Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder Engagement Stakeholder Engagement
In order to promote our business based on relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders to achieve sustainable growth, we believe that it is essential to build good relationships with all of our stakeholders and create value for society together. Stakeholder engagement of the company and the group is based on the following policy.

System

In order to reflect the opinions of the stakeholders in our business activities, points of contact suited to each stakeholder have been established, and we maintain a system to feed the valuable opinions which are received back to our management.

In addition to assessing the results of stakeholder engagement of the company and the group including the opinions received through various points of contact, the feedback is used to improve daily business activities under a promotion system which is the responsibility of the sustainability officer in charge. In order to reliably deliver everyone’s opinions to top management, the information is compiled by each department in charge and shared on a regular basis with managerial meetings, Board of Directors meetings, and other top-level managerial bodies and executives. Moreover, the results of stakeholder engagement are also shared as reports with the relevant stakeholders as needed.

Identify and prioritize stakeholders

Various individuals and organizations are involved in the company and the group diverse range of businesses. When it comes to effective stakeholders and implementing engagement. Among them, from the perspective of long-term growth and building sustainable relationships based on internal and external environmental analysis, we and our group companies have identified “customers,” “employees,” “suppliers,” “shareholders,” “local communities,” and “national government, government agencies and industry associations” as important stakeholders. Moreover, in conducting effective stakeholder and engagement, we prioritize the stakeholders by verifying their level of dependence, responsibility, and impact, etc. on our business activities.

Determine engagement method and risk management

The method of stakeholder engagement is determined from the perspective of timeliness of information, ease of acquisition, and ease of participation by each stakeholder.
In maintaining and strengthening individual engagements, we formulate policies and initiatives that not only create business and operational opportunities, but also take risks into consideration. In addition, there may be risks in the engagement that affect the proper execution of the engagement, such as differences in the level of participation among stakeholders and differences in participation purposes and time and physical constraints among stakeholders. In order to manage and reduce such risks, we clarify the purpose of engagement, ensure sufficient time for engagement, introduce various engagement methods, and periodically evaluate their effectiveness, and we aim to lead to more effective engagement.
To ensure that the engagement process is not interrupted by language barriers or lack of expertise, we are working to ensure that all stakeholders can fully participate in the engagement process through our website, which is available in English, as well as by providing a full range of information.

Customers

Relationship with the group company

In order to increase customer satisfaction, we strive to improve the shop crew and contact center level of service and the network environment quality on a daily basis.

For Our Customers

Engagement methods Customer inquiry counter, website, SNS, store, smartphone class.
Major initiatives
  • Provide a safe Internet environment for children

    As the use of smartphones becomes commonplace even among young people, there is a growing risk that children will access inappropriate websites through the Internet, leading to potentially harmful situations. To prevent problems and provide a safe Internet environment for children, SoftBank offers free filtering services that contribute to customer satisfaction and peace of mind.

    Safety Concerns

Employees

Relationship with the group company

By creating a workplace environment where employees can work in a lively manner and supporting social contribution activities by employees, we value employee satisfaction and pride.

With Our Employees

Engagement methods Exchange of opinions with labor unions, diversity week, various training and seminars, employee satisfaction survey, pulse survey, compliance awareness month, internal and external consultation services, intranet/internal newsletter.

Suppliers

Relationship with the group company

We build fair and positive relationships with Suppliers and respond to CSR issues together with the goal of mutually increasing enterprise value and growth.

Supply Chain Management

Engagement methods Supplier briefings, website, integrated report/sustainability report (Once a year).

Shareholders

Relationship with the group company

In an aim to become a trustworthy company, we endeavor to implement corporate management that meets the expectations of shareholders, and disclose accurate information.

For Our Shareholders

Engagement methods General meetings of shareholders (Once a year), financial results briefings (Four times a year), briefings for individual investors (Four times a year), business briefings, integrated reports/sustainability reports (Once a year), shareholder newsletters (Once a year), individual interviews in IR/SR activities, website.

Local communities

Relationship with the group company We strive to provide the appropriate explanations and engage in a dialog with local communities regarding the construction of base station facilities, etc.
Engagement methods Providing information on radio wave safety on our website, conduct briefings for local communities, visit/brief local governments.
Major initiatives
  • Dialogue with regional residents

    When building these base stations, we feel that it is SoftBankʼs responsibility to place top priority on the safety, security and environment of the people of that regional community. We engage in dialogue and provide appropriate explanations to the people in specified communities in accordance with relevant laws and in-house rules, and begin construction only after ensuring a full understanding of the roles of the stations and the safety of radio waves. During the construction phase, we place top priority on the safety of people in the regional community and provide detailed explanations in response to inquiries and comments received through the Company contact points.

    Provision Information Related to the Safety of Radio Waves

  • Agreements with municipalities

    SoftBank has completed agreements with 109* municipalities nationwide to promote regional revitalization. By building collaborative relationships with municipalities and regions, we will contribute to regional revitalization in response to social issues and the unique needs of each region.

    [Note]
    • *
      As of April 30, 2023

National government, government agencies, industry associations

Relationship with the group company Comply with relevant laws and regulations and achieve growth as a company under fair competition.
Engagement methods Participation in various policy councils, participation in councils and round-table discussions with government agencies, exchange of human resources including secondment to local governments, and activities through industry associations.
Major initiatives
  • Partnerships with NPOs

    SoftBankʼs target for partnerships on CSR activities with NPOs is to engage in partnerships with 1,000 organizations in FY2023. In FY2021, the Company partnered with 688 NPOs, including the Japan Foundation, the Ashinaga Foundation, the Japanese Red Cross Society, the Japan Platform, the Medecins Sans Frontières Japan Association and NPO Florence.

List of stakeholder dialogue events

We regularly hold dialogues with outside experts to bring the concerns of many stakeholders into our business and corporate activities.

Affiliation Presenter Date Discussion content

Representative of a board of directors, Virtue Design, General Incorporated Association

Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University (Part-time Lecturer)

Mari Yoshitaka March 25, 2022 SDGs Promotion Committee (third-party advisory body)
Trends in Sustainability Priority Themes
Representative Director and CEO, Neural Inc. Kenji Fuma
Director, Japan Civil Liberties Union Akira Hatade February 18, 2022 Understanding Foreign Worker Issues from the Ground Up: Business and Human Rights Perspectives
Representative Director and CEO, Neural Inc. Kenji Fuma February 17, 2022 Lecture for all employees “The Forefront of Carbon Neutrality! - Important issues in the SDGs that you should know about now”.
August 4, 2021 Lecture to all employees: “What does it mean for companies to tackle the SDGs? A reading from an ESG perspective”
Deputy General Manager, Corporate Planning
Dept. and Principal Sustainability Strategist,
Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd.
Mari Yoshidaka July 27, 2021 Second SDGs Committee Expert Review of FY2021
Distinguished Professor of Technology and
Policy and the Director of the Urban
Institute at Kyushu University
Shunsuke Managi From May 2021 Social impact of ESG
Representative Director, SDG Partners, Inc. Kazuo Tase October 16, 2020 SDGs and ESG
Attorney, Shinwa Sohgoh Law Offices Daisuke Takahashi August 31, 2020 Human-rights issues raised by technological development
Part-time lecturer, Tohoku University Graduate School Keiichi Ushijima August 24, 2020 Roles expected of communications carriers in protecting privacy
University of Tokyo Future Vision Research Center Hiroshi Naka July 14, 2020
  • Exchange of views on strategic processes in January 2020
  • Second SDGs Committee Expert Review of FY2021

External initiatives

SoftBank supports and participates in worldwide initiatives aimed at building a sustainable society, and shares a wide range of information related to these initiatives.