The recent economic crisis since last year has exacerbated the business climate, forcing a traditional market economy system a paradigm shift in terms of thinking and frames of reference. Amidst the background, corporate social responsibility has gained increasing importance, which may lead to a new opportunity to drive sustainable development.

To provide a food for thought on these issues, we organized a symposium on March 3, 2010 at Tokyo International Forum. It included five lectures on: “Corporate Responsibility and Ethics in Global Society,” “Sustainability Can Change Business Management,” “CSR in Europe,” “Global Citizenship in Hewlett-Packard,” “Business Management Led by Mentally-Handicapped People and Expectations for the Government.”  Subsequently, active discussion was held at the panel discussion.  The event had a strong turnout, with 161 attendees who work in the field of CSR or social environment division at companies.

Lecturers:

• Mitsuhiro UMEZU, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University
• Peter David PEDERSEN, Chief Executive, E-Square Inc.
• Julien GUERRIER, General Manager, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation
• Mitsuhiro HONDA, General Manager, Corporate Communications, Hewlett-Packard Japan, Ltd.
• Yasuhiro OYAMA, Chairman, Nihon Rikagaku Industry Co., Ltd.

Moderator:

• Tugio IDE, Professor, Graduate School of Business, Nihon University