Promoting Communication with Stakeholders
Basic Stance
Having declared in Item 7 of our Declaration of Conduct that we should "Build harmonious relationships with society," we strive to nurture a strong sense of good corporate citizenship throughout the company.
We attach a special emphasis on stakeholder engagement, based on sincere dialog with all of our stakeholders including patients and their families, healthcare professionals, local communities, collaboration partners, employees, shareholders, investors and business partners. Proactively, we look for and listen to expectations about us and requests directed to us, and have them reflected in our business operations and social contribution activities with the view to helping to offer solutions to problems in our society.
Stakeholder Engagement
We, as a good corporate citizen, need to have a very wide perspective in order to address the multiple issues our modern society faces. Accordingly, we place a special importance on engaging in active dialogs with all of our stakeholders including patients and their families, healthcare professionals, local communities, collaboration partners, employees, shareholders and investors, and business partners, so that we can correctly capture expectations and requests by society.
Stakeholder Dialogs During fiscal 2021
In the course of fiscal 2020, the following stakeholder dialogs were had:
| Stakeholder | Occasion | Frequency | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patients and Families | ● Product Information Center | Some 1,900 inquiries | |
| ● "Health Information Site" for general public | Updated regularly | ||
| ● "the SUKOYAKA Compass Website" for school children | Updated regularly | Please refer to Section: Contribution to Societies and Local Communities for details. | |
| ● Collaboration with patient groups, NPOs | Implemented regularly | ||
| Healthcare professionals | ● Product Information Center | Some 29,800 inquiries | |
| ● Routine MR activities | 12 branches (Japan) | ||
| ● "Medical Information Site" for professionals | Updated regularly | ||
| Local community | ● Visiting Lectures by employee | To 551 students at 7 high schools | Please refer to Sections: Development of the Next Generation and Biodiversity for details. |
| ● Biodiversity | Once, totally 13 employees participated in the Owls Forest Conservation Project at the Sumitomo Pharma Forest (we refrained from the activities to prevent the spread of COVID-19) |
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| Collaboration partners | ● Creating innovative therapeutic medications through collaborations | Implemented regularly | Please refer to Section: Research Collaborations, In-licenses and Acquisitions for details. |
| ● Implementing our Competitive Open Innovation Program framework | Implemented regularly | Please refer to Section: Competitive Open Innovation Program framework "PRISM" (in Japanese only) for details. | |
| Employees | ● SMP Opinion (company-wide questionnaire) | Implemented annually 3,143 responses (98.8%) |
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| ● Dialog between officer and employees | Several times a year at each business location | ||
| Shareholders and Investors | ● General Meeting of Shareholders | Held annually | Please refer to Section: IR Calendar for details. |
| ● Presentation to investment analysts and institutional investors | Held twice a year | ||
| ● Conference call to investment analysts and institutional investors | Held twice a year | ||
| ● Individual meeting with analysts and institutional investors | 103 meetings | ||
| ● Meetings for individual investors | 1 meeting | ||
| ● ESG meeting | Held annually | ||
| ● R&D meeting | Held annually | ||
| Business partners | ● CSR procurement | Implemented regularly | Please refer to Section: CSR-Based Procurement for details. |
Communications with Patients and Their Families, and Healthcare Professionals
The Product Information Center
Sumitomo Pharma has established the Product Information Center in order to respond to inquiries about its ethical pharmaceuticals both from in and outside the Company, including healthcare professionals, patients and their families as well as in-house MRs. In fiscal 2021, the Center handled approximately 34,000 inquiries.
The Center has a variety of search systems in place, such as the in-house product information search system "DI-SaGaS", which allows for better responses and improving accuracy to the inquiries it receives, in a prompt manner.
Information in inquiries received from healthcare professionals is shared with the MR in charge as well as related divisions whenever the Center receives it. Specifically, the Center uses a system that sends an email to the MR in charge regarding the nature of the question, summary of the response and source of information used in the response. This has enabled us to share information with MR in charge and to ensure uniformity in our responses, which has helped foster relationships of trust between healthcare professionals and the MR in charge.
Going forward, we will continue to contribute to the health of patients by swiftly and politely providing accurate information on proper use of pharmaceuticals, while analyzing external requests and providing feedback on the results internally, visualizing trends in patient opinions, and strengthening our role to improve our products and information materials.
Inquiries during fiscal 2021 (from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022): Approximately 34,000
Information Provision via Website
At Sumitomo Pharma, we have set up special websites to provide health and medical information for both healthcare professionals and the general public.
●Medical Information Site for Healthcare Professionals
https://sumitomo-pharma.jp (in Japanese only)
We provide healthcare professionals in Japan with information that we believe is useful in their line of work via a dedicated website. The content offered includes basic product information and notices of revisions to information such as package inserts or packaging labels, FAQs, patient instruction documents, and Healthcare Experience, which highlights advanced healthcare initiatives that we hope will provide a better patient experience.
In conjunction with visits to medical institutions by MRs, we use various channels of communication to provide targeted and timely information to healthcare professionals. In addition to the provision of product information on this website, we provide live-streaming of lectures from our own studio and distribute e-mail newsletters.
In 2020, we launched a system of reserved interviews through "online MR®" using an online conference system, and streaming of video content by "virtual MR®" , original new characters, as new channels for communication via digital technology.
online MR®
virtual MR®
●Health Information Site for the General Public
We maintain this health information site to provide the general public with basic information, the latest news and tips to help people enjoy a healthy life. Site content includes information on the causes of and treatments for diseases, tips on healthy living and precautions for using drugs.
https://healthcare-sumitomo-pharma.jp (in Japanese only)
Content and Features of the Health Information Site
Disease Info
On this website, visitors can search for information by disease name or symptom. There are also pages on schizophrenia, bipolar depression, Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy body, diabetes, and itching due to liver disease for easy-to-understand explanations of these disorders.
Life Tips
The Life Tips website features useful content such as a video clip on preventing the accidental ingestion of medicines by infants and children. The website also has interesting sections such as "Systems You Need to Know to Lower Medical Expenses" that provides information on programs available when medical expenses become too much of a burden or when you are diagnosed with specific diseases and "The Ah Hah! Guide to Taking Medicine" where visitors can learn about the actions, effects and adverse reactions of drugs.
Health Column
We provide a series of short articles on health and wellbeing in our Health Tips column, where you can learn fun facts on everyday topics such as clothes, food and housing through witty text and illustrations. Audio files are available for contents from volume 1 to 100, so you can also enjoy the content aurally.
Medicine Guide
Designed to help patients using our products, this website enables visitors to obtain detailed information related to the medicine they are taking, including the name, actions, effects, adverse reactions, and precautions for usage.
Promoting Dialogue between Management and Employees
We believe that, in order for all employees to fully demonstrate their potential, it is important that they support the business policies of their company and that they discharge their duties while gaining a solid sense of personal development.
Every year since fiscal 2014, we have conducted an opinion survey called SMP OPINION ("MinOpi") for all employees. Its purpose is to gauge employees' understanding of and satisfaction with our business policies and HR systems, their satisfaction with their supervisors and workplace environments, and their satisfaction with their own personal development. In fiscal 2019, we introduced questions on employee expectations in addition to satisfaction, making it possible to objectively gauge our engagement with employees. We also included questions on the Company's material issues.
In the recent survey conducted in July through July 2022, the overall response rate was 98.5%. According to the survey results, the engagement score was as high as 68% (about 5 points higher than the Japanese average), indicating that business and organization are managed soundly. It should also be noted that in response to the question of whether the statement "I practice SMP's CHANTO" applies to respondents, 7.4% answered "It very much applies" and 68% answered "It applies." The purpose of this question was to see how much employees understand and act on the Conduct Guidelines (=CHANTO), which have been set for all employees to challenge themselves to realize the Company's vision as their own and constantly evolve. The responses indicate that most employees are well aware of CHANTO and choose their actions accordingly.
In this survey, we also collected opinions on management and daily work in open-ended questions; and we received 1,668 comments in 2022. Executives read the survey results and every single comment. Based on these comments, they work with the relevant departments to improve situations as necessary. They also published their messages to employees internally. Moreover, spurred by the feedback to management from many employees, we have been holding Lectures by Directors at our main business sites since fiscal 2016 as an opportunity to allow the President and other members of management to engage in direct dialogue with employees. The outside directors also take part in research presentations held each year. Sumitomo Pharma was awarded third place for the third consecutive year in the large company division of the Best Motivation Company Awards from 2019 to 2021. We will keep challenging ourselves to enhance employee engagement at each department.
As a part of our efforts to ensure appropriate corporate governance, we share the findings of this company-wide opinion poll with all members of management, including the outside directors.