Alpine 2008 Annual Report Download - page 9

Activities for CSR
As Alpine’s stakeholders have become more diverse, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown in
importance. At Alpine, CSR means that “We embody our corporate ideals in all our business activities.” Our three
core ideals are respect for individuals, value creation, and contribution to society. Building on those ideals, we
strive to educate and employ people in ways that create new value for people everywhere, and to create a richer,
more prosperous and enjoyable society through the way in which we conduct our business. We believe that we
fulfill our responsibility to society by making CSR activities an integral part of how we embody our ideals.
9
By reducing the weight of our products, we contribute to more efficient use of fuel by our
customers’ cars. In Japan, our DLX-F17S speakers not only deliver excellent sound quality,
but by taking special care in designing their components, we have reduced their weight by
40% compared to previous speakers. Using computer simulations to consider the effects
of a 0.1mm reduction in the size of magnetic circuits, we found that it was possible to
reduce the depth of our speakers by 13% with no loss in sound quality. We were also able
to improve the way the speakers are mounted in the car.
Environmental Activities: Smaller, Lighter Products
At Alpine we have set up a fellowship fund for students at China’s Neusoft Institute
of Information. Since 2004, we have formed partnerships with universities located
around Dalian in China, to provide instructors and other support for engineering and
management education. In fiscal 2007, three additional universities joined our alliance,
which now comprises six universities. We have also set up an internship system to
foster understanding of Japanese corporate culture and provide opportunities for career
development among students from outside Japan.
Philanthropic Activities: Educational Support for Students
Globalization is transforming our business in amazing ways, making our
ability to respond quickly to social change and business risk and to build
relationships of strong mutual trust with all our stakeholders even more
important.
In 2006 we created the CSR committee. Since its mission is to be the
core of efforts to share our CSR concept with stakeholders around the
world, it is a body that cuts across internal divisions and addresses issues
that confront our company as a whole. Last year it promulgated the
“CSR Mid-Term Plan” to clarify the CSR issues we face. In fiscal 2008,
as awareness of environmental and risk management issues increased,
we began putting in place environmental protection and internal control
systems that conform with European REACH regulations and ensure that
internal controls conform to all relevant laws and regulations. An on-going
PDCA* cycle is in place to further strengthen our corporate foundations.
To make these plans realities, we believe it is essential to strengthen
motivation, raise awareness, and increase individual satisfaction
concerning CSR among all Alpine employees. We need, in other words, to make CSR a firmly established part of our corporate
culture. We urge our employees to do their best in order to ensure that Alpine becomes more than ever a company in which all of
our stakeholders can have the highest trust and confidence.
*PDCA: Plan, Do, Check, Act
CSR Concept
Alpine
Creating Value
Respect for
Individuality
Contribution to
Society
Customers
Dealers
Employees
Industry/
Government
Local
Community
Stockholders/
Investors
Building relationships of strong mutual trust with all our stakeholders
Building relationships of strong mutual trust with
all our stakeholders