Nippon Shinyaku evaluated its ethics and regulatory compliance initiatives, led by the Internal Control Department, against external benchmarks by using Nikkei Research’s compliance management assessment program from 2025. The survey covered approximately 2,000 people, including employees at overseas operations, and achieved a high response rate.
Nippon Shinyaku has established an organisational structure, centred on the Internal Control Department, to promote the understanding and entrenchment of compliance. It continues to raise awareness through messages from the president, departmental training, e-learning and quizzes. The company has also established a company-wide Risk and Compliance Committee to determine the direction of its initiatives.
From 2025, the company began using Nikkei Research’s program instead of conducting its own internal survey. The reasons for its introduction included the objectivity of internal evaluations, the use of overseas benchmarks and a reduction in the workload. The ability to flexibly add questions, support for English and Chinese, and Nikkei Research’s track record in surveying overseas operations were decisive factors. Having a third-party organisation administer the survey improved psychological safety, while making participation voluntary helped maintain the response rate.
The survey was conducted among approximately 2,000 people in Japan and overseas, enabling analysis by age group and job title, as well as comparisons among group companies and against benchmarks. The only issue identified was awareness of the consultation and reporting system, or hotline, and the company is working to improve access routes and the Q&A format. Compared with conducting the survey in-house, the time required to interpret the data was reduced, allowing resources to be redirected to planning and implementing initiatives.
Comparisons against benchmarks clarified the company’s relative position and created a shared understanding of issues in relation to industry standards. The data is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of initiatives, and the ability to maintain a high response rate even with voluntary participation has been positively assessed. Going forward, the company aims to continue conducting the survey once a year and pursue growth underpinned by compliance, using the data as a common language.