C S R R E P O R T 2 017 C S R R E P O R T 2 017
Nintend o Co ., L t d . Nintend o Co ., L t d .
C S R R E P O R T 2 017C S R R E P O R T 2 017
Detailed Version (website)
www.nintendo.co.jp/csr/en/
Digest Version (this report)
CSR REPORT 2 017
Nintendo Co ., Ltd.
Reporting Scope
Publication Date
Publication date of English report: July 2017
(The next English report will be published in July 2018)
Nintendo Overview
Company Name
Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Location
11-1 Hokotate-cho, Kamitoba, Minami-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Founded
September 1889
Incorporated
November 1947
Capital
10,065 million yen
Sales
489,095 million yen
(fiscal year ended March 2017)
Number of Consolidated Employees
5,166 employees
(
as of the end of March 2017
)
Business Description
Manufacture and sale of home leisure equipment
We define CSR as “Putting Smiles on the Faces of Everyone Nintendo Touches.”
This CSR report is a digest version of the activities Nintendo has been working on
to achieve our CSR goal. Please refer to the Nintendo Co., Ltd. website for more
detailed information about our CSR activities. We welcome your opinions and
comments about the CSR Report 2017 on our website.
The scope of this report covers the activities and data of the
Nintendo Group (Nintendo Co., Ltd. and its main subsidiaries).
Any information not within this scope is explicitly identified
as such. For the purposes of this report, the term “Nintendo“
refers to the entire Nintendo Group. Nintendo Co., Ltd. is
referred to by its complete name.
Reporting Period
This report mainly covers activities in fiscal year 2016 (from
April 2016 through March 2017), in addition to some recent
activities and some activities prior to fiscal year 2016.
Data for financial results and employees include figures
through the end of March of each fiscal year; environmental
data covers January through December of each year.
1 2
Representative Director and President
Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Representative Director and President
Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Tatsumi KimishimaTatsumi Kimishima
2
At Nintendo, we have thus far provided fresh and fun surprises to
make everyone we interact with smile. This policy will remain
unchanged as we move forward; we want to provide people
throughout the world with new and fun experiences that they have
never had before.
Nintendo Switch was launched in March 2017 as a new platform
that is a home console video game system and is also portable,
enabling users to have fun anywhere. Nintendo Switch includes
gameplay styles and game content that our fans have not previously
experienced with Nintendo games. It also includes various ideas
that enable people to instantly enjoy themselves even if they have
not yet played video games. An example of this would be
1-2-Switch, a game exclusive to Nintendo Switch that was released
on the same day as the system launch. In this game, two players face
off by looking each other in the eye, instead of watching the game
screen. New forms of communication are created as each player
tries to predict the other’s moves through their gestures and the
looks on their faces. Although the origins of 1-2-Switch can be
traced back to Hanafuda (traditional Japanese playing cards with
flower motifs) and the decks of four-suit playing cards that Nintendo
has made from the beginning, 1-2-Switch offers a completely new
type of gaming experience that fully utilizes Nintendo’s unwavering
strengths.
Our efforts to produce new surprises are not limited to Nintendo
Switch. We are constantly working to provide new software for
Nintendo 3DS and new applications for smart devices. We are also
expanding our community of smiles with a variety of collaborative
efforts that involve companies beyond the game-development field.
This is part of our basic strategy to expand the population that
experiences Nintendo’s intellectual property IP .
We constantly strive to consider all our stakeholders with the
“omotenashi” spirit of traditional Japanese hospitality to put smiles
on the faces of everyone Nintendo touches.
For instance, we developed Nintendo Switch Parental Controls, a
free application that enables parents and guardians to easily
monitor their children’s gameplay activities by using a smart device
linked to their Nintendo Switch system. Not only can parents and
guardians easily restrict the types of software that their children can
play based on their children’s ages as well as posts to social media,
but there is functionality to set an alarm notification for when their
children exceed the agreed amount of gameplay time. Parents and
guardians can also use the reporting features to review, at a glance,
which games their children are playing. Nintendo Switch Parental
Controls is an application that encourages parents and guardians to
communicate with their children and jointly decide on guidelines for
how they have fun with games.
With Nintendo Switch, we also focused on its ability to deliver high
performance with low power consumption. All feasible efforts were
made to reduce the environmental load on the planet while still
improving performance through technological innovations. Our
approach to environmental issues also drove us to reconsider how
we package our products and to make our operations manuals
available online instead of providing printed copies. Conserving
natural resources remains a priority at Nintendo.
Since fiscal year 2007, we have placed a CSR focus on CSR
procurement as we work closely with our production partners to
deliver products that are both high-quality and safe throughout the
world. I believe that physically going to each location to assess the
conditions and issues at hand, and working with our production
partners to consider what is necessary to build on our mutual
strengths, has resulted in the improved production we are seeing
this time.
In addition, we believe it is critical for all of us to come together in
our diverse workplaces to create new ideas and innovations. The
conditions and issues that surround diversity will naturally vary by
country and region. In this regard, at Nintendo, our basic policy is to
ensure that the responsible parties in different regions accurately
understand the issues at stake and are independently making
efforts to constantly identify and implement optimal solutions.
There are three core components to the Nintendo DNA that have
been fostered by each and every one of our employees: originality,
flexibility and sincerity. These components are the source of our
ability to create value within a gaming industry that is highly
competitive and constantly changing. We know that we will need to
rely on the strengths derived from the Nintendo DNA to continue
offering new and fun experiences. That is why we need proactive
internal structures that support people who are willing to take risks
without fear of failure and encourage them to get the job done
autonomously. When we began work on Nintendo Switch, we
adopted an internal structure completely different from the past to
develop this new hardware system. We made many changes, such
as selecting employees who had previously focused on software
development to lead the hardware development project. We
determined that such changes were necessary to create new ideas
and products, and it is critical that we adopt internal policies that
are not reliant on past models.
At Nintendo, we will continue to pursue new possibilities for fun
while remaining aware of the structures and systems that enable
employees, who are steeped in the Nintendo DNA, to continually
take on challenges.
Protecting what is important and changing what needs to be changed, without being bound by tradition.
At Nintendo, we continually work to create new surprises. These efforts are based on our corporate social responsibility
(CSR) policy: putting smiles on the faces of everyone Nintendo touches.
President’s Message
3 4
Nintendo’s CSR
CSR Pr iority Are a s
Everyone
Nintendo
Touches
S
h
a
r
e
h
o
l
d
e
r
s
a
n
d
I
n
v
e
s
t
o
r
s
E
m
p
l
o
y
e
e
s
B
u
s
i
n
e
s
s
P
a
r
t
n
e
r
s
C
o
n
s
u
m
e
r
s
E
n
v
i
r
o
n
m
e
n
t
C
o
m
m
u
n
i
t
y
Work Safety
Communication
Contributions
to Society
Human Resource
Development
Product Safety
Innovation
CO
2
Reduction
Resource
Conservation
Chemical Substance
Control
Compliance
CSR
Procurement
Diversity
CSR
Procurement
Innovation
C ommunit y
B u s iness P a rtners
Envi ronm ent
C ons umers
E m ployees
Shareholders a nd In v esto r s
Diversity
Based on the PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle, we strive to be
an organization that can periodically review its own involve-
ment in projects, identify potential issues in advance and take
necessary actions. At the same time, we make efforts to
ensure that everyone we interact with understands our
thought processes. We are also fully aware of society’s
expectations for Nintendo.
At Nintendo, we define our corporate social responsibility (CSR) as putting smiles
on the faces of everyone Nintendo touches. As our business activities affect
society in many ways, we decided that, starting in fiscal year 2015, we would place
even greater emphasis on CSR, based on both internal and external expectations.
We are committed to being a corporate citizen that is held
in high regard by society, through contributions that only
Nintendo can make.
We work to build relations of trust with our shareholders
and investors through the return of profits and timely
disclosure of information. We also strive to continuously
improve our corporate value for long-term partnerships.
We aim to create an environment in which all employees
can fully demonstrate their individual strengths and
realize their maximum potential.
We strive to build even stronger relationships with our
business partners, in a wide variety of industries, to help
make our consumers smile.
We strive to constantly improve the quality of our
products by learning from consumer feedback. Our goal
is to always provide consumers with fun, safe and
comfortable experiences.
At Nintendo, our goal is to continue bringing smiles to the
next generation of children. To that end, we carefully
consider the ways in which we design our products, and
conduct business activities from an environmental
perspective. In this way, we can better fulfill our
responsibility to preserve the global environment for
future generations.
Games can positively affect society as they offer the
potential for new forms of communication. We hope that
people will recognize this by using our products. Our goal
is to enable even one more person to live a happier, more
fulfilling life through their use of Nintendo products.
Advancing CSR activities throughout the entire supply
chain is a way to not only improve working conditions for
those employed at our production sites, but to also
produce high-quality products and, ultimately, lead to
more consumer smiles. We continue to work together
with our production partners, and focus on mutual
understanding and communication.
At Nintendo, we bring together employees with a wide
range of characteristics and work together to make those
we interact with smile. Providing our employees with a working
environment that empowers them is among the sources of
our competitive edge. In addition, it is critical that we, as a
global corporation, foster within our employees an
appropriate awareness of human rights.
Tabletop modeTV mode
Handheld mode
5 6
*
1
*
2
The HD (high-definition) rumble feature enables a rich variety
of vibration movements.
The IR Motion Camera is a camera that detects the shape,
movement and distance of objects.
CSR Priority Areas
Pursuing the New Potential of Video Games
At Nintendo, we have developed Nintendo Switch™ as a new video game system that enables users to experience
a wider range of gameplay styles. Users can move away from their television screens and take the Nintendo Switch
system with them to play wherever they like. Moreover, because users can have fun playing with Nintendo Switch
alone, in large groups or with anyone, and the system provides fun experiences that people throughout the world
have never seen before, we hope to see even those who have had little to no experience with video games smiling
and enjoying themselves.
With Nintendo Switch, three different gameplay modes, namely, TV mode, tabletop mode and handheld mode, can be selected to suit the
gaming situation. By changing the mode, users can have fun anywhere, any time, with anyone. In TV mode, Nintendo Switch can be connected
to a large-screen TV so that the whole family can share in the fun. Tabletop mode can be used even in locations without a TV by sharing the
Nintendo Switch screen to play. Handheld mode enables users to have fun with engaging games, whenever they please.
Nintendo Switch fully utilizes new functionality that we have reviewed and
researched extensively at Nintendo. The use of the HD rumble*
1
feature enables
users to, for example, experience the realistic sensation of ice cubes colliding in
a glass if they move the Joy-Con controller, and the IR Motion Camera*
2
has the
ability to recognize such things as the shape and movement of objects.
Incorporating such features broadens the range of expressions possible with
only the Joy-Con controller, enabling users to play without looking at the screen.
One example of this is 1-2-Switch, a new video game in which players can enjoy
facing off while looking each other in the eye. The mini-games included in
1-2-Switch, such as Ball Count and Safe Crack, use the HD rumble feature to, for
example, enable players to count the number of balls in a box, judging solely
from the sensations of the Joy-Con controller in their hand, or use the Joy-Con
controller as the dial on a safe and slowly turn it to work out the combination. The
mini-game Eating Contest uses the IR Motion Camera to detect how many
sandwiches a player has eaten, based on the chomping movements of their
mouth, to determine who wins the contest. These new and fun experiences that
anyone can easily enjoy were made possible through Nintendo’s years of
extensive research.
Nintendo Switch comes with a pair of left and right Joy-Con controllers that can
be used independently when detached from the system. By sharing one of the
Joy-Con controllers with a friend, users can start competing or cooperating with
each other anywhere. We hope that in addition to gaming veterans, people who
have had little to no experience with games, will be attracted to this feature, and
start having fun and interacting with others more.
7 8
Kawamoto
General Director, Nintendo Switch
Entertainment Planning & Development Division
Nintendo Co., Ltd.
General Producer, Nintendo Switch
Entertainment Planning & Development Division
Nintendo Co., Ltd.
CSR Priority Areas
Pursuing the New Potential of Video Games
In our pursuit of new gaming possibilities, we, at Nintendo, rise to a challenge: creating something that has
never been seen before by combining new technology with existing efforts. In this interview, two of the people
involved in the development of Nintendo Switch discuss the thought processes that went into developing a
video game hardware system that had never been seen before.
It all started when then-president Satoru Iwata called the two of us
into his office. Both of us had been involved in software development
up until that point, but Mr. Iwata told us that he wanted us to be in
charge of creating a platform, and to create something that had
never been seen before. During that meeting, he also instructed us
to go beyond simply building the platform, and instead begin by
freely imagining everything that could be involved, including the
direction and value proposition for the platform, the development
framework and production methodologies.
After receiving this assignment, we began to deeply discuss the
areas where previous platforms exceled, and where it would make
sense to consider revisions. Those involved in this project included
many young people from a range of departments. When it came to
the development framework, we went forward with methodologies
that included the ability to ensure we were on the right track even
when an actual product was not available, by creating as close a
prototype as possible to physically touch and evaluate what we were
working on, and the ability to make prompt decisions with a limited
number of people.
Koizumi
Kawamoto
I think one of the drivers here was our realization that now even
when people get together and go out in public places, such as
restaurants, they all seem to be in their own separate worlds. We
kept thinking, if only they could have more fun together. Nintendo
has long been a company that has offered products and amuse-
ments, such as playing cards, that encourage people to have fun
together. We wanted Nintendo Switch to be Nintendo’s best way of
bringing people together and having fun to date.
As we developed Nintendo Switch, there were several concepts
that we had in mind: Can we play full-fledged games on it? Would
we feel safe letting children play with it? Will everyone have fun
playing it together? It was that last concept of everyone having fun
playing it together that came to the forefront in our minds.
Koizumi
Koizumi
The newly incorporated HD rumble and IR Motion Camera features
had already been under research before the Nintendo Switch
project began. Software developers have considered and will
consider a wide variety of uses for these new features, both for titles
available from the Nintendo Switch launch and ones coming in the
future. It is exciting to imagine how these technologies will be used.
There were so many ideas in the mix, but when we came up with
the idea to have two controllers that could be connected to and
removed from the system, it was as if a light bulb came on over my
head. This idea would not only enable users to enjoy full-fledged
games, but it would also make the hardware easily portable and
enable two users to play with each other as soon as they take the
system out of the box.
There are teams within Nintendo’s hardware division that research
different ways to play games. They search for technologies that
enable the new play styles that they conceive and, conversely, come
up with new play styles that arise from technologies. We examined
those new play styles and technologies, evaluated how surprising
and interesting they were, their future potential and whether they
were feasible in terms of cost before making our selections.
Kawamoto
We started using the word “sharing” from the beginning, and it had
a powerful impact. However, we had never used controllers like
Joy-Con before. Among other things, we were concerned about
how they would feel to users, their durability and the costs involved.
We wanted to make sure we maintained the notion that different
grips would facilitate different play styles, which proved to be a
particularly difficult puzzle to solve for the employees within the
hardware division. Nonetheless, they stuck to the task and really
applied themselves to produce many new ideas. Now and then we
all sat down together, as everyone wanted to get all the details correct.
I am really impressed that we were able to incorporate all the key
elements, including sharing, into controllers that are as small and as
thin as these. Our secret strategy might simply have been our refusal
to give up.
Kawamoto
Koizumi
Koizumi
9
CSR Priority Areas
Pursuing the New Potential of Video Games
10
Most of the employees on the hardware and software teams
worked under the same roof. This enabled everyone to come
together quickly and talk over ideas, test prototypes quickly,
exchange opinions and propose improvements. In that sense, it was
easy to develop a shared vision.
Koizumi
Regarding the environment, as we were designing the product to
comply with the EU’s Energy-related Products Directive*, as well as
the laws and regulations in each of the countries in which Nintendo
products are distributed, we needed to not only continue to avoid
the use of banned substances, but also find ways not to package
printed operations manuals with the product, reduce other paper
within the box and make the packaging more compact.
Kawamoto
We had unprecedented levels of information sharing, both within
Nintendo and with external partners. Team members would fly out
to make presentations on the system at partner sites. Everyone
involved was astonished. We were able to hear a variety of opinions
and suggestions from an early stage. Sharing ideas in such venues
and working actively to increase our number of collaborators served
to bring the entire project team together.
Koizumi
This was something that Yoshiaki (Koizumi) implemented as part of
the software project. We created a website for all involved parties on
which we shared the content of our discussions, including
photographs, and the reasons why decisions were made. In doing
so, we made it easier for people to understand and realize how
their work fit into the grand scheme of things, why their work was
needed and where our priorities lied.
Kawamoto
We made Nintendo Switch according to the concept of it being a
system that enables full-fledged gameplay. Therefore, we expect
that people who have played video games before will really enjoy it.
We also made Nintendo Switch to be a system that people can enjoy
together, so we hope that these interactions will help us reach new
consumers and lead to more people having fun.
Kawamoto
We will remain focused on incorporating into our products
keywords and experiences that everyone can relate to, and on
valuing gameplay that can be understood without any verbal
explanations. Beyond that, however, we want gameplay to lead to new
connections, as users gain a better sense of the other people with
whom they share gaming time. Nintendo Switch is probably the best
game system in the world for bringing people together. We want it
to serve as a tool for connecting people.
Koizumi
One of our core concepts was providing parents and guardians
with peace of mind when letting their children use the system. As
with preceding platforms, Nintendo Switch offers Parental Controls
that enable parents and guardians to set restrictions on gameplay
and according to their children’s ages from within Nintendo Switch
itself. However, we also felt that having to take a console away from
a child to configure those settings imposed a burden on both the
parents or guardians and the children. That was the impetus for the
development of Nintendo Switch Parental Controls
TM
, which enables
parents and guardians to configure those settings remotely, using
their own smart devices with which they are already used to using.
Parents and guardians can decide unilaterally how much gameplay
time their children should be allowed, but we hope they will discuss
these limits with their children and decide together. That is why the
only notification that will be seen is “You have reached the play-time
limit.” We wanted this functionality to encompass the notion that
communication is needed for parents or guardians and their
children to discuss gameplay time together.
Koizumi
Koizumi
A good example is 1-2-Switch. Even people who have never played
video games before instantly understand the rules as they watch
other people play. They start having fun and laugh even just by
watching from the sidelines. So many people have watched
Westerns, for example, that even if there was no explanation for how
to play Quick Draw, players would instantly understand what to do
after witnessing the scenario. And then there is Samurai Training,
which, we think, players will immediately find fascinating.
As we developed the mini-games for 1-2-Switch, we heard players
say things we had never heard before during the development
process, such as “It’s the first time I’ve seen so-and-so move like
that!, ” “I didn’t know so-and-so could dance like that!” and “It’s been
a while since I looked at someone in the eye that long.” We hope that
our consumers will have similar reactions, particularly if they have the
opportunity to play with their family and relatives when they are
home for the holidays.
Kawamoto
A good example of this was the cycle we had where the hardware
team would design controllers, prototype them using 3D printers,
and then employees on the software teams, who constantly use
controllers to check their games, would test these prototypes and
offer advice. We repeated this cycle over and over again. The same
was true for the system software. I believe Nintendo Switch was
made possible because there was such close interaction among the
teams for every aspect of the project.
Kawamoto
We wanted Nintendo Switch to be a video game system that our
consumers would feel comfortable taking anywhere with them, and
that would enable full-fledged gameplay. The software and hardware
teams worked hard together to find new ways to cool the console to
avoid any low-temperature burns, while maintaining performance.
Kawamoto
We also decided to make the rails metal; the controllers connect to
the console through these rails. Using metal makes it harder for the
rails to degrade as a result of repeated removal and attachment by
users. Degradation of the rails could be problematic if, for example, a
user was playing in handheld mode and the controller suddenly
became detached. The solution, however, was not simply to make the
parts sturdier. We needed to preserve the experience that enables
people to share and have fun playing together, and maintain a design
and size that was easily portable. A great deal of trial and error went
into the process because there were many components other than the
controllers that also required our consideration.
Koizumi
1-2-Switch
Samurai Training
Quick Draw
1-2-Switch is a software title developed exclusively for Nintendo Switch
that was released on March 3, 2017. This diverse game is enjoyed by
players looking each other in the eyes and includes 28 mini-games. It is
a completely new type of software that everyone can enjoy together and
enables not only the players to have fun, but also encourages people
watching to get involved.
*
The Energy-related Products Directive is a European Union regulation that requires
products to be designed in a way that promotes energy efficiency (eco-design).
General Manager, Procurement Department
Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Primary Training
• Education based on the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines
• On-site inspection experience, using on-the-job training
• Learning through third-party monitoring
CSR Procurement Process
•Nintendo CSR Procurement
Guidelines
•Nintendo CSR Procurement
Guidelines
Share Guidelines
With Production Partners
•Business Status Survey
•Conflict Minerals Survey
•Business Status Survey
•Conflict Minerals Survey
Confirmation by Survey
•On-Site Inspections
•Third-Party Monitoring
•Conflict Minerals
Interviews
•On-Site Inspections
•Third-Party Monitoring
•Conflict Minerals
Interviews
Site Visits to Understand
Current Status
•Feedback on On-Site
Inspections
•Follow-Up On-Site
Inspections
•Feedback on On-Site
Inspections
•Follow-Up On-Site
Inspections
Follow-Up
11 12
Masaaki Egi
Senior Manager
Data and Devices Japan Sales
Mobile & CE Sales Group
Tyco Electronics Japan G.K.
Partner Comment
Conflict minerals are the four minerals, gold, tantalum, tin and tungsten, extracted
from the conflict-affected regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo or its
adjoining countries, and are used as a financial source for inhumane armed
groups that violate human rights and, in the process, destroy the environment.
*
Advancing CSR Procurement With Our Production Partners
CSR Priority Areas
Guidance from the Office of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
that presents a supply-chain management framework for minerals extracted in
high-risk or conflict areas.
*
At Nintendo, we work closely with our production partners, with
an emphasis on building relations of trust and achieving mutual
understanding. We believe that placing a special focus on labor
environment issues, human rights issues and risk management
results in higher quality products and parts, decreased risks, and
mutually improved corporate value and competitiveness.
This is why direct communication is indispensable within our CSR
procurement and we continue to perform on-site inspections of
our production partners. By directly communicating the reasons
that improvements are necessary and reinforcing Nintendo’s
approach to CSR, we can share the direction that each of our
respective production initiatives should follow while valuing the
use of our respective strengths.
From an international perspective, there is no guarantee that our
production partners’ site operations will be adequate, even if they
comply with local customs and laws. We continually have
conversations regarding the Nintendo CSR Procurement
Guidelines, aiming to improve our production partners’ awareness
to facilitate CSR activities that recognize the various requirements
from countries around the world.
We also share case studies on different issues with our production
partners for reference to help them better understand the kinds
of issues occurring in the world and society’s expectations for
companies.
We referred to the Due Diligence Guidance for Conflict Minerals*
from the Office of Economic Cooperation and Development to
create the Conflict Minerals Guidelines, which set forth the chain of
responsibility and investigation methods for the handling of
conflict minerals. We have also been working on strengthening
our investigation system and improving investigation methods.
As a part of these efforts, we visit production partners and interview
them on investigation methods and issues to be addressed.
To accurately understand the actual conditions of our production
partners’ CSR activities, we aimed for two improvements in fiscal
year 2016.
First, although we have continually sent our Business Status
Survey to companies that have been working with Nintendo over
the years to understand their current situation, we determined that
the questions regarding risk evaluation had been lacking and thus
revised them to be more specific and provide a greater level of
detail.
The second improvement was to focus on increasing the skills of
the Nintendo Co., Ltd. employees who actually perform the on-site
inspections. At Nintendo, we believe that the better we know the
sites and people who work for our production partners, and the
better our on-site inspectors’ are at communicating with their
counterparts, the greater our inspectors’ proficiency and the
quality of those on-site inspections will improve. We enhanced the
certification program for employees performing our on-site
inspections and we will conduct training to improve the ability of
our inspectors.
The CSR procurement initiative, which was launched in fiscal year
2007, has now reached its tenth year. Over the years, our progress
may have proceeded somewhat slowly at times, but we have
continued to move forward. The Nintendo CSR Procurement
Guidelines have been revised regularly, we have been investigating
our supply chain to address the conflict minerals* issue and we
brought in a third party to conduct monitoring of our production
partners’ sites. In fiscal year 2016, we worked with more production
partners, as we began to produce new products. Whenever we
start working with a new production partner, we visit their sites to
review the conditions. According to the results of those initial visits,
we conduct on-site inspections that examine issues more closely.
In the fall of 2016, Nintendo conducted an on-site inspection of a production outsourcing
company in China that manufactures our antenna products. Despite only being established 10
years ago, this production company has built an impressive track record of corporate social
responsibility following its creation and then operation of a proprietary CSR management system.
After we were informed that Nintendo wanted to visit the site to perform an on-site inspection,
our purchasing team, and the local environmental and CSR contacts decided to join the Nintendo
team for the inspection. We discovered new issues in terms of health and safety, and labor
management through Nintendo’s conversations with site workers. The Nintendo inspection
team not only focused on the workplace but also pointed out the need to remove hazardous
materials from around the outside of the buildings, and to improve the electrical equipment
layout within employee dormitories. Having the Nintendo inspection team point out these
problems enabled us to make further improvements and develop new preventive measures.
This on-site inspection was particularly meaningful for the executives at the plant in China to
realize the significance of Nintendo’s goal, which is to put smiles on the faces of everyone it
touches.
A working environment that is safe and friendly for all employees fosters improved employee
retention rates and leads to even higher levels of proficiency. In the future, we will continue to
advance CSR activities to ensure high-quality production processes.
Nintendo adopts a fabless (fabrication-less) production model, meaning that
we do not own the production factories that manufacture our products.
Consequentially, the cooperation of our production partners in Japan and abroad
is essential.
I believe that working directly with our production partners on CSR procurement
initiatives enables us to produce high-quality and safe products, which, in turn,
leads to more smiles from our consumers.
13 14
CSR Management
Mid-Term Plan for CSR Promotion (FY)
Educate employees throughout the company
Identify priority areas
Decide on and execute strategies for priority areas
PHASE
1
2 0 1 5
~
2 0 1 7
Continued improvements in priority areas
Increase commitment in Nintendo’s areas of strength
PHASE
2
2 0 18
~
2 0 2 0
Meet society’s expectations with initiatives that leverage
our strengths, and put smiles on people’s faces
PHASE
3
2 0 2 1
~
Promoting a Diverse Work Environment
LGBT is the abbreviation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
*
CSR Priority Areas CSR Priority Areas
At Nintendo Co., Ltd., we consider the participation and
advancement of women to play a crucial role in strengthening our
competitiveness. Taking into consideration that the software
industry traditionally has employed fewer women, we, in Japan,
continue to strengthen our efforts to make it easier for our female
employees to use childcare and return-to-work programs. In
support of recent amendments to the Child Care and Family Care
Leave Law, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, both of
which have taken effect in Japan, we have, for example, revised
our internal policy to enable employees to take off half days to
nurse children, and to prohibit harassment related to maternity or
nursing care.
We intend to raise the ratio of women recruited or promoted
from contract employees to full-time employees by 5 percent to 25
percent during the next five years starting from fiscal year 2017,
compared with the cumulative percentage for the last five years
(approx. 20 percent), and we have already launched a number of
initiatives toward this end. These efforts reflect our commitment to
the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement
in the Workplace that was enacted last year in Japan.
At Nintendo Co., Ltd., we also focus on efforts to improve
awareness of human rights issues in our employee training in
Japan. For each respective training theme, we consider the
target audience, timing and methodologies that will more
effectively deepen the participants’ understanding. Starting
from April 2016, we have increased efforts that were made to
improve awareness of human rights issues such as the inclusion
of content specific to LGBT* in the training of new recruits.
In Germany, where Nintendo of Europe GmbH is located,
new legislation called the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungs-
gesetz (the General Equality Law, or AGG) was enacted to
prevent discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender,
religion, faith, disability, age or sexual orientation. In this
regard, we continue to conduct training for new recruits to
ensure that they thoroughly understand our approach and
encourage people to have a greater understanding of others in
the workplace.
We will continue efforts to improve the employees’ aware-
ness of human rights as we strive to create workplaces where
people with a wide range of characteristics can maximize
their potential.
In accordance with the fiscal year 2015 mid-term plan for CSR
promotion, we, at Nintendo Co., Ltd., have established four
priority areas to focus on: pursuing the new potential of video
games, advancing CSR procurement together with production
partners, realizing a more diverse workplace and CSR management.
Objectives were set for each of these four priority areas and
broken down into three phases with each phase taking three
years. Specific efforts to achieve these objectives include setting
a goal for each fiscal year and using the PDCA cycle to
implement improvements for greater results. Fiscal year 2017
will be the final year for Phase 1 of the mid-term plan for CSR
promotion. To ensure transition to active involvement in the next
phase, we will review our progress to date and examine topics
that will require more effort moving forward.
Every six months, we share information with our overseas
subsidiaries on the progress made with respect to the objectives
in our priority areas.
The most important part of promoting CSR activities is
ensuring that all employees on the frontlines understand the
importance of CSR. At Nintendo Co., Ltd. in Japan, we
established three main pillars for activities to advance CSR
initiatives: raise awareness, deepen understanding and seek
participation. The focus for fiscal year 2016 was on raising
awareness about CSR, and this was disseminated primarily
through an internal communications newsletter, with articles
that explained how CSR relates to the work each employee
performs at Nintendo. In the future, by creating opportunities,
such as internal seminars, for employees to deepen their
understanding of CSR, and by gradually increasing employee
participation in activities that give back to society in ways only
Nintendo can achieve, employees will become even more
aware of CSR issues.
At Nintendo Australia, the CSR Committee aims to increase
employee understanding of CSR by sending out a CSR newsletter
to all employees there. In fiscal year 2016, the committee
published four newsletters, showcasing their recent CSR
initiatives. One issue highlighted a program that brought the
children of employees to work, to show the children what kind of
work their parents perform for Nintendo Australia. The inclusion
of pictures drawn by the children and photographs of the event
helped to bolster employee interest in the newsletter, and this
increased readership further promoted a deeper understanding
of CSR activities among employees.
Considering those over 60 years of age to be our “second
working generation,” we, at Nintendo Co., Ltd., have introduced a
human resources system that provides security in the workplace to
suit employees’ lifestyles in Japan. Specifically, we have provided
options for reduced hours to allow for nursing or health needs,
and extended Medicinal Care Leave to a maximum of 10 days.
Also, special leave that can be taken for any reason was extended
to an annual maximum of 5 days. We, at Nintendo Co., Ltd., will
continue to support the second working generation by providing
an environment suited to their working-style needs, and individual
skills and capabilities, to ensure that they can put the experience
and knowledge they have accumulated over the years to full use,
regardless of their health or family situations.
It takes the strength of an incredibly diverse workforce to take on the challenge of putting smiles on the faces of
everyone Nintendo touches. We are advancing efforts that utilize diverse viewpoints and ideas to improve our
competitiveness.
We promote CSR activities across the entire Nintendo Group to ensure our CSR approach reaches all of our
employees. We set objectives for each fiscal year and then use the PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle to develop
and promote activities at even higher levels.
