Monday, 10 March 2014 00:00
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The Japan-Sri Lanka Technical and Cultural Association (JASTECA) recently announced a fresh set of guidelines for its competition that is set to kick off from 1 July.
Conducting the JASTECA CSR Awards to encourage businesses and other organisations to have a sound CSR Policy along with embedded effective structures, systems, processes and commitments, the non-profit service organisation recently amended the assessment guidelines and best practices for the award.
The amendments to the guidelines were made by a three member panel for which the Chairperson was Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Former Chairman Chandra Jayaratne and the members were Lal Nanayakkara and CMA President Sri Lanka Professor Lakshman Watawala.
JASTECA President Athulla R.F. Edirisinghe in a letter to the media regarding the new guidelines said: “It is JASTECA’s wish to encourage businesses and other organisations to have a CSR policy that goes beyond statutory and stakeholder obligations fulfilling aspirations towards the society, economy and environment.
“JASTECA was privileged to have the guidelines of an eminent panel of judges to add value to the competition. We are grateful for the chairperson for his inputs to fine tune the CSR Award Assessment Guidelines and Best Practices, that will be incorporated in 2014 CSR Awards competition guidelines.”
According to the guidelines of JASTECA the CSR policy must define areas of concern and initiatives to improve relations with the people and environments affected by business operations and must go beyond stakeholder and statutory obligations, in order to fulfill the aspirations towards the triple bottom line in a sustainable manner. The core values of such business and organisations, whilst vigorously pursuing to maximize shareholder value, should lead to honour ethical values and respect people, communities and the natural environment in their day to day operations. JASTECA shared that businesses and organisations worthy of due recognisitions are those that are:
(1) Lawful, ethical in conduct and adopt best practices of Good Corporate Governance.
(2) Managed with efficiency, effectiveness and economically, by “fit and proper” boards and management.
(3) Profitable and solvent in the long term.
(4) Add value to and deliver the expectations of its entire stakeholder, including the government and society, in a sustainable manner.
(5) Conscious of its commitments to environmental and ecological sustainability.
(6) Engage in societal value adding investments and corporate social initiatives, which result in sustainable positive outcomes benefiting the targeted segment of society or the environment.
(7) Capable of achieving real growth for the benefit of stakeholders.
JASTECA has been established in Sri Lanka since 1984. Over 3,500 Sri Lankan managers and executives have been trained in Japan on scholarships offered though the financial support of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, through the funds secured by HIDA (Oversea Human Resources and Industry Development Association) Japan.
JASTECA introduced and propagated the 5S Japanese management system in Sri Lanka over two decades ago. Hundreds of companies and several Government institutions have reached excellence in productivity and efficiency thanks to the introduction of Japanese 5S and Kaizen concepts which are proven Japanese Management Systems. JASTECA conducted the 18th Annual Taiki Akimoto 5S awards competition in 2013 for the 18th consecutive year.
Several leading companies have taken the advantage of JASTECA’s links in Japan and Thailand to train their managers overseas under specially designed management training programs. Annually 700-800 students are acquiring Japanese Language proficiency through the Japanese Language Education Association (JLEA) of JASTECA.
