Kyosei

Kyosei is a Japanese concept of "living and working together for the common good". It is a Japanese philosophical approach to corporate social responsibility. There are five stages in kyosei, each bringing closer a more perfect harmony between a specific business operation and "oneness" with both society and nature.
Stage One finds companies work to achieve a predictable stream of profits and to establish strong market positions for their products and/or services.
Stage Two finds managers and workers working harmoniously, recognizing both are essential to the company's success.
Stage Three moves from this sense of cooperation beyond the company itself to include and involve clients, vendors, communities, and even competitors.
Stage Four finds a company taking the cooperative spirit beyond the nation and engages global challenges that affect the world.
Stage Five, rarely achieved by even the most enlightened companies, is a heightened urgency communicated to national governments to work toward solving international challenges.
Societal Issues
Businesses face marketplaces where numerous individuals, special interest groups (SIGs) and governments fervently engage companies and hold them accountable for political and cultural issues outside the traditional concern of most companies. In the Post World War II era of American corporate growth, cause-driven individuals and SIGs were considered more of a nuisance than taken seriously by corporate executives and boards. But as a number of social movements diverged into the American mainstream in the 1960s and 70s (civil rights (ethnic, gender and sexual preference), animal rights, product safety, environmentalism, etc.), corporations began addressing issues and initiating public programs to engage greater public involvement with corporate decision-making. Groups such as Public Citizen, National Organization for Women and PUSH began wielding far more influence on consumers who were becoming more educated and more sympathetic to such causes. Failure by corporate leaders to address social issues was not just a philosophical concern -- pressure by many activist groups lead to boycotts that ultimately negatively affected sales.

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