KYOTO, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OMRON Corporation (TOKYO:6645)(ADR:OMRNY) today announced that the company has received the 2012 Integrity Award Grand Prize from Japan's Integrity Award Council. The award honors companies with exemplary initiatives in the areas of corporate social responsibility, ethical and regulatory compliance, and internal control.
Omron was selected as the winner of the Grand Prize in recognition of its adherence to its core value of "working for the benefit of society." The company was also recognized for the enthusiastic efforts of senior executives to instill Omron's corporate principles throughout Omron Group globally and encourage their implementation, aiming to share the underlying philosophy with all staff members and deepen their understanding of the Omron Principles. Omron's participation in international CSR initiatives and its assumption of a central role among Japanese companies was also commended.
Hisao Sakuta, chairman of Omron Corporation, attended the ceremony held on March 22 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, to receive the award and a trophy. Chairman Sakuta delivered a speech about the efforts of executives in sharing the Omron Principles across the group by visiting Omron Group offices and factories worldwide, and how Omron is determined to continue fulfilling its social responsibility around the world by maintaining a high level of corporate integrity.
About the Integrity Award
Established in 2002 and operated by the Integrity Award Council, the Integrity Award is a commendation system intended to demonstrate the importance of integrity and sincerity in corporate management. The award recognizes that sincere and honest corporate management based on CSR will give companies greater competitive strength in the medium-to-long term. Based on this concept, it aims to provide recognition to companies that are highly conscious of corporate integrity and pursue advanced initiatives in this area.
Award Winner Selection Process
During the second half of 2011, Tokyo's Integrex Inc. conducted the Eleventh Survey on Company Integrity and Transparency (Morality and Social Responsibility) targeting approximately 3,600 stock exchange listed companies in Japan. Based on the results of this survey, Integrex shortlisted candidates for award winners for the Integrity Award Council. The Council then made the final selection of winners from the shortlist through deliberation.
A Summary of the acceptance speech by Hisao Sakuta, chairman of Omron Corporation
The cornerstone of Omron's management and business activities is our corporate motto, "At work for a better life, a better world for all." This motto was set forth by Omron founder Kazuma Tateisi, 53 years ago in 1959. The essence of this underlying idea is corporate citizenship. Our corporate philosophy was established in 1990, and since then, it has undergone revisions twice before taking the form of today's Omron Principles in May 2006. In the Omron Principles, "working for the benefit of society," which directly reflects the spirit behind our corporate motto, was set forth as our core corporate value, and we are committed to preserving and sharing this important value across Omron Group.
From 2007 to 2008, the Omron director in charge of CSR visited our offices and factories in Southeast Asia, the Americas, Europe, Greater China, and Japan. The purpose of these visits was to explain the newly established corporate principles. Since last year (2011), our president has been engaged in discussions with staff members about our new long-term strategy VG2020. As chairman, I have also visited our group sites worldwide, as has the executive vice chairman. We have held many fruitful discussions with local executives regarding the Omron Principles and the values that are especially important to Omron, confirming that we all share the same understanding regarding these. By this summer, we are expecting to hold as many as 40 discussions about our corporate principles, primarily with staff members located outside Japan.
One of the values that I want to communicate on a global scale is "respect for humanity." I believe "respect for humanity" is fundamental to all of our corporate activities. If all staff members accept each other regardless of national, cultural, or regional differences, and try to understand the different viewpoints that others have, a sense of fellowship and a collaborative attitude will arise. I think that a culture which highly values diversity will allow all of our staff to put their creativity to full use and contribute to society. By proving ourselves to society as a company that is reliable and useful, we will be able to increase our value and continue to remain in business.
To achieve this, all of our global staff members need to understand the values upon which the Omron Principles are based. They should understand the purpose of our company's existence and continue putting our principles into practice to accomplish our mission. The most important task facing our executives is making Omron a corporate group with a diversity-oriented culture. We remain committed to working toward this goal.
About OMRON
Headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, OMRON Corporation is a global leader in the field of automation. Established in 1933, and headed by President Yoshihito Yamada, Omron has more than 36,000 employees in over 35 countries working to provide products and services to customers in a variety of fields including industrial automation, electronic components, social systems, healthcare, and the environment. The company has regional head offices in Singapore (Asia Pacific), Shanghai (Greater China), Amsterdam (Europe, Africa, and the Middle East), Chicago (the Americas), and Gurgaon (India).
For more information, visit the Omron website at http://www.omron.com/