Material Issues and Results

Process for Identifying Material Issues

JVCKENWOOD has determined social issues strongly connected with its business on the basis of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and identified material issues while considering their relevance to Vision 2020.

List of Material Issues

The JVCKENWOOD Group has identified material issues for contributing to sustainable societies through business. We will be formulating KPIs from a mid- to long- term perspective, at the same time developing mechanisms that can be managed globally.

The JVCKENWOOD Group’s materiality matrix

Main Indicators and Initiative Results Related to Material Issues

In order to understand the status of initiatives for material issues so that further improvement can be made, JVCKENWOOD has formulated indicators (KPIs) associated with each of the material issues and has been implementing initiatives with targets set for fiscal 2019 (and some for fiscal 2020).

The following is an explanation of the results achieved for the 21 key items that have been sorted out into the sustainability strategy topics (see The JVCKENWOOD Group’s Sustainability for more details) in order to deepen the understanding of the initiatives being implemented by the company. We will also work to further improve or to maintain these initiatives in fiscal 2020.

Important issues for the realization of profitable growth and the solution of social issues (Smart service & Wellness)

JVCKENWOOD believes that making a contribution to a sustainable society provides good opportunities for a business and leads to profitable growth. Based on this belief, we have established indicators related to material issues and we are implementing initiatives for them in order to actively work to solve various social issues with our products.

No	KPIs	Material issues	Fiscal 2019 targets	Fiscal 2019 results	Status
1	Improving diagnostic imaging efficiency (medical monitors)	Expanding access to medical care	Launch i3 Series high-resolution medical image display monitors (CL-S500/MS-S500) on the market.	The i3 Series (CL-S500/MS-S500) was launched on the market as scheduled.　A higher resolution and new functions helped physicians/health care professionals improve their efficiency in reading images and reduce fatigue.	〇
2	Realizing an ultra-early/non-invasive diagnostic method (ExoCounter)	Expanding access to medical care	Conduct joint research with University of Oxford (UK) and Sysmex R&D Center Europe GmbH to establish a system for predicting the onset of preeclampsia using exosomes and launch a new exosome measurement system for researchers on the market.	Joint research with University of Oxford (UK), etc. is now underway. The ExoCounter BX-EC3 System, a new exosome measurement system for researchers, was released in March 2020.	〇
3	Supplying dashcams with new functions to the market	Preventing traffic accidents	Actively supply dashcams with new functions, such as a dual-camera feature, to the market beginning fiscal 2020. (Currently nine models are scheduled to be launched.)	Working to achieve the fiscal 2020 target	〇
4	Establishing an autism spectrum disorder (ASD)/dementia assessment function (Gazefinder)	Expanding access to medical care	Conduct clinical trials in Japan and Australia on a supplementary clinical tool for ASD diagnosis with an eye to obtaining medical device certification. Test the dementia assessment function via joint research with Osaka University.	Clinical trials were started in Japan and Australia. Case registration is underway as scheduled. The dementia assessment function demonstrated a high correlation with existing standard cognitive testing methods.	〇
5	Launching new environmentally friendly products	Sustainable manufacturing	Cut plastic use by 2.6 tons (Change the packaging material from plastic to paper for selected headphone models sold in the American and European markets)	Plastic use was cut by 5.1 tons (due to a higher annual shipment volume of the selected models than initially projected)	〇
6	Plan to launch new security products/services	Secure and safe community development	Number of adoptions: 10 (Surveillance camera systems for ensuring safety and security of public facilities, including counter-terrorism)	Number of adoptions: 20	〇
7	Plan to launch new disaster-prevention and disaster-mitigation products/services	Initiatives for disaster prevention/mitigation	Number of adoptions: 50 (Emergency-use multilingual broadcasting equipment to ensure safety and security of international travelers in response to growing inbound tourism)	Number of adoptions: 57	〇
8	Plan to launch new IoT solution products/services	Ensuring secure and safe transport systems	Number of adoptions: 5 (Telematics service using a dashcam with communication capabilities)	Number of adoptions: 5	〇

Important issues for the promotion of new business creation (Technological innovation)

JVCKENWOOD is working to create an environment in the company that will promote opportunities for innovation within the company.

No	KPIs	Material issues	Target	Fiscal 2019 results	Status
1	Innovation Act results (cumulative)	Accelerating innovation	Number of prototypes tested for commercialization with startups: 5	Out of the five prototypes tested, two were selected for commercialization.	〇
2	Conducting patent idea meetings	Accelerating innovation	320 meetings/year	349 meetings/year	〇
3	Conducting intellectual property skills training	Accelerating innovation	18 sessions/year	34 sessions/year	〇
4	Implementing social implementation projects through industry-government-academia collaboration	Stakeholder partnership	Number of social implementation projects implemented: 1	A video of workshops held under COI,* a Tokyo University of the Arts project led by JVCKENWOOD, was included in the supplementary material (DVD) entitled “Music Appreciation and Expression for Elementary School Students” released by Victor Entertainment. *COI: Center of Innovation Science and Technology-based Radical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program	〇

Important issues for the strengthening of our business foundations (Resilience enhancement)

JVCKENWOOD is working to enhance its resilience with initiatives in fundamental domains (that support business) as a strategic base supported by robust, transparent, fair and inclusive mechanisms.

No	KPIs	Material issues	Target	Fiscal 2019 results	Status
1	Percentage of female managers	Diversity & inclusion	4.4% or more	4.6% (April 2020)	〇
2	Greenhouse gas (Scope 1 and Scope 2) 　emissions / intensity (per unit of sales)	Addressing climate change	22,919 t-CO2 (Emissions from business locations and production sites in Japan only)	19,100 t-CO2	〇
3	Greenhouse gas (Scope 3) 　emissions / intensity (per unit of sales)	Addressing climate change	Disclose fiscal 2018 results. (Improve accuracy over the previous year.)	Fiscal 2018 results were calculated with enhanced accuracy and disclosed on the website.	〇
4	Number of water quality-related legal violations*	Initiatives for risk management	Keep the number of violations to zero	Keep the number of violations to zero	〇
5	Amount of hazardous waste generated (management of 28 hazardous substances specified under the Water Pollution Prevention Act)	Reducing environmental impact	0.2638 t	0.1443 t	〇
6	Evaluating the effectiveness of the Board of Directors	Initiatives for risk management	Evaluate annually	Evaluated (January 2020)	〇
7	Number of product recalls and cost incurred	Initiatives for risk management	Keep the number of recalls and associated cost for each fiscal year to zero	0 recalls/0 yen	〇
8	ROE (consolidated basis)	Initiatives for risk management	10% (fiscal 2020)	Fiscal 2018: 6.8% Fiscal 2019: 1.6% (ROE for fiscal 2019 declined due to COVID-19.)	×
9	Percentage of employees receiving IT security training	Initiatives for risk management	80.0%	90.7%	〇

*Covering business locations in Japan and overseas