NOMURA GROUP 's Social Good (Part 2)

Based on the vision of "contributing to society more actively", NOMURA GROUP has focused on the four themes of "environment", "culture", "region" and "people" with "social good" as a keyword. We are undertaking various activities as And for four days from July 5th to 8th, 2021, "Social Good Week 2021" was held to introduce all the social good projects that NOMURA GROUP has been working on. nomlog editorial department will report on the entire program of this event.

* Click here for a list of report articles on “Social Good Week 2021”

NOMURA GROUP 's Social Good Strategy

"Social Good Week 2021", NOMURA Co., Ltd. first attempt, and the first day of the first day was an in-house program titled "NOMURA GROUP 's Social Good Strategy", and the following four people took the stage. In the second part, we will report on the contents of the lectures on "NOMURA GROUP 's Social Good Strategy" by Yuichi Saito, General Manager of the Social Good Strategy Office, and "Business Produce Based on Social Good" by Asako Harayama, Executive Officer and General Manager of the Business Produce Division. (Click here for the first part)

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Lecture 3 | NOMURA GROUP 's Social Good Strategy

Social Good Strategy Office Manager Yuichi Saito

Joined the company in 1999. Since then, he has worked as a planner on branding and communication space creation centered on major private companies. From 2021, he will concurrently serve as General Manager of the New Domain Creation Department of the Planning Division.

Our next goal is to contribute to a sustainable society

Last summer, President Enomoto said, "NOMURA GROUP has evolved from a group of producers who create and attract customers to become a Prosperity Partner who realizes the prosperity of our customers' businesses. What is the next challenge?" There was a question, and the members of the Social Good Strategy Office later proceeded with the study. The conclusion was that the goal after "attracting customers" and "business prosperity of customers" was "contributing to a sustainable society", which was the next path for NOMURA GROUP.

Looking at it from a global perspective, until now I had a strong impression that the environment and sustainability were only for those with a high degree of awareness, but recently investors who move the world have come to realize that resources and the economy are at risk if things continue as they are. I noticed that ESG investment is becoming more active. Some companies have also declared carbon neutrality, which has a direct impact on the business of suppliers.

Looking at Japan, the population, which had been increasing rapidly since the Meiji Restoration, peaked in 2008 and is now rapidly declining. How to survive in the midst of "maturity" rather than "growth" will be the keyword for Japan in the future. There is also a notable change in the awareness of young people, who are becoming more aware of the environment and contributing to society. In a survey by Dentsu*1, in response to the question, "There are high hurdles to doing something about the SDGs," there was a large gap between those in their 30s and those in their 40s and older. I learned that they have a strong sense of what they can do. In the future, as these young people will play a central role in business, we can see that the SDGs and social contributions will become more important for companies.

Next, let's look at it from the perspective of NOMURA GROUP. As President Enomoto said, our management philosophy strongly incorporates social good ideas. The phrase "creating a rich human environment" contains the message of creating a sustainable society, rather than immediate profits or temporary glamor. NOMURA GROUP has a social DNA. It can be said that there are

* 1Dentsu 4th “Consumer Survey on SDGs” (2021)

what is social good

If you look up the meaning of social good, you will find that "social good refers to activities, products, and services that have a positive impact on society such as the global environment and local communities." The theme is "society", including the lives of local people, and its activities will create a big wave and change society, and you can see that it is a broad concept that includes not only activities but also products and services. .

Until now, there have been keywords such as "mecenat" and "CSR" for corporate social contribution activities. These are the concepts of providing money from business profits to support culture and arts and to contribute to society. However, from now on, we must consider how we can contribute to society through our business activities, including products and services. It is important to have ideas such as turning social contributions into value and connecting them to business, and thinking about better ways to use costs. Then, the profit generated from that will be reinvested in a good way, and the cycle of social contribution will be circulated.

Social good means balancing business profit, social benefit, and social contribution. Of course, there will be contradictions there, but it is necessary for each and every one of us to solve the contradictions with passion, wisdom and action without falling into a dead end.
NOMURA GROUP has creative and engineering DNA that has solved numerous contradictions with passion, wisdom and action in its nearly 130-year history. Now is the time to unleash this power. If we look at it positively, we can say that the time has come when we can really play an active role.

*2 From IDEA FOR GOOD​

Creating a plus from scratch in a place closer to people

So why social good instead of SDGs? On a global scale, the SDGs have become an important theme of how to reduce negative impacts to zero in a wide range of fields, from the environment to poverty, hunger, and conflict.

The specialty of NOMURA GROUP is to create something positive from scratch on a human scale rather than on a global scale, and to have a positive impact on society. Although there are many overlaps with the SDGs, we would like to create a society where people can sustainably feel richness and happiness in their daily lives, while showing our own originality.

Specifically, I would like to work on the social good of NOMURA GROUP from these three perspectives: firmly establishing social good in order acceptance and social good as a business, and working on sustainability and diversity as a company. thinking about.

The most important thing is "development of people"

To realize social good, the most important thing is to develop human resources. We will create a “culture of respect for people” and raise the awareness of each and every one of them, and nurture a mindset that takes on the challenge of “creating new value.” To that end, we are planning to divide the period up to 2030 into three phases. We aim to improve the understanding and awareness of social good among all employees, incorporate social good into all business activities, and aim for a situation in which the word social good is not something special, but “ordinary”.

Lecture 4 | Business Producing Based on Social Good

Asako Harayama Executive Officer General Manager of Business Producing Division

Joined the company in 1997. Worked on branding and communication space creation centered on major private companies as sales. From 2014 to 2020, he was in charge of business development for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In 2021, he will be appointed as General Manager of the Business Produce Headquarters.

 

Self-initiated social good

Since the establishment of the Social Good Strategy Office in March 2021, we have introduced the activities and roles of the Social Good Strategy Office to more than 20 customers. All the customers were very interested, and I realized once again that social good is a movement that the world is looking for. From now on, I think that I will be asked more often to make social good proposals in my regular work. But that is passive social good. In the future, we would like to create not only social good that responds to customers, but also social good that we ourselves initiate.

The mission of the Business Producing Division is to create a large-scale business by creating a plan to solve social issues, forming partners and collaborating to realize it. This is also why the Social Good Strategy Office is located within the Business Produce Headquarters.

NOMURA GROUP has the power to solve problems

However, I think there are some people who say, "I want to solve social issues, but I don't know how to do it." Then you should find someone who understands. If you feel uneasy about being alone, find a companion. If you don't have enough money, you should find a way to raise it. NOMURA GROUP has a strong network with many customers and cooperating companies and the wisdom of its employees. We already have the power to solve social issues. Consciousness and passion! I believe that is the core of the Nomura Mind.

There was talk of Apple's carbon neutral declaration, but I think that many companies will follow suit from now on. If so, how about NOMURA GROUP building a carbon-neutral production line in space creation before we are required? If we do it before anyone else, we will always be needed. In addition, instead of participating in regional revitalization after receiving a public offer from a government agency, we will gather friends to realize the idea with social good ideas, gain the support of the government and residents, and commercialize it. let's come

A corporate culture that encourages social good action

Rather than waiting for feedback from customers, we take action ourselves. That is NOMURA GROUP 's social good activities. The Social Good Week program starting today should have many hints and ideas related to business production based on social good. I sincerely hope that each and every one of us will incorporate social good ideas in our daily work and take social good actions to address social issues that are familiar to NOMURA GROUP.

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Through this program, we aim to achieve "social good" by delivering affluence and happiness in people's daily lives and spreading them throughout society. We have declared that we will foster a corporate culture that encourages us to work hard. In the next "Social Good Week Report", we will introduce programs that talk about the social good achievements that our company has been working on from the perspective of project members.
​Click here for the first part of this article (nomlog editorial department)

Text: Sho Iwasaki/Photo: Yui Yasuda