SUSTAINABILITY Relationship with Suppliers

Initiatives in Collaboration with Suppliers toward a Sustainable Society

Basic Concept

The Lawson Group is working to solve medium- to long-term issues in society and the environment and is continuously taking on challenges in order to achieve the Group Philosophy and attain sustainable growth together with its suppliers.
In order to build a sustainable supply chain, we request our suppliers to carry out initiatives with the Lawson Group regarding items determined by the Lawson Group Purchasing Policy including the safety and security of customers, compliance with laws and regulations, fair and impartial business activities, respect for human rights, and consideration for environmental preservation.

Promotion of Fair Purchasing Practices

In order to build relationships of trust with our suppliers, first of all, Lawson has established the “Lawson Group Corporate Conduct Charter” and “Lawson Code of Ethics”, which stipulate that we conduct fair and transparent purchasing with sincerity and good faith. We are making efforts to educate those in charge of purchasing so that they will not take advantage of their superior position for coercive actions. Training is provided at the time of appointment as AMD (Assistant for Product Development) and ARFC (Assistant for Store Development), and is also covered in e-learning programs for all employees.

In addition, in order to review our own business relationships, we conduct an annual supplier questionnaire, which we ask our suppliers to fill out anonymously as a means of identifying problems and issues in our business relationships. The results of these surveys are reported to management every year, and feedback is provided at divisional meetings and training sessions. We also provide feedback to suppliers who have sent us questionnaires, and present them with the Lawson Group's suggestions for measures for improvement.

We use the opinions we receive from our suppliers to review and improve our compliance and risk management systems, as well as to identify the causes of problems and formulate countermeasures to solve them in cooperation with our suppliers.

Changes in the number of subjects* and number of responses in the supplier questionnaire

  FY2020 FY2021 FY2022
No. of subjects 1,259 1,265 1,228
No. of responses 972 955 922
Response rate 77.2% 75.5% 75.1%

* When there are multiple transactions with one supplier, a response is requested from each person in charge.

Feedback Report

Initiatives Taken with Suppliers to Implement the Lawson Group Purchasing Policy, etc

Our raw material suppliers are located throughout the globe, meaning that customers are increasingly concerned about the origin and quality of our products. In addition, the global environment is facing major problems, such as abnormal weather, the depletion of natural resources, and a crisis in biodiversity. In addition, various issues that hinder the sustainable development of society, such as human rights and labor issues, are also becoming apparent. To address these issues and challenges, the cooperation of our suppliers is indispensable. To this end, the Lawson Group has established the Lawson Group Purchasing Policy, and promotes purchasing from suppliers who agree with this policy. We established the Lawson Group Procurement Policy as well as the Lawson Group Environmental Policy with the aim of ensuring a supply chain that is sustainable for the global environment and society, and we are committed to sustainable procurement.

In order to help suppliers understand these Lawson Group policies, we attach group policy guidance documents when we send the supplier questionnaire results report to the suppliers that are the subject of the questionnaire and explain about them to major suppliers when we have an opportunity for dialogue. We also request new suppliers to support the Lawson Group policies as a bidding condition and add CSR clauses to the main contract templates that Lawson prepares in order to build a sustainable supply chain.

No. of times group policy guidance documents were sent

Group Companies FY2021 FY2022
No. of times No. of times
Lawson Entertainment, Inc. 98 98
Lawson Store 100, Inc. 176 175
SCI, Inc. 263 187
Lawson, Inc. 718 764
Total 1,255 1,224

Implementation of Supplier Sustainability Questionnaire

In fiscal 2022, we began implementing our Supplier Sustainability Questionnaire to check the status of our suppliers’ sustainability-related initiatives. The purpose of this questionnaire is to ask our suppliers about the status of their initiatives for human rights, climate change, and other issues, as well as to build a cooperative system with them to resolve social and environmental issues.

Outline of Supplier Sustainability Questionnaire

・Survey content
We have prepared questions on important factors for improving the sustainability of enterprises based on the guidelines related to ESG, comprising social, environmental, and governance aspects, as well as various policies of the Lawson Group.

Environmental Environmental preservation activities, decarbonization measures, management and reduction of waste and pollutants, biodiversity
Social Measures for human rights, industrial health and safety, antidiscrimination, elimination of illegal labor
Governance Establishment of internal control, fair corporate activities, quality and safety

Fiscal 2022 implementation results

Subjects No. of companies responded Response rate
857 500 58.3%

・Implementation of reconfirmation questionnaire
When an issue is found in the results of a Supplier Sustainability Questionnaire, we send a reconfirmation questionnaire and ask the supplier to answer additional questions.
In fiscal 2022, we reinvestigated legal compliance conditions mainly related to social items such as collective bargaining rights, child labor, and forced labor. As a result, we confirmed that no problems were seen.

In addition to the Supplier Sustainability Questionnaire, we conduct audits on human rights in order to check the actual state of initiatives at suppliers. We plan to expand the subjects to check along with the Sustainability Questionnaire, make efforts to grasp the situation at suppliers, and proceed with initiatives for solving social and environmental issues.




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