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UNSW

Australian
School of Business

Business
- the ultra-long term recipe for success

19 August 2008

In crunching the
numbers for that all important bottom line,
companies are overlooking corporate “social
influence” as a vital measure of business
success.

Conventionally, business performance is
measured in the hard numbers of profits and
growth potential. However, Professor Daisuke
Okamoto, from Japan’s Keio University, argues
that a company’s “social influence” has a
strong, and now measurable, bearing on financial
success.

How corporate social performance impacts on
financial outcomes is the subject of a guest
lecture by Professor Okamoto at the University
of New South Wales.

Professor Okamoto, currently a visiting
Professor at UNSW’s Australian School of
Business, will present findings which highlight
the inadequacy of conventional assessment
criteria in business. He says “social
relationships” must be recognised as an
important new measure.

Using artificial
neural network modelling – a tool for modelling
complex relationships and detecting patterns in
data – Professor Okamoto provides strong
evidence that the social relationships nurtured
by a company have a positive influence on its
future financial performance.

“While
corporate social responsibility is widely
recognised as being important, it is important
to have quantifiable evidence as an incentive to
progress further in this area,” says Professor
Okamoto.

“If profitability is the short
term objective, and growth is the mid and long
term objective, social relationships can be
regarded as the ultra long term objective of a
company.

“Working on social relationships will not
bring concrete results immediately, and
therefore must be assessed over the longer
term,” he says.

He cites the Japanese
firm Canon as a company with strong “social
relationships”.

“Cannon’s corporate philosophy is Kyosei,
which translates as ‘living and working together
for the common good’. They pursue this by
applying a life-time employment policy for their
employees in Japan.

“Canon also provides
significant scholarship funds and participates
in environment initiatives such as ‘Cartridges 4
Planet Ark,’ an industry funded program that
collects and recycles ink and toner cartridges,”
he says.

A company which attaches
importance to its social relationships with
employees, shareholders, creditors, consumers
and all stakeholders will significantly increase
its estimated value, says Professor Okamoto.
While those that ignore social relationships and
seek only profitability and growth will no
longer be considered on solid ground.

Details of Seminar

What:
Social-Relationship of a firm and the CSP-CFP
(Corporate Social Performance vs. Corporate
Financial Performance) relationship in Japan:
Using artificial neural networks.

When:
Thursday 21st August 2008, 3.00pm –
4.30pm
Where: Room G1, Civil
Engineering, UNSW
Media Contact:
Leilah Schubert, [email-masked],
02 9385 6174

Page Last Updated: Tuesday, 19
August, 2008

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