What the future holds for Japanese conglomerates Chapter 6: ESG/SDG Initiatives and Business Portfolio Management (Part 1) Bookmark has been added
Conglomerate companies are by no means exempt from the fact that each of their businesses must be sustainable in addition to being profitable in terms of how they are managed. By looking at ESG/SDG perspectives when evaluating each of their businesses, companies may find more opportunities to make managerial decisions on risks stemming from unsustainable businesses. A possible decision could include withdrawing from the business of coal-fired power generation. In contrast, ESG/SDG initiatives will drive up costs, making it difficult for companies to decide whether they should focus on ESG/SDGs even at the expense of profitability. Where we would start is by evaluating whether these ESG/SDG initiatives had at least some sort of positive impact in enhancing the company’s value. The following two paths could be taken to enhance the company’s value (Figure A).
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Although analysis suggests that enhancing a company’s sustainability may profit them in the long term, its impact on profitability will be limited in the short time. For conglomerates in particular, the sustainability of a particular business will not necessarily have a direct impact on the company’s survival. This is why these companies need to understand that strengthening their ESG/SDG initiatives is just one of many choices, and that the wiser option would be to find a way to balance these initiatives against profitability and to ascertain when their businesses will peak, deciding then whether to maintain the status quo, strengthen their initiatives, or withdraw from said business.
Source: Prepared by Deloitte Tohmatsu Group based on details from GSIA’s "Global Sustainable Investment Review 2020”
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Source: Prepared by Deloitte Tohmatsu Group based on five years' worth of surveys (2018 to 2022) from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s “Allianz Risk Barometer”
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Naoki Okada
Senior Manager, Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting