Professional hair brands listed in world's most ethical companies list

Kao Corporation, which owns professional hair brands Goldwell, KMS and Oribe is included in the world's most ethical companies list for the 15th consecutive year.

Kao Corporation is included in World's Most Ethical Companies list for 15th year

The list, which is published by US think tank Ethisphere Institute has included Kao Corporation since it began ranking companies in 2007. The World's Most Ethical Companies list recognises companies which have demonstrated outstanding performance in transparency, integrity, ethics and compliance. The Institute surveys and evaluates companies worldwide across five categories covering: ethics and compliance programmes, corporate citizenship and responsibility, culture of ethics, governance, leadership and reputation. The Ethisphere Institute aims to develop and share best practices in business ethics and corporate social responsibility. The latest list recognised Kao's commitment to thoughtful and purposeful consumption. Ethisphere’s chief executive officer Timothy Erblich said:

We are, once again, delighted to include Kao in our World’s Most Ethical Companies list — the only Asian company we have honoured every year since the award’s inception. This is a testament to Kao’s dedication to advancing ethical and ESG (environment, social and governance) management best practices. We believe Kao will continue to be at the forefront of setting ethical standards in the industry globally.

Kao’s President and CEO Yoshihiro Hasebe said:

We are honuored to have been recognised as one of the world's most ethical companies for 15 consecutive years. Our business has always been based on walking the right path—a core value of our founder. Outside evaluations are therefore an important indication we are indeed going in the right direction. However, we should never be satisfied with the status quo. What has worked for us today may not work in the future, so we should always strive for improvement. As CEO, I am determined we continue to make ethical decisions in this ever-changing world.

Kao’s purpose is to create a life that is both clean and beautiful for all. For Kao, this not only encapsulates appearance, but also attitude — to create beauty for oneself, other people, and for the world around us. Kao Group’s ESG strategy is based on Kirei, which is the Japanese word for something that is clean and beautiful. The Kirei Lifestyle Plan aims to integrate ESG as the foundation of its management to accelerate business growth and create products and services of better value for consumers and society. Additionally, Kao’s corporate code of conduct— the Kao Business Conduct Guidelines— guides its everyday business and is tailored to the special characteristics of Kao’s operations in different countries and regions. With the world still gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic, Kao has taken a series of actions to support industry initiatives to promote good hygiene and handwashing, increasing production capacity for hand sanitisers, and making charitable donations across the world. Kao also took immediate action to ensure employee safety at an early stage of the pandemic, which included encouraging employees to work from home and providing them with the company’s products such as hand soap and sanitizers.