Case study: How Mazda promotes sustainability among its suppliers - SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine

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››Case study: How Mazda promotes sustainability among its suppliers

Case study: How Mazda promotes sustainability among its suppliers

By Gerasimos
September 28, 2022
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Mazda is a leading global Japanese automaker based in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan, with sales in more than 130 countries and regions across the globe. Mazda bases its assessments of business dealings with its suppliers on a comprehensive evaluation that covers not only quality, technical strengths, pricing, delivery time and management approach, but also the corporate compliance structure and CSR initiatives, including environmental protection activities.

This case study is based on the 2020 Sustainability Report by Mazda, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.

Abstract

In addition to proactively offering opportunities for communication, Mazda provides support in various forms to its suppliers, to ensure that it can promote CSR initiatives and risk management  Tweet This! in close cooperation with them. In order to promote sustainability among its suppliers Mazda took action to:

  • implement the Mazda Supplier CSR Guidelines
  • evaluate suppliers
  • conduct questionnaire surveys of suppliers

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What are the material issues the company has identified? 

In its 2020 Sustainability Report Mazda identified a range of material issues, such as indirect economic impacts, effluents and waste, occupational health and safety, emissions, diversity and equal opportunity. Among these, promoting sustainability among its suppliers stands out as a key material issue for Mazda.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards              

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups Mazda engages with:

To identify and prioritise material topics Mazda engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:

Stakeholder Group                Method of engagement
Customers

 

 

 ·      Establishment of call centres

·      Mazda Official Website and social media

·      Day-to-day sales activities

·      Customer satisfaction surveys

·      Holding events

·      Interviews with customers

·      Meetings with Mazda vehicle owners
Shareholders and investors ·      Website for shareholders and investors

·      Publication of the asset securities report and the quarterly financial reports

·      Publication of the summary of financial results

·      Quarterly presentation of financial results

·      Holding ordinary general meetings of shareholders

·      Publication of the Annual Report

·      Publication of corporate governance reports

·      Presentations and plant tours for investors
Business partners ·      Hotlines linking Mazda with dealerships

·      Day-to-day purchasing activities

·      Supplier communication meetings

·      Conferences with representatives of dealerships

·      Conferences with supplier executives

·      Commendation of outstanding suppliers and dealerships
Employees ·      Labour-Management Council

·      Direct communication with senior management (MBLD)

·      Global Employee Engagement Survey

·      Career meetings

·      Career Challenge System (in-house recruitment and “Free Agent”)

·      Group and optional training

·      Lectures
Global society and local communities

 

 ·      Opening to the public of the Mazda Museum and plant tours

·      Execution of social contribution activities and participation in and promotion of volunteer activities

·      Dialogue through economic and industry organisations

·      Interaction/exchange of views with the local community

·      Response to hearings, information disclosure, etc.

·      Dialogue, cooperation and support through collaboration of industry, academia and government
Next generation people (environment)

 

 ·      Holding and participating in environmental events

·      Setting targets and reporting the results under Mazda Green Plan 2020, midterm environmental plan

What actions were taken by Mazda to promote sustainability among its suppliers?

In its 2020 Sustainability Report Mazda reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability among its suppliers:

  • Implementing the Mazda Supplier CSR Guidelines
  • Mazda stipulated the Mazda Supplier CSR Guidelines, based on Mazda’s basic approach on CSR initiatives and with reference to the CSR Guidelines of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. The Guidelines outline CSR areas and items that are closely related to the purchasing area. In the Guidelines, CSR activities are categorised into six areas: Customer Satisfaction (Safety/Quality), Environment, Social Contribution, Respect for People (Human Rights/Work), Compliance, and Information Disclosure. The Guidelines request that all Mazda suppliers comply with them in these areas. The Mazda Green Purchasing Guidelines are separately created to indicate the company’s approach on environmental protection in more detail, and Mazda requests that suppliers observe these guidelines. Mazda also conducts periodic surveys of suppliers to confirm their compliance status.
  • Evaluating suppliers
  • When starting business with a new supplier, Mazda’s related departments coordinate together to confirm the supplier’s quality control system, research & development system, technological capabilities, financial conditions, and CSR initiatives, in order to evaluate whether or not the supplier is compliant with the procurement/selection policies of the Mazda Group. For each long-term supplier, Mazda conducts not only an evaluation based on the quality, cost and delivery time of the procured goods or services, but also a comprehensive evaluation of the entire business including the quality control system, research & development system, technological capabilities, and the status of its CSR initiatives. For the supplier quality control system, Mazda employs a system that enables continuous grasping of issues, evaluation of the situation, and provision of guidance for improvement by receiving daily reports on product quality as well as voluntary audit results. When a supplier is in need of quality improvement, Mazda conducts quality auditing that involves on-site confirmation of actual products at both domestic and overseas sites. Also, Mazda comprehensively evaluates its suppliers every year (296 suppliers in 2019) from the perspectives of quality, pricing, delivery time, etc., in order to build more positive business relationships with them, and passes the results of these evaluations back to the suppliers. Outstanding suppliers are recognised with awards. Mazda has also introduced CSR-based evaluation, giving special awards to suppliers that have made outstanding proposals on weight trimming, which greatly affects environmental performance such as fuel efficiency.
  • Conducting questionnaire surveys of suppliers
  • Mazda has conducted questionnaire surveys of its suppliers since FY March 2014, aiming to understand and evaluate the status of their CSR implementation. The survey results confirm that suppliers have appropriately implemented CSR initiatives and established their own CSR promotion systems. In FY March 2020, a questionnaire survey was carried out about fair business practices, which attracted a lot of social interest. The survey was targeted at 114 suppliers, a major percentage of whose sales consisted of products delivered to Mazda. The survey results showed that progress was made since FY March 2019. After analysing these results, Mazda held individual interviews with companies deemed to be in need of further improvement, in order to offer them cooperation in devising improvement methods. Using these surveys, Mazda checked each supplier’s recognition of the Mazda Supplier CSR Guidelines, and confirmed that all the suppliers surveyed were aware of these guidelines.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:

1) Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria

2) Disclosure 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken

3) Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria

4) Disclosure 414-2 Negative social impacts in the supply chain and actions taken

 

Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria does not correspond to any SDG.

Disclosure 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken does not correspond to any SDG.

Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:

Disclosure 414-2 Negative social impacts in the supply chain and actions taken corresponds to:

 

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References:

This case study is based on published information by Mazda, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://www.mazda.com/globalassets/en/assets/csr/download/2020/2020_all.pdf

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