UNGA Science Summit

What is a “good” company, and how can it create the highest possible value for itself and each of its stakeholders? Until today, higher profits and shareholder value continue to serve as a measure for what a “good” company is and does, but the hidden impacts that this focus has had on other stakeholders has become impossible to ignore. Because of this, a new way of seeing, measuring and managing a business’s impacts on its various stakeholders is becoming increasingly important. As of yet, there is no clear, objective and transparent way to do this consistently, comprehensively and equitably across businesses, industries and markets. The Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan) has synthesized more than 20 of the world’s top ESG and sustainability reporting frameworks into a model that can be used by any business to understand and manage its impacts on its shareholders, employees, customers, partners, society, and the planet, and to use this new understanding to create forward-focused strategies that will increase the value created for all of them. This session will begin with a presentation by Prof. Philip Sugai, Director of the Value Research Center, who will introduce the Value Model, its philosophical foundations in Japanese business, and how it can used to both develop practical regulatory oversight as well as forward-thinking, value-focused business strategies. Then Prof. Sugai will hold a “fireside chat” together with Prof. Toshiya Hoshino, Director, ESG Integration Research and Education Center, Osaka University and moderated by Prof. Haruko Satoh from the Osaka School of International Public Policy at Osaka University to explore value, ESG and sustainability issues, and Japan’s unique contributions to these issues. Then a wider panel of experts including Jin Montesano, Chief Public Affairs and People Officer, Executive Officer and Senior Managing Director at LIXIL; Masato Yamazaki, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Aquinas College; Trista Bridges, Author of Leading Sustainably; Yoshie Sugai, Founder of Nenshin Ryu Budo, Chiseikan Dojo; and Kumar Iyer, Sustainability Strategist will dig more deeply into the essence of value, Japan’s historical and current efforts to align this history with the current challenges addressed by the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and how business can continue to drive real and measurable achievement of these in a just and equitable way.