 'Make Up Your Life', began in 2007, which is a representative volunteer activity

of AmorePacific. They serve education and instructions to teach make up skills and skin care

for women.

There are also public organizations such as AmorePacific Foundation and

AmorePacific Welfare Foundation. AmorePacific Foundation was founded in 1973 by

Chairman Seo Sung-hwan, founder of AmorePacific, and conducts research support projects

based on key words such as Asian beauty, women's culture, and publishes the results in

various media.

2.3. Case Study: Hyundai Motor Company

Hyundai Motor was founded in 1967, but Hyundai Motor Group was formed in 1998

after purchase of 51% of Kia Motors which is the second largest automaker in South Korea.

Hyundai Motor Group is now the biggest automobile manufacturer in Korea, also nominated

27

as the 5th

largest automotive manufacturer in the global market (Focus2Move, 2019).

Operating 98 plants worldwide, it employs 173,819 workers and generates approximately

138.32 trillion KRW of sales, according to data collected from Hyundai Motor Group

homepage.

Hyundai Motor Company underlines CSV (Creating Shared Value) in its strategy.

Under the slogan of ‘Realizing Dreams and Aspiration of Humankind through Creative

Thinking and Rising to New Challenges’, Hyundai Motors carries out genuine CSR

campaigns that reflect mission statement and core values. ‘Lifetime Partner in Automobiles

and Beyond’ is set as a vision for the automobile business, while vision for CSR aims to

become a ‘Trustworthy Partner for Today & Tomorrow.’

Hyundai Motor Company’s Society Culture Team is in charge of producing and

organizing the company’s social responsibility related activities. In 2003, Hyundai Motor

Group initiated a social contribution council which was the beginning of the group’s CSR

actions. They have been publishing sustainability reports in compliance with GRI guidelines

since 2003 (Ebashi, 2011). After 2 years, in 2005, a volunteer group that belonged to Hyundai

Group was formed. The following year in 2006, the Social Contribution Council was

modified to become a Society Culture Team and currently takes part in anything related to

operating social contributions while also working to foster a better working environment.

Composed of 11 staff members, the team is authorized directly under the CEO for faster and

more effective decision making. 2008 was the turning point of Hyundai Motor Company’s

CSR with the announcement of mid-long term social responsibility practices. In 2010, they

made a second change, taking a step toward to an upgraded mid-long term strategy for social

contributions. From then on, Hyundai Motor began to plan and carry out CSR activities

related with the automotive industry and started to apply more strategic concepts to CSR

28

activities. Hyundai Motor Company revised its previous 4 strategies to 6: Dream Move, Next

Move, Easy Move, Safe Move, Green Move and Happy Move. Such change illustrates

Hyundai Motor’s intention to link closer with their businesses for social contributions (Chung,

2018).

As mentioned above, since their revision in CSR strategies in 2016, Hyundai Motor

Company has been conducting CSR activities conforming to 6 approaches. The first

campaign, Dream Move’s purpose is to support the second-class citizens and to provide

opportunities for talented future generation. The Looking for Three-Leafed Clovers program

that provides educational support and career opportunities for teenagers from families

affected by traffic accidents began in 2005 as a donation program but transferred its focus to

offer mentoring programs. H-Social Creator was launched in 2015, a program that holds talk

concerts with Hyundai staff for college students to provide them mentoring opportunities, as

well as giving opportunities to design and generate ideas for potential improvements that may

be useful to solve social issues. Moreover, education projects such as Future Automobile

School offers middle school students in Korea practical training sessions or experience of the

automobile industry to help them understand the field. As a result, the Future Automobile

School program received the Minister of Education Award in 2017 for the excellent project.

The Next Move Campaign is aimed at devoting to society through Hyundai Motor

Group’s each business capability. Hyundai Motor Company operates ‘Hyundai Dream Center’

vocational skill schools to develop automobile maintenance experts, mainly for young people

in developing nations such as Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines. The Easy Move

campaign provides mobility solutions for those in need of more convenient mobility. Hyundai

in 2010 established the very first social enterprise in Korea, Easy Move Inc., which produces

vehicles and mobility assistance devices specifically designed for the disabled and the elderly

29

to aid easier transportation. Safe Move is a campaign that targets the development of safe

technologies for prevention of traffic accidents, while also supporting the victims of traffic

incidents. Hyundai Motor Company has been running an educational program that teaches

safety rules to children, and also targets specifically to elders, with the growing number of

traffic incidents caused by the elderly that has been problematized since 2016 (Chung, 2018).

The Green Move campaign illustrates its efforts to develop eco-friendly products or to deal

with recycling activities set to reduce environmental pollution. IONIQ Forest is one of the

key practices which is to invest the funds raises through IONIQ Longest Run to create forests,

which is a project in cooperation with partnership companies. Lastly, Happy Move is a

project where Hyundai Motor Company’s employees, NGO and partners are involved in

cooperating for a positive impact on the community. Staff Volunteer Corps is a volunteer

group with 131 Hyundai staff. They take part in volunteer activities at social welfare

institutions in Korea, and it was calculated that about 10,000 Hyundai staff participated in

2017.

One of the good practices conducted by Hyundai Motor Company is with regards to

supply chain management. Transparent and ecological supply chain management is crucial

for carmakers as they are highly dependent on partner companies that produce diverse parts

required to form a complete automobile. Hyundai Motor also has been strengthening

communication with partnerships through ‘Green Partnership Program’, which was initiated

in 2003. The initiative enabled them to reduce emission of CO2 by 16,187 tons. What is more,

Hyundai Motor Company distributed 15 trillion KRW to subsidize suppliers for their

technological improvement, as well as holding diverse training programs for partnerships to

educate ethical management (Ebashi, 2011).

30

Hyundai Motor Company has also been engaging in a variety of social contribution

activities out of Korea. For the 4th consecutive years, Hyundai Motor Group was ranked no.

1 as the most responsible company in China, in a research made to calculate the effectiveness

of CSR activities on the Chinese community. Hyundai’s Green Zone business, launched since

2008 was one of the main plans practiced in China.

31

IV. Comparison of CSR in Japan and Korea

The importance of Corporate Social Responsibility is now recognized all over the

world, and the East Asians countries’ enterprises are also joining the world trend. Firstly,

Japanese and Korean CSR development share similarities in that the concept of CSR was

introduced in the late 20th

century. However, it was the Japanese society in the 1950s, with

the development of economy that led its companies and government to enact legislation that

regulated and guided corporate responsibilities in diverse fields such as environment, human

rights and gender or labor issues, for the first time among other East Asian countries. Korea,

on the other hand started a decade later in the 1960s and the 1970s with the rapid

development of economy.

Secondly in terms of CSR management, Korea and Japan tried to keep up the pace

with the global trend in the 2000s, along with the introduction of international standards and

evaluation measurements created and embodied. Also, a lot of companies signed an

agreement to join UNGC and made reports in accordance to GRI. Another discovery was that

Japan and Korea’s CSR decision making bodies were structured under the CEO, which

allowed CSR decision makers to be more effective and faster to execute and provide

directions. The six studied companies all published sustainability reports, but in reality, it has

been found out that only half of the top 100 conglomerates, and 73 companies among 2100

enterprises in Korea were publishing sustainability report in 2017 (Chung, 2017). On the

contrary, Japanese companies have a high percentage of publishing sustainability reports.

Referring to data collected by KPMG, 217 companies out of 225 companies were reporting

their sustainability activities. The data explain that Korean companies are still lagging behind

in publishing sustainability reports compared to the Japanese companies.

32

As mentioned in the earlier section, the difference in social contribution expenses,

may be caused by discrepancy in perception. Koreans tend to think CSR is something

equivalent to that of Social Contribution. Businessmen might also misunderstand that funding

for social contribution fulfills corporate social responsibility, when social contribution is

simply a part of CSR movement. Moreover, it was also noticeable that Korean companies’

sustainability reports displayed the number of people and how many hours their employees

devoted through volunteering activity, as well as how much expenditure the company spent

on social contribution. In this sense, it is predicted that to Korean companies, philanthropic

activities such as volunteering and grants are more prioritized compared to Japanese

companies. Meanwhile, Japanese companies stressed the value of environmental issues,

especially reducing CO2 was prioritized.

33

V. Conclusion

This thesis aimed to gain understanding on the Corporate Social Responsibility of

Japan and Korea by comparing the history, as well as current CSR examples from several

selected companies. This research has limitations because it could only cover 3 case studies

from each country, therefore it is not enough to generalize and define clear differences and

similarities. Nonetheless through this research, it was found out that Japan and Korea have

been walking similar paths of development in CSR since the 20th

century, and share a similar

CSR managing strategy. However, when looking closely into programs and expenses spent

on CSR, Korea tends to lean more to social contribution then Japan. Japan, on the other hand,

seems to put more value on solving environmental issues than Korea. In general, however,

due to the later start of CSR in Korea, Korean companies and especially the governmental

support was lagging behind. Many researchers claim that CSR is not only helpful for a

company to recover from crisis, but also it is a means to build up its competitiveness. Yet,

CSR is a factor taken into deep consideration by domestic consumers and foreign

stakeholders, which is why the government and Korean companies should take into account

and encourage development of CSR, especially in the globalized world.

34

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