Sustainability Marketing Enhances Corporate Competitiveness

You are currently the Chief Sustainability Officer at Hoshino Resort Asset Management, but you used to work at Hoshino Resorts.

I joined Hoshino Resorts in 2000 and was there until 2017. After working as the Advertising Unit Director for the bridal business, I was involved in the opening preparation team for "HOSHINOYA Kyoto" and then stayed on to become the general manager of "HOSHINOYA Kyoto." After that, I served as the general manager of "HOSHINOYA Karuizawa" and "HOSHINOYA Tokyo" before transferring to Hoshino Resort Asset Management. Immediately after my transfer, I was IR Director in the Corporate Planning & Administration Department, and since 2021 I have been in my current position in charge of the Sustainability Promotion Office. So the types of business that I have been involved in varies from bridal to accommodation and real estate finance, but marketing has been at the core of my work throughout.

And so, marketing is also part of your current work at the Sustainability Promotion Office?

The means of marketing is to "create a system to provide products and services that are perceived as valuable," which in other words, results in "becoming a company of choice." The environment and social values required change with the times, so naturally it is important to continue to adapt to the times in a timely manner. Looking at recent global trends in sustainability, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and other sustainability initiatives have been hotly debated since around 2000, and leading global companies have been establishing foundations for sustainability at an accelerated pace. Globally, the degree of response has become one of the indicators for stock prices, and institutional investors and financial institutions are also beginning to avoid investing in companies with large environmental burdens and social issues.

As more and more tourism customers in Japan begin to become oriented towards sustainability, we expect to see an even greater trend toward sustainable environmental and social considerations. With these social needs, we felt that in order to become a "company of choice" we needed to take a more serious approach to sustainability. So, because the Hoshino Resorts Group conducts its business while maintaining close ties with local communities and nature, we believe that there must be more that can be done.

In that respect, the Sustainability Promotion Office is engaged in activities and disclosures centered on the formulation of policies, strategies, and plans related to the promotion of sustainability and the establishment of mechanisms, as well as commitments to relevant international initiatives* and the acquisition and maintenance of external evaluations**. Examples of this include the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) and GRESB assessment. One of our duties is to investigate and determine which standards are useful to us and our investment corporation so that we can acquire them in turn, and steadily promote them with the medium-term (2030) and long-term (2050) net-zero targets in mind.

As an aside, you call your activities "Earth Defense Forces," don’t you?

Yes, that's right (laughs). I thought it would be easy to communicate my efforts and mission this way because this expression would be familiar to many people and easy to imagine. But that’s not really the only reason. I do not consider that I must engage in the "Earth Defense Forces" as part of my work only, but also as an individual, I also have a strong sense of urgency about social issues such as the increasing severity of disasters caused by climate change and the shrinking of the economy due to regional depopulation. Therefore, I felt that a title that only indicates a role or position at work is somehow insufficient. "Earth Defense Forces" was a good fit because it was easy to use, both for a public role and a private role.

When did you first become interested in "Earth Defense"?

It was during my last job that I began to be strongly aware of this. This is connected to the reason why I decided to join Hoshino Resorts. I used to work in marketing for a manufacturer. This was more than 20 years ago. For manufacturers, they cannot grow if they do not produce new products, and when I saw a situation where we had to produce a surplus, I began to feel guilty about "making things." I sincerely made a suggestion to my boss saying "Why do we not do marketing without launching new products?" But he turned me down bluntly saying, "That's not for you to do." Then, I decided to look for a place where I could get into "production-less marketing," and that is how I came across Hoshino Resorts.

From the first interview, the President at the time, Mr. Hoshino explained that "environmental management" has long been promoted by Hoshino Resorts. He explained that the second-generation proprietor had been involved in bird conservation at the Karuizawa Wild Bird Sanctuary adjacent to HOSHINOYA Karuizawa since his time, and that there is an organization called "Piccio" that conducts projects aimed at coexistence with vegetation in the wild bird forest. Even hydro-electric generation, he said, was started more than 100 years ago. I decided to join the company because I thought I might be able to work here while placing importance on the sensibility of "production-less marketing." Since then, Hoshino Resorts, as a resort revitalization contractor, has been accelerating its "production-less marketing," creating value in old things.

The bridal business and the General Manager of "HOSHINOYA" were also rewarding jobs, but I think that I am able to work in my own way and feel the most joy now.

Do you feel that the establishment of the Sustainability Promotion Office has changed the awareness of sustainability within the company?

Yes, I feel that strongly. The Finance & Accounting Division had established its own Green Sustainability Finance, in line with the company’s character, and the Asset Management Division was keeping abreast of recommendations and trends of the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures). I now do sense an increase in sustainability strengths in each department. It seems to me that we are gradually approaching an ideal situation where, once the seeds for awareness are planted, experts in the field will gather information, customize it in their own way, and apply it while thinking of action to be taken. My mission will be complete if the entire company starts to think and act on its own regarding sustainability in general, and if the cycle continues. Now we just need to meet the goal deadlines. With that prospect in mind, I feel that the Sustainability Promotion Office has completed its task. The dissolution of this particular organization is the ultimate goal, leading on to the beginning of truly sustainable management.

Yes, it is true such a dissolution would be one of the goals to aim for. I understand the importance of sustainability compliance in terms of corporate competitiveness, but on the other hand, it is also an initiative that compresses profits, isn’t it?

Yes, that is why we position this initiative not as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), but as Creating Shared Value (CSV). We understand very well that it is difficult, but we believe that aiming for that goal is a sustainable approach. In fact, if the premise is to protect the natural environment, designers would be being asked to devise ways in which environmental functionality and creativity can coexist, and in order to keep the local community's economy running, efforts will be made to contribute to the local economy by having guests learn about and enjoy the local crafts, industries, and other attractive culture existing from before that should be preserved. It is precisely what we can do only if we make an effort to know and understand the region by developing our business in that very place.

In other words, it is only when social and economic values are compatible that a business can be sustainable. Finally, what are your future prospects and challenges?

This may be true for companies around the world, but I do not think that we as a company have yet been able to provide a true answer to the big question: how do we become a company that can achieve sustainable economic growth in an era of very rapid change and high uncertainty? Even if sustainability activities become more widespread and accelerated, and are more highly regarded by society and stakeholders, new values may emerge with the changing times. As management risks continue to diversify, I look forward to facing them head-on with the Board members in order to be the company of choice while maintaining our uniqueness.