Tag: Value Research Center (VRC)

IAFOR, The Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University, ESG-IREC at Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) partner to define Value Measurement for ESG and Sustainability Reporting

In 2023, the European Union’s European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), the International Financial Reporting Standard’s (IFRS’s) International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) each published new guidance for how companies within their jurisdictions account for and report upon their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Impacts. While Japan stands as the world’s 4th largest economy, many Japanese companies continue to lag in their ESG efforts, as Japan itself has not yet committed to requiring companies to report their impacts beyond the environmentally focused Task Force for Climate Disclosure (TCFD).

This year’s Global Innovation and Value Summit (GIVS) 2023 will first introduce the latest advances in value measurement, sustainability disclosure reporting and ESG from the perspective of EFRAG, ISSB and the US SEC Climate Disclosures, and their impacts on how businesses and governments can effectively operate within these increasingly important, but complex, sustainability standards and frameworks.

GIVS 2023 will then place these international advancements into the context of Japan’s historical embrace of a more socially conscious approach to business as well as the Japanese government’s recent efforts related to its New Capitalism Task Force. Finally, GIVS 2023 will offer ideas and insights on how businesses, not only within Japan and Asia but globally, can integrate, enhance and implement value-focused sustainability initiatives.

This event is designed to more deeply explore how all of these ideas can help guide the next evolutionary step beyond the SDGs that were raised by The Value Research Center and ESG-IREC at the United Nations General Assembly Science Summit (SSUNGA78) in September 2023.

It will bring together some of the world’s top experts in value measurement and scoring, sustainability and ESG issues to discuss, debate and brainstorm new approaches to value creation, responsible business and sustainability initiatives and offer ideas and models for their implementation in 2024 and beyond.

 

Agenda: IAFOR GIVS 2023
Date: Friday 17 November, 2023, 10:00-17:30
Venue: Saji Memorial Hall, Osaka University Nakanoshima Center, Osaka, Japan

10:00-10:45:  Opening Remarks
– Jun Arima, President, The International Academic Forum; Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo
– Toshiya Hoshino, Founding Director, ESG-Integration Research and Education Center, Osaka School of International Public Policy; Former President, The International Academic Forum
– Victoria Hurth (Video), Fellow, Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership

Session 1
10:45-12:00:  EFRAG and ISSB Standards and Measurements: Different Strokes?
Charles (Mario) Abela, Strategic Advisor, Value Balancing Alliance; Director, Redefining Value, World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Discussants:
– Jun Arima, President, International Academic Forum; Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo
– Chizu Nakajima, Chair, The British Japanese Law Association, London; former Director, Centre for Financial Regulation, City, University of London; Guest Professor, ESG-IREC
– Philip Sugai, Director, Value Research Center, Doshisha University
– Jewellord Nem Singh, Global Fellow, The Wilson Center, Environmental Change and Security Program; Assistant Professor in International Development, International Institute of Social Studies.

Session 2
13:00-13:20:  Afternoon Session Keynote 1
Aligning Values and Purpose with Steward Leadership
– Flocy Joseph, Senior Deputy Director, Head of Commercial, Executive Development, Singapore Management University

13:20-14:00: Part 1 | A New “Third Way” : An Alternative Scoring Model and Business Philosophy from Kansai

Overview of the Value Model
– Philip Sugai, Director, Value Research Center, Doshisha University
The Philosophy of Seiryoku Zenyo, Jita Kyoei, Underlying Philosophy Guiding the Value Model
– Yoshie Sugai, Founder, Chiseikan Dojo, Kyoto, Japan
The Value Model Quality Assurance Process 2023
– Dhiyan Arini, Researcher, Value Research Center, Doshisha University
The Value Model as a Sustainability Reporting “Health Check”
– Max Wong, PhD Candidate, Multimedia University of Malaysia

14:00-14:20: Part 2 | The Value Model, ESG and AI
Value Model/Impact Weighted Accounts Team
– David Freiberg, EY Japan
– Diana Darbekova, Doshisha Business School, Kyoto Japan

14:20-14:45:  Coffee Break

14:45-15:30:  The Value Model, ESG and AI Team

14:45-15:05:  Applying the Value Model to AI/ESG-Scoring
– Katsuhiko Kokubu, Dean, Kobe Business School, Founder Kobe Value School
– Yuriko Nakao, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Informatics, Kansai University

15:05-15:25:  Value Model/Intellectual Capital Measurement Team
– Ludo Pyis, Founder and Chief Innovation Architect, AREOPA Group
– Roger Cabezas, Knowledge Manager @ CERCA (Centres de Recerca de Catalunya)

15:30-16:00:  Afternoon Session Keynote 2
Purpose and Value
– Victoria Hurth, Fellow, Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership

16:15-17:15:  Roundtable Discussion
Going Forward: Inter-regional Cooperation Across Public Policy and Private Sectors
– Philip Sugai, Director, Value Research Center, Doshisha University
– Charles (Mario) Abela, Strategic Advisor, Value Balancing Alliance; Director, Redefining Value, World Business Council for Sustainable Development
– Victoria Hurth, Fellow, Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership
– Flocy Joseph, Senior Deputy Director, Head of Commercial, Executive Development, Singapore Management University
– Jewellord Nem Singh, Global Fellow, The Wilson Center, Environmental Change & Security Program; Assistant Professor in International Development, International Institute of Social Studies

Moderator: Haruko Satoh
17:15-17:30:  Closing Remarks
Toshiya Hoshino, Founding Director, ESG-Integration Research and Education Center, Osaka School of International Public Policy; Former-President, The International Academic Forum

Notes
Simultaneous interpretation between English/Japanese will be available.
Funding provided by Doshisha University Graduate School of Business, Kifu Project, Doshisha University SDGs Grant, ESG-IREC and Osaka University.
To participate in this symposium (onsite or online), please register (for Free) in advance: https://iafor.org/givs2023/

About IAFOR
Founded in 2009, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a politically independent non-partisan and non-profit interdisciplinary think tank, conference organiser and publisher dedicated to discussion, awareness and exchange through educational interaction and academic research. Based in Nagoya, Japan, its research centre is in the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University. Visit https://iafor.org/.

About VRC
The Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan was established in November 2021. Its mission: to enable organizations to measure, monitor, assess and report on their impacts to 7 key stakeholders: the organization itself, its shareholders, employees, customers, partners, society, and the planet. Visit www.valueresearchcenter.com.

About ESG-IREC
Osaka School of International Public Policy – ESG-Integration Research and Education Center (ESG-IREC) at Osaka University conducts research on practical implementable “ESG integration” models in corporate and business activities for the creation of a more sustainable future. Visit www.osipp.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/.

 

• IAFOR, ESG-IREC, and VRC in a Symposium exploring ESG, Sustainability, and The Value Model

Opening the COP27 Conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres chided world leaders about their ongoing inaction, warning that immediate, real and tangible action is required to address the climate crisis, or “we are on the highway to hell, with our foot on the accelerator.”

According to Prof. Philip Sugai, Director of the Value Research Center (VRC) in Kyoto, Japan, “Corporations are now pressed to answer to a more diverse group of stakeholders, and while there are more than a hundred different types of ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) evaluation and reporting systems, none yet offer the guidance and strategic value to businesses that are required to address the many complex issues facing business leaders today.”

The 2022 IAFOR Global Innovation and Value Summit (GIVS) is focused on providing one possible offramp from Guterres’s highway to hell, showcasing a new approach to measure and monitor the value created and destroyed by companies irrespective of their size, industry or location. The Value Model offers a powerful alternative to currently available ESG evaluation systems (ie MSCI, Bloomberg and FTSE4Good) with a new, more holistic approach for measuring, managing and creating value for a diverse group of stakeholders not yet found in any single existing ESG or sustainability reporting framework.

The 2022 GIVS event, “The Future of ESG and Value: Why ESG Evaluation Matters”, will include two panel sessions in the areas of sustainability, purpose, and value. Prof. Toshiya Hoshino, Director, ESG-Integration Research and Education Center (ESG-IREC) at Osaka University’s Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) and former Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, will deliver the keynote speech. Having attended COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, he will bring to the Symposium valuable insights on the difficult international negotiations at the COP27 conference.

The first panel session will cover critical issues that business leaders, regulators and policy makers need to focus on over the coming 12-24 months related to the implementation of ESG and sustainability within their organizations, and introduces the VRC Value Model. The second panel will explain the VRC Value Model and introduce the Value Model certification course.

The full agenda for the 2022 IAFOR GIVS event ( https://givs.iafor.org/ ) is as follows:

13:00-13:30: Keynote Address – Prof. Toshiya Hoshino, Director, ESG-Integration Research and Education Center, Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University

13:30-15:00: Session 1 – Moderator: Prof. Haruko Satoh, OSIPP; Value Measurement & Sustainability, Challenges & Opportunities (15 min presentation each, 30-minute discussion)
– Speaker 1: Mr. Paul Beddie, International Ambassador, SAP
– Speaker 2: Dr. Flocy Joseph, Singapore Management University
– Speaker 3: Prof. Philip Sugai, Value Research Center (VRC), Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan

15:00-15:15: Break

15:15-16:45: Session 2 – Introducing the Value Model and Value Model Certification Program
– Speaker 1: Prof. Philip Sugai, Value Research Center (VRC)
– Speaker 2: Dr. Kumar Iyer (VRC)
– Speaker 3: Seitaro Owada (EcoRing)

16:45-17:00: Concluding address – Mr. Setsu Mori, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Alterna Magazine

This course will be provided by the Value Research Center, in collaboration with the ESG-Integration Research and Education Center (ESG-IREC) at Osaka University’s Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), as well as the VRC Juku, a new membership organization dedicated to thought leadership in value creation and measurement, with D-Bridge, a non-profit organization at Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan).

The time for action to attain UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is growing more critical every day. As neoliberal capitalism’s excessive focus on company and shareholders’ profits is increasingly identified as a major driver of environmental destruction as well as a host of social and economic inequality issues, today’s business leaders are evaluated not only on their ability to create profitable outcomes, but to do so while simultaneously delivering real, tangible value for the other stakeholders, which include customers, employees, partners, society and ultimately the planet.

About IAFOR
Founded in 2009, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a politically independent non-partisan and non-profit interdisciplinary think tank, conference organiser and publisher dedicated to discussion, awareness and exchange through educational interaction and academic research. Based in Nagoya, Japan, its research centre is in the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University. Visit https://iafor.org/.

About VRC
The Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan was established in November 2021. Its mission: to develop a practical system called The Value Model, enabling organizations to measure, monitor, assess and report on their impacts to 7 key stakeholders: the organization itself, its shareholders, employees, customers, partners, society, and the planet.

The VRC enhances The Value Model continuously, integrating new frameworks as they are introduced, bringing greater transparency, objectivity and measurability to value creation – in ways we don’t often see. The VRC Value Model gives government and industry the eyes to see impacts they’re actually having, and the ability to fix what’s broken, and enhance what they’re doing well. Visit www.valueresearchcenter.com.

About ESG-IREC
The Osaka University Graduate School of International Public Policy – ESG Integration Research and Education Center (ESG-IREC) conducts research on practical implementable “ESG integration” models in corporate and business activities for the creation of a more sustainable future. Visit www.osipp.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/.

Valuing Value: How any organization can measure stakeholder value and “Ethical Capitalism”

What qualifies a ‘good’ company these days? How can a company’s impacts on key stakeholders be honestly measured?

Prof. Philip Sugai, Director of the Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University, Kyoto will share how he and his research team have integrated and synthesized many of the world’s top ESG and sustainability reporting frameworks into The Value Model, a goal-based, objective, and transparent model for measuring stakeholder value at this year’s UN General Assembly Science Summit.

The theme of this year’s Science Summit is “The Role of Science and Innovation in Attaining the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).” This event brings together scientists, academics, government leaders and citizens from around the world to participate in a series of workshops, presentations and discussions. The 8th annual Science Summit is being held live in New York and online and it is free to attend.

This presentation is one of seven events hosted by the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and its co-host, the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations.

“Our half-day workshop aims to help move beyond the politics surrounding discussions around sustainability,” said Prof. Sugai. “Based on an ethical foundation from Japan, we’ll define what a ‘good’ company is, then explore how company impacts on its stakeholders can be measured and managed, and finally how this kind of measurement model can be used to develop both practical regulatory oversight as well as forward-thinking, value-focused business strategies across developed and developing economies.”

Following Prof. Sugai’s opening presentation, he and Prof. Toshiya Hoshino, Director of the ESG Integration Research and Education Center (ESG-IREC), OSIPP, Osaka University, will discuss how value measurement and more meaningful ESG reporting can help further enhance the achievement of SDGs, as well as Japan’s unique role and contribution to these issues.

After this discussion, a panel of experts in Japanese business and sustainability reporting who have deep experience across academia, industry, and government policy will dig more deeply into the essence of value, Japan’s historical and current efforts to align this history with the current challenges addressed by the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, and how business can continue to drive real and measurable achievement of these in a just and equitable way.

Panel speakers include:

• Prof. Haruko Satoh (Moderator), Co-Director, OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, Osaka University
• Masato Yamazaki, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Aquinas College
• Yoshie Sugai, Founder and Head Instructor, Chiseikan Dojo
• Trista Bridges, Cofounder & Principal, Author, Read the Air
• Jin Montesano, Chief People Officer, LIXIL Corporation
• Kumar Iyer, Sustainable Strategy Mentor

The Valuing Value half-day workshop will be held on Monday, Sept 26 from 9:00 – 11:30 EST (22:00 – 00:30 JST).

Details of the Valuing Value workshop are here:
https://ssunga77.sched.com/event/1AWkD/valuing-value-how-any-organization-can-measure-stakeholder-value-and-ethical-capitalism/

Registration for Science Summit at UNGA77 (free) is here:
https://www.eventbrite.be/e/science-summit-at-unga77-september-2022-tickets-258988691147

About the Value Research Center
The Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan was established in November 2021. Its mission: develop a practical system for organizations to measure, monitor, assess and report on the impacts they have on various stakeholder groups; the company, its shareholders, employees, customers, partners, society, and the planet.

The VRC enhances its Value Model continuously, integrating new frameworks as they’re introduced, bringing greater transparency, objectivity and measurability to value creation – in ways we often didn’t see. The VRC Value Model gives government and industry the eyes to see impacts they’re actually having, and the ability to fix what’s broken and enhance what they’re doing well. Learn more at www.valueresearchcenter.com.

About the ESG-IREC Research Center
The Osaka University Graduate School of International Public Policy – ESG Integration Research and Education Center (ESG-IREC) conducts research on practical implementable “ESG integration” models in corporate and business activities for the creation of a more sustainable future. Visit www.osipp.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/.

 

• ESG reporting, the EFRAG model, and the overall quality of the VRC Value Model

Companies and sustainability teams need a new model for measuring and managing stakeholder impacts, as claims of corporate greenwashing and value washing increase daily. The Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan has announced the publication of its 2022 August White Paper, focusing on the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG’s) latest disclosure drafts for sustainability reporting, and how this model aligns with and deepens the overall quality of the VRC Value Model.

According to Professor Philip Sugai, Director of the Value Research Center, “After integrating EFRAG’s 114 draft disclosure requirements into the VRC Value Model, we were impressed with the scope of EFRAG’s coverage of many of the Value Model’s stakeholders, themes and goals. Especially with their push for companies to document their impacts using ‘double materiality’, we see a shift towards greater understanding of business decisions on individual stakeholder groups.”

SAP Japan International Ambassador Paul Beddie said, “The VRC In Kyoto has been working to organize the world’s top ESG and Sustainability Reporting frameworks into a goal-based, value creation model that will help companies to create value across their key stakeholders. Companies around the world are in desperate need of a way to consolidate the alphabet soup of standards to reduce their workload on ESG reporting and focus more on the critical ESG outcomes they transformed their businesses to achieve.

“The VRC’s Value Model is a very effective tool for doing just that. The additional integration of the draft reporting standards from EFRAG should also help companies doing business in the EU to align their disclosures with the EU Taxonomy.”

With the publication of the August White Paper, the VRC will begin to collaborate with several of the world’s leading companies in adopting the VRC Value Model, applying it to their own ESG and sustainability reporting requirements, and creating forward-looking sustainability strategies rather than backwards-focused disclosures.

Professor Sugai will be hosting a session at the UNGA77 Science Summit, where he will discuss the VRC Value Model and its broader practical applications, together with a panel of experts from academia, government, and business.

The UNGA77 Science Summit session, “Valuing Value: How any Organization Can Measure Stakeholder Value and “Ethical Capitalism” (https://ssunga77.sched.com/event/1AWkD), will be held on Sept 26 from 9:00 to 11:30 AM EST. Registration for the complete UNGA77 Science Summit is free and available at https://ssunga77.sched.com/tickets.

The “2022 August White Paper: The Value Model & EFRAG” is available for download at the Value Research Center website: www.valueresearchcenter.com/publications.

For more information about the Value Research Center and its projects, please visit: www.valueresearchcenter.com, or email Professor Philip Sugai at: info@valueresearchcenter.com .

About the Value Research Center
The Value Research Center (VRC) at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan was established in November 2021. Its mission: to develop a practical system for organizations to measure, monitor, assess and report on the impacts that they have on various stakeholder groups.

The VRC continues to enhance its Value Model, integrating new frameworks as they’re introduced, bringing greater transparency, objectivity and measurability to value creation – in ways we didn’t see. The VRC Value Model gives government and industry eyes to see the impacts they’re actually having, to fix what’s broken, and enhance what they’re doing well. For more information, visit www.valueresearchcenter.com.

The Value Research Center (VRC) launched an integrated Value Model of ESG and Sustainability measures in a new white paper issued today. With the shift from short term, profit-focused thinking towards long-term, sustainable, value-focused thinking, businesses globally need to answer a fundamental question: “What value are you providing our collective future?”

The VRC at Doshisha University was established in November 2021 to develop a Value Model that could guide any company to answer this question, so ensuring a more sustainable future. The VRC published its initial white paper, “Valuing Value”, in June 2021, integrating 357 impact measurements from 15 of the world’s top ESG and sustainability frameworks and developing a 7-stakeholder, 27-theme, 80-goal model to help businesses objectively and transparently measure and manage the value impacts that they have on their key stakeholders.

The VRC’s new white paper entitled “A Value Model for Responsible Business”, integrates an additional 346 impact measurements from 6 new frameworks into the initial model. These 6 frameworks include the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Prototype Climate-related disclosures; Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) guidance on metrics, targets and transition plans; Stockholm Resilience Center’s Planetary Boundaries; United Nations Development Program (UNDP) SDG Impact Standards for Enterprises; International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards; and Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) climate disclosures.

Professor Philip Sugai, Director of the VRC, says “Our team analyzed hundreds of existing impact measurements and organized these into 27 common themes, with 81 goals that any company, regardless of their size, industry or location can use to measure, manage and use to consistently increase the value they create for their stakeholders. Unlike existing ESG or sustainability reporting models, the VRC Value Model offers companies the ability to track their actual stakeholder impacts, using this data to create forward-looking strategies aimed at further increasing the value they create for and with these stakeholders.”

Masato Yamazaki, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and VRC operating council member, said “The Value Model that our VRC research team offers is a more advanced approach than any other sustainability model or approach in existence today, since it can automatically help identify the root causes of the problems companies face via well-developed assessment tools.”

“What is needed in sustainability efforts today goes beyond simple reporting,” says Dr. Kumar Iyer, Mentor for Value Creation and VRC operating council member. “The VRC Value Model is based on objective metrics and quantifiable indicators which can be independently verified. This is uniquely different from any other sustainability reporting approach as it is directly linked to creating social impact.”

The white paper is available for download at the VRC website:
https://www.valueresearchcenter.com/2022whitepaper

About the Value Research Center (VRC)
The Value Research Center (VRC) was officially established at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan in November 2021. The VRC aims to research and develop an open, accessible and transparent system for measuring, monitoring, assessing and reporting on value creation (destruction) impacts that organizations of any size make on the 7 stakeholder groups including (1) the organization itself, (2) shareholders or owners, (3) customers, (4) employees, (5) partners, (6) the society within which it operates, and (7) the planet.

Learn more about the VRC and its projects at https://www.valueresearchcenter.com, or email Philip Sugai at
info@valueresearchcenter.com

* Webinar, March 25 – IAFOR discusses the white paper with VRC Director Philip Sugai
Dr. Joseph Haldane, Chairman & CEO of the International Academic Forum (IAFOR) will discuss the contents of this new white paper with VRC Director Prof. Philip Sugai in a Webinar on Friday, March 25, 5:00 – 6:00 pm JST, in collaboration with the new ESG-IREC Research Center at Osaka University. This webinar will be free to attend, and reservations can be made at: https://tinyurl.com/IRC-VRC-20220325

About the IAFOR Research Center (IRC)
IRC aims to provide a research centre to nurture various international and interdisciplinary research policies that use the extensive networks of both Osaka University and IAFOR. https://iafor.org/.

About the ESG-IREC Research Center
The Osaka University Graduate School of International Public Policy – ESG Integration Research and Education Center (ESG-IREC) conducts research on practically implemented “ESG integration” models in corporate business activities for the creation of a more sustainable future. https://www.osipp.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/.