Nissan 2005 Annual Report Download - page 45

Nissan Annual Report 2004 43
such as streaming video have cut that communication time
from weeks to just hours. But we are not resting here. We
recognize that mobile communications is a growing new
force in how people get news and information and have a
number of projects looking at delivering important news to
our employees via devices such as mobile phones.
Whether it is with governments, local communities,
pressure groups or non-governmental organizations, we also
need to be able to respond to interest in our company
across a wide variety of issues. For example, we are seeing
increasing interest in Japan and elsewhere about Corporate
Social Responsibility or CSR. This year, we decided to
establish a dedicated function within Nissan that focuses
solely on this area. Our first year will be spent defining CSR
in Nissan, which areas we should concentrate on and how
we will measure our progress. We are also taking a fresh
look at corporate citizenship to ensure that we are giving
back to society in a way that is consistent with the values of
our company and employees.
CSR and corporate citizenship are closely related
because people naturally link the good works a company
performs to its role in society. We want the company and its
brands to touch everything we do, and corporate citizenship
activities should reflect our values and attributes. The three
pillars of Nissan’s corporate citizenship are in education, the
environment, and humanitarian activities. Meeting the latter
commitment, to give one example, means not just reacting to
disasters but being proactive as well. We want to move away
from simply writing a check to a much deeper level of
involvement, and we will be taking this policy beyond the local
community perspective to the national and global level.
We see our share price as a direct function of
communications, a function of expectations. Whether we are
delivering results or providing information to investors, we
know that speed and transparency are vital. Our Investor
Relations division works hand-in-hand with our external and
internal communications teams to ensure the timely delivery
of that information. Speed, relevance and trust are at the
core of all communications at Nissan.”
“The role of Communications at Nissan is far more
dynamic today than it has ever been. We are looking
beyond traditional methods such as advertising to talk
with stakeholders and approaching communications in
a more strategic way. We are trying to not only
become more effective but also more efficient and
more proactive. We’re not just pushing messages out
and waiting to deal with issues that come up.
As part of that more proactive approach, we’re
reaching out across the world, talking with our
stakeholders, and looking for issues—both positive
and negative—that may affect our business. At
Nissan, Communications is focused on creating
opportunities for the company to tell its story in a
relevant way to stakeholders.
One immediate need is to globalize the company’s
communications. We’re working toward global consistency,
behaving not as isolated regional units but as a single
global entity with a strong single voice. However, that is not
at the expense of local sensitivities and addressing the
unique requirements of local stakeholders.
We take communications within Nissan itself just as
seriously. Our new internal motto is ‘No surprises.’ That means
no employee should ever read about something going on at
Nissan in the media first. There is always speculation in the
media, which employees naturally read like anyone else. We
are focused on building our internal communications to the
point where employees trust us over what they’re hearing
outside. Our hope is that, when they read something about
Nissan, their first impulse is to confirm it internally.
It is our belief that Nissan employees deserve an internal
communications system that operates at the same speed
and effectiveness as an external news agency like CNN or
the BBC. Last year we introduced a significant new internal
communications tool called WIN—Workforce Integration at
Nissan, our global employee intranet. WIN gives us a powerful
global tool that links all employees who have access to a
PC. Prior to WIN, it could take weeks to share video with
employees of a major company event. WIN and technologies
Speed, relevance and trust
SIMON SPROULE
Vice President
COMMUNICATIONS
OUR WORK