Environmental Commitments in Global Business May 13, 2009 //by Masamitsu Sakurai Masamitsu Sakurai, Chairman of Ricoh, Chairman of Keizai Doyukai, and listed on Ethisphere’s 2008 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics, says Companies are going to have to respond to a “Post-Kyoto” world. The expectations of this new world will now be far more demanding in terms of emission reduction targets and the need for total participation, feasibility and fairness. In addition to these new global demands, corporate executives will still be expected to manage the continuous growth of their business. The pressing concern of the world right now is how to minimize the effects of global warming. To achieve this goal, the emission reduction targets for each country should be much higher than Kyoto levels. Such targets cannot be reached through regular efforts, something extraordinary is required. This is where innovation comes in. In this context, the role of business is growing fast. First, each corporation must set its own targets with an aim to contribute sufficiently to the global reduction tally. It’s the only way. Every business must take on these challenges through technological process innovation. Eventually, low carbon products and services will result from ever lower low-carbon production processes. By building product recycling systems, there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to reduce green house gases on the one hand while growing the economy on the other. We have no time to waste when it comes to environmental protection. The role and influence of corporations is becoming greater. I became president of Ricoh in 1996. At that time the situation in the industry was one of cautious steps toward conservation, with prevalent concerns about costs and the effects on the bottom line. This kind of mentality, even within our company, risked driving the costs ever higher. I strongly believed, even then, that on the contrary, environmental conservation would result in decreased operational costs. This is the message I kept repeating to our directors, employees and shareholders. Little by little I proved this to be the case by taking actions even on a small scale. At Ricoh, environmental conservation went through three stages: The first stage, the Passive Stage, consisted of following regulations and reacting to outside pressure like “green procurement.” The next stage was the Proactive Stage where, as volunteers, we became imbued with a sense of mission regarding our planet. Through stage two, our efforts were not yet profitable. Finally, at the third stage, the Responsible Stage, we were able to simultaneously achieve environmental conservation and profit creation. This advanced stage is where Ricoh is now. The results of our activities during the Responsible Stage are published annually in our Sustainability Report and are very well received by our stakeholders. For example, ...

1. Environmental Commitments in Global Business
May 13, 2009
//by Masamitsu Sakurai
Masamitsu Sakurai, Chairman of Ricoh, Chairman of Keizai
Doyukai, and listed on
Ethisphere’s 2008 100 Most Influential People in Business
Ethics, says Companies are
going to have to respond to a “Post-Kyoto” world. The
expectations of this new world will
now be far more demanding in terms of emission reduction
targets and the need for total
participation, feasibility and fairness. In addition to these new
global demands, corporate
executives will still be expected to manage the continuous
growth of their business.
The pressing concern of the world right now is how to minimize
the effects of global warming.
To achieve this goal, the emission reduction targets for each
country should be much higher than
Kyoto levels. Such targets cannot be reached through regular
efforts, something extraordinary is

2. required. This is where innovation comes in.
In this context, the role of business is growing fast. First, each
corporation must set its own
targets with an aim to contribute sufficiently to the global
reduction tally. It’s the only way.
Every business must take on these challenges through
technological process innovation.
Eventually, low carbon products and services will result from
ever lower low-carbon production
processes. By building product recycling systems, there is no
reason why we shouldn’t be able to
reduce green house gases on the one hand while growing the
economy on the other.
We have no time to waste when it comes to environmental
protection. The role and
influence of corporations is becoming greater.
I became president of Ricoh in 1996. At that time the situation
in the industry was one of
cautious steps toward conservation, with prevalent concerns
about costs and the effects on the
bottom line. This kind of mentality, even within our company,
risked driving the costs ever
higher. I strongly believed, even then, that on the contrary,

3. environmental conservation would
result in decreased operational costs. This is the message I kept
repeating to our directors,
employees and shareholders. Little by little I proved this to be
the case by taking actions even on
a small scale.
At Ricoh, environmental conservation went through three
stages: The first stage, the Passive
Stage, consisted of following regulations and reacting to outside
pressure like “green
procurement.” The next stage was the Proactive Stage where, as
volunteers, we became imbued
with a sense of mission regarding our planet. Through stage
two, our efforts were not yet
profitable. Finally, at the third stage, the Responsible Stage, we
were able to simultaneously
achieve environmental conservation and profit creation. This
advanced stage is where Ricoh is
now. The results of our activities during the Responsible Stage
are published annually in our
Sustainability Report and are very well received by our
stakeholders.
For example, we created a financial advantage by implementing
environmental conservation

4. through the following initiatives:
-based production system as
opposed to a line system, thus
reducing CO2 emissions and increasing productivity.
the same as the cost savings
and reduction of parts, materials and wasteful operations in
which we were previously
engaged. I am firmly convinced that these ideas resulted in
increased production, reduced
costs and improvements in the quality of our products.
emissions not only in the
production process but in all other operations. Once you can
identify where emissions are
the highest, that is your starting point for reduction and new
ideas emerge out of this
process. When cost is added in as a factor, you ought to be able
to see real improvements
in production as well as cost reduction. When the results
become apparent, everyone is

5. motivated.
In fact, by setting high goals for slowing global warming, we at
Ricoh have been able to
motivate everyone to promote process innovation not only in
production, but also in all other
operations. Taking the production process as an example, with
OPCs (Organic Photo
Conductors), the heart of copiers and laser printers, we managed
to reduce CO2 emissions by
more than 85 percent and cut OPC production costs by half.
This was achieved through selective
placement of clean ventilation points along the production line
rather than needlessly covering
the entire line.
Each corporation must set its own targets with an aim to
contribute sufficiently to
the global reduction tally. It’s the only way. Every business
must take on these
challenges through technological process innovation.
I acknowledge accomplishing ambitious goals is no easy task.
There are many obstacles that may
be in your way. For instance, as a large, multinational company,
it’s not always easy to convince

6. different regional offices to operate in the same,
environmentally-friendly way. To be honest,
there have been some cultural differences in both understanding
and commitment between
regions in the past.
One example of how regional problems may come into play is
that a geographically large
country might not have a problem with dumping waste in open
spaces, or absorbing CO2
through its abundant nature—and in those countries it was quite
a challenge to promote emission
reduction programs. However, gradually, through company-wide
global conferences, our senior
executives and managers were able to achieve international
cooperation through everyone’s
common understanding of four main points: 1) the importance
of conservation; 2) our
responsibility as global citizens; 3) the significance of the
Ricoh Group’s commitment to
environmental management; and 4) the need to educate and
encourage all group members to
participate. Nowadays all regions, be it the Americas, Europe,
China or Asia Pacific, pursue
similar actions in their own way, and with great enthusiasm.

7. We have no time to waste when it comes to environmental
protection. The role and influence of
corporations is becoming greater. No matter how hard the task,
I believe we have no choice but
to tackle global warming now. We simply cannot leave these
problems for the next generation to
solve. If you ask me as Chairman of Keizai Doyukai which I
prioritize more—stopping global
warming or economic growth—my answer is to take global
warming seriously while promoting
management innovation toward building a low carbon society.
Business management of the future must be able to generate
profits based on achieving high
emission reduction targets. I firmly believe, and would like
everyone to believe, that
environmental conservation and sustainable profits are mutually
compatible. If, as a corporate
executive, your commitment to the environment is deep, you
will achieve both business and
environmental sustainability as well as enjoy greater success as
a business.
Keizai Doyukai, chaired by Masamitsu Sakurai, is the Japanese

8. Association of Corporate
Executives, a powerful industry government advisory body
Under Sakurai, Ricoh was the first company in Japan to commit
to the Kyoto Protocol
Ricoh has made the Global 100 list at Davos for the 5th year
running.
Sakurai-san became president and eventually CEO of Ricoh in
1996, jumping over 8 senior
executives in the process. He already had behind him 9 years of
overseas experience in Europe
where he opened a major production plant and then served as
European Chairman.
5 Easy Ways to Kick-start Your Business
Planning
Don't know where to start with your plan? Here are some tips to
get you going--today.
Tim Berry | August 26, 2010
URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217257
Have you been putting off the business planning? You know
who you are. Do you mean to start

9. managing better, but keep getting distracted by fires to put out?
Here are five quick and easy
ways to start planning today.
1. Do a SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats. It's a great way to
break out of that planning inertia. It's especially good when
there's a team involved. Take
an hour or two and jot down bullet points under each of these
four categories.
Don't spend all day, much less all week. A couple of hours
should work fine.
Don't argue about what goes where. Don't criticize
contributions. It's brainstorming. Just
jot down the points and record them. Strategy follows. You
can't help it. You do a
SWOT, and strategy follows.
And now you're planning.
2. Compare plans to actual sales.
Think through what turned out differently and what didn't, and
why. Soon, you'll be

10. thinking about your marketing strategy, target markets,
marketing messages, customers,
channels, packaging, delivery, complaints and competitors. I'm
amazed at how much of
business, and the business planning process, pivots around the
difference between
planned and actual sales.
And now you're planning.
3. Talk to 10 well-chosen people
Funny how much time goes by for most business owners without
really talking even to
your customers, much less to a few people who aren't your
customers but could be. I was
shocked the first time I did it. I felt like I talked to customers
often, but that's nothing to
what you get when you dedicate time and have a real
conversation.
First make a good list. Don't cheat yourself and talk only to the
people you always talk to
anyway. Stretch yourself further and find some people you don't
know, so you get a fresh
look. Ask them for their time, not as a survey taker but as the

11. owner or manager of the
business. A lot of people will turn you down (I probably
would), but if the conversation is
framed right, you'll find some people interested.
Start the conversation with interesting questions. The first
couple of questions are critical
to the success of the talk. Grab their interest. Wake their
curiosity.
And now you're planning.
4. Imagine a customer story
That's right: I say "imagine," not find or tell a customer story.
This isn't a testimonial for
use by marketing.
Imagine your ideal customer. Give her a gender, occupation,
family (or not), children (or
not), route to work, favorite magazines, television shows,
hobbies, websites, music, and
movies. If she owns a car, what make, what model. Imagine
favorite vacations.

12. Now imagine how she finds your business. What does he like
about you, and what does
she dislike? What prompts him to look for you. Where does she
look? What does he tell
other people about your business?
How do you want to be described by your customers to their
friends? What do you want
to make them set you apart, in their minds?
Think about that, imagine that, and now you're planning.
5. Visualize a better future
Where your business might be three years from now if things go
really well. What will
your office or store or plant look like three years from now?
What will you be selling?
How different is it from what you're selling today? Who will
you be selling too? How
different will that be from who you sell to today?
Some would call this dreaming. But dreaming ahead, dreaming
the future, is a vital part
of business planning. Dream it, then focus, set the steps to make
it happen. Then track

13. and follow up, and manage.
And now you're planning.
Tim Berry is the "Business Plans" coach at Entrepreneur.com
and is president of Palo Alto
Software Inc. , which produces the industry's leading business
planning software, Business Plan
Pro, as well as other popular planning applications for
businesses. He is the author of The
Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan and co-author of 3 Weeks to
Startup with Sabrina Parsons,
both published by Entrepreneur Press.
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