Kao Corporation is a chemical and cosmetics company, established in 1887 in Japan. A leading global manufacturer of beauty care brands, such as Guhl, Goldwell, John Frieda and Molton Brown among others, is recognised around the world for innovation and quality. Sustainability is embedded in Kao Corporation’s corporate culture.
Kao_Kao’s mission is to strive for the wholehearted satisfaction and enrichment of the lives of people globally and to contribute to the sustainability of the society. By developing innovative products and services, the company aims to conserve the environment and foster well-being in the communities now and in the future. Their corporate philosophy, “The Kao Way”, is based on Yoki-Monozukuri, which is defined as “a strong commitment by all members to provide products and brands of excellent value for consumer satisfaction”. In Japanese, “Yoki” literally means “good/excellent”, and “Monozukuri” means “development/manufacturing of products”.
Takashi MatsuseKao Corporation joined Sedex in December in 2014. Takashi Matsuse, Vice President for Global Planning of Procurement at Kao Corporation, says that Sedex is helping to manage their ethical and sustainable sourcing activities and to enhance their supplier management by enabling the KAO team to build stronger supplier relationships.
Kao3Before joining Sedex, the company used their own Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), based on their Global Compact policy. The questionnaire would be sent to suppliers to fill in and return to the company, who would then rate the answers according to their criteria and provide feedback to the supplier. This is the most common practice of managing supply chains within Japanese companies, but it was a lengthy process often seen as a burden to suppliers. Suppliers used up all of their resources completing multiple questionnaires which left them with little time or energy to actually address the identified issues.
Kao Corporation identified Sedex as solution to this problem. “Joining Sedex allows us to implement supply chain management globally with a standardised procedure and SAQ, and practice human rights due diligence,” says Takashi Matsuse. “Standardised procedure and quality questions, the SMETA protocol, access to multi-tier suppliers and coverage of human rights due diligence are just a few of many benefits brought to Kao Corporation by Sedex.” He would recommend Sedex to other companies. “We wish that Sedex will become a de-facto standard. A huge number of existing concurrent platforms for SAQs are making suppliers negative and create extra burden”, says Takashi Matsuse.
For more information on how Sedex can help Japanese businesses and organisations with their supply chains, contact CRT Japan, the official Sedex Global Representative in Japan. As part of this role CRT Japan is raising awareness of Sedex within Japanese companies and supporting them while they join the platform.
Photo credits: KAO Corporation
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