Housewives' Association Creates Criteria to Evaluate Corporate Management

In May 2003, Japan's Housewives' Association formulated what it calls Evaluation Criteria for Consumer-Oriented Management, targeting mainly the food industry. It hopes to nurture mutual trust between the food industry and consumers by having consumer groups use the criteria to evaluate companies and by providing guidelines for companies to use in their business activities.

Consumer confidence has been shaken on an unprecedented scale in Japan due to a series of scandals caused by food companies. One effective way for companies to restore lost confidence is to draw up and disclose voluntary codes of conduct. The Japanese government has also recognized the importance of having corporations formulate codes of conduct and is carrying out various studies regarding this issue.

The association formulated the criteria with the belief that it is consumers themselves who should hold the power in monitoring and evaluating whether or not a company is actually adhering to its voluntary codes.

The criteria evaluate performance on a scale of one to ten in the following four categories, in which ten items are listed for each category:

1. Commitment at the top management level
2. Formulation and disclosure of a voluntary code of conduct
3. Key measures to protect consumers
4. Organizational structure to ensure compliance with laws and regulations

The overall evaluation is based on the total scores from the four categories.



Posted: 2003/10/23 10:24:15 AM
Japanese version