Introduction
The following articles were extracted from "asics CSR Report 2008" published June 2008.
Period covered: Financial Year 2007 (April 1, 2007 - March 31, 2008)
The report is mainly about actions in Asics Corporation (Head Office in Kobe, Japan), but it also includes actions of the company group in Japan and overseas

Top Commitment
ASICS offers products and services that make sporting a fun experience while fulfilling its CSR as a global corporation.

The ASICS Challenge Plan (ACP), a corporate management strategy for the entire ASICS Group, expressly states ASICS' Founding Philosophy "a sound mind in a sound body". It is a message that everybody at ASICS, including myself, should embrace. This phrase was left by the founder Kihachiro Onitsuka to undertake the task at hand with the pride of being a member of ASICS. Keeping this Founding Philosophy in mind, we would like to grow as a corporation with a higher value through the provision of products and services that make sporting a fun experience for each customer while fulfilling our corporate social responsibility as a global corporation.

I had a memorable experience when I was serving as the president of ASICS Europe B. V. In 2004, a campaign against private corporations imposing unfair labor practices led mainly by American and European NGOs and ASICS' name was on the list. We were implied to be, with among other sporting goods manufacturers, a corporation that allows the abuse of workers' rights at subcontractors' factories. Immediately, we carried out an investigation which proved that the accusation was groundless. Although it took a while, the misunderstanding was resolved after a persistent effort to explain the facts of the situation. From this experience, I strongly felt that fulfilling CSR requires the leadership of the top management along with a dedicated organization and I requested the head office to establish an organization responsible for CSR with an emphasis on compliance issues. Thus the CSR Team was created in the Legal Department. The experience also prompted us to institute a mechanism to monitor the working environment at subcontractors with a help of labor organizations and NPOs.
Including labor issues, it is a matter of course for any corporation to act fairly and avoid antisocial acts in doing business. Nevertheless, it takes a lot of time and effort to ensure that this basic rule is followed at each and every link in the supply chain, let alone proving it to a third person. Whether you like it or not, for a global corporation like us to sustain its business, it is a prerequisite to perform such tasks as monitoring and demonstration appropriately and efficiently. Personally, I feel the aforementioned experience was valuable in gaining true understanding on the issue.

CSR stands for "corporate social responsibility". At ASICS, we understand the first step in fulfilling CSR is to execute its business objective of providing quality products and services. We also set priorities in CSR activities through our business operation.
For example, product safety in environmental perspectives is always a concern. We are promoting R&D activities aimed at making "clean" products by reducing environmental impact and making our products easy to recycle. We are determined to continue our efforts to make environmentally sound products without sacrificing the safety and quality of the products.
In addition, we are aware that fulfilling CSR is difficult in an organization where its employees are less motivated. Therefore, it is also important to attain a higher level of employee satisfaction by making fair appraisal of efforts and achievements of employees.

We are a manufacturer with the brand name of ASICS and our mission is to provide our customers with what they want. We put an emphasis on scientific verification in our manufacturing activities, along with listening to customers' voices.
As our founder Onitsuka articulated in his words "a corporation is a public entity", our business operation is supported by a variety of stakeholders, including customers, shareholders/investors, business partners, governments, academic experts, community members, etc. We will always keep this in mind, value communication with stakeholders, and direct business in a way that is more satisfactory to many people.
We request everyone to read through this report and provide us comments on our activities.
At the same time, we would appreciate your continued patronage in the future.