Message from the President
We are always aiming to provide new value and be a company essential to society.
Great East Japan Earthquake
The recent Great East Japan Earthquake has inflicted unimaginable damage. Many people suffered enormous destruction, including Casio customers and suppliers. Along with our heartfelt condolences to these victims, I would like to express our hopes for a speedy recovery. I would also like to take this opportunity to express gratitude for all the heartfelt support that the people of Japan have received from around the world.
Some Casio sites were also affected by the disaster, but through the cooperation of all employees, we were able to rapidly restore business operations. Although there has been some impact on the business, we are taking various measures to minimize it.
Casio will continue to help with reconstruction by providing various forms of support, always based on the needs of people in the disaster-struck region and creative ideas about how to provide assistance.
Providing new value to the world
Casio was founded with the invention of the world's first compact, fully electric calculator in 1957.
At that time, Japanese businesses mainly used foreign-made, electric-powered mechanical calculators. Casio's breakthrough calculator however, was smaller and quieter while offering more rapid calculation. Since it provided much better performance in many areas, it immediately penetrated the calculator market.
Developing a completely novel product that has never existed before-like that calculator-is exactly how we provide new value to the world. Over the more than 50 years that followed, Casio has developed more world-firsts and a whole range of other original products, including personal calculators, digital watches, electronic musical instruments, electronic dictionaries, and digital cameras. We have consistently kept providing new value to the world.
As we help to make people's lives more convenient and comfortable, and the world recognizes the value of what we do, whole new markets and cultural developments emerge. This is how we are realizing our corporate creed, "Creativity and Contribution." It is simply in Casio's "DNA" to make something from nothing to go from "0" to "1".
Building a more sustainable world
Casio began focusing on environmental issues early on, and we have been working to reduce the environmental impact of our products. We strive to offer products with high performance that are consistently compact, lightweight, slim, and energy efficient.
Going beyond product development, our environmental initiatives include action plans for the management of business sites with, for instance, medium and long-term greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and activities for the protection of biodiversity.
By exchanging opinions with stakeholders, Casio is also working to help solve social problems in various fields relating to our business management.
In the area of school education in particular, we continue to hold meetings with teachers in Japan and around the world. We strive to research their teaching methods, and use their feedback for product development.
In our product development, Casio continues to work on making daily life more convenient for people worldwide. This includes market-specific development of products such as a calculator with Indian digit grouping.
Meanwhile, in order to ensure that future generations will inherit an even better world, Casio is continuing to fund pioneering and creative research by young researchers through the Casio Science Promotion Foundation. In addition to the target areas of electronics and mechanical engineering, the funded fields include natural sciences relating to health and energy conservation, as well as the cultural sciences. In this way, Casio is contributing broadly to the future of science and technology.
Casio is also continuing to educate the next generation based on unique programs offered for children who will be the opinion leaders and citizens of tomorrow.
To build a more sustainable world, Casio is striving to realize its corporate creed, "Creativity and Contribution." While continuing to provide the world with new value, we are helping to solve relevant environmental and social issues using an approach that is integrated with our business activities. Our balanced initiatives are based on the triple bottom line of economic, environmental, and social performance.
Participating in the Global Compact
Casio products are produced with the cooperation of not just our group companies, but many component makers and consignment manufacturers around the world. As a company with global operations, Casio respects international standards relating to human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. By fulfilling our corporate social responsibilities, Casio is promoting the ongoing development of the international community.
As part of these efforts, Casio joined the UN Global Compact in December 2010.
In the near future, the principles of the Global Compact will be incorporated explicitly into various aspects of our corporate management, and we will disclose progress updates at the appropriate times.
This report highlights the main initiatives taken by Casio in fiscal 2011. I encourage all of our stakeholders to review the information provided here. I look forward to your feedback, which will be used to improve our future initiatives. Your continuing support is greatly appreciated.
