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Risk Management / Crisis Management

Risk Management

Fundamentals of Risk Manegement

The Asahi Group shall place risk management at the heart of management, establish a risk management system that enables it to improve its strategic planning and decision making as well as execution of day to day work, and implement effective risk management in order to achieve its goals.

Risk management system

Risk management of the Asahi Group shall place risk management at the heart of management in the ″The Asahi Group Risk Management Policies″ and will continue to practice.

In addition to conducting risk management by the each departments, we also set up the "Risk Management Committee" to identify and evaluate key risks across the Asahi Group, and to plan response to the risks.

Crisis Management

Crisis Management System

If a crisis is detected within the Asahi Group, the business unit that recognized the crisis shall report to the lead section and the General Affairs Section of the Asahi Group Holdings according to″The Asahi Group Crisis Management Policies″.

In addition, we also set up an "Emergency Response Headquarters" with CEO as head of the headquarters according to circumstances, and we will be responsive.

Fundamentals of Emergency Response

The fundamentals of emergency response shall be as follows:

  1. Ensuring Safety as Top Priority
    Ensuring safety including ensuring lives and health of customers, Officers / Employees and all other stakeholders shall be the top priority in the emergency responses and measures for recovery.
  2. Thorough Confirmation of Fact
    Facts and status shall be confirmed by every possible means in case of emergency, and no judgment or response shall be made based on uncertain information.
  3. Disclosure of Necessary Information
    Information necessary to ensure safety shall be forthwith disclosed based on the facts, and spreading damage and increasing anxiety shall be thereby prevented.

Information Disclosure in the Event of Accidents and Natural Disasters

The content and means of public disclosure will be determined by the Crisis Response Meeting and the Emergency Task Force based on the principle of providing accurate information in a timely manner.

Under this same principle, the Asahi Group actively discloses information in the event of accidents or disasters that may generate public concern over issues such as impact on product quality.

The content and means of public disclosure will be determined by the Crisis Response Meeting and implemented by the Emergency Task Force. For example, in the event of a potential secondary disaster or other risks affecting neighboring areas, we will disclose information such as the current status of the incident, prospects for recovery and the extent of impact on neighboring areas. In situations expected to impact the supply of products, we disclose information to business partners as necessary. Information on quality accidents involving our products are released based on standards set by the Quality Assurance Section.

We will continue to work on detailing the standards we should adopt in order to respond appropriately if a potential critical risk becomes reality.

Occurrence and disclosure of large-scale accidents and disasters at business units

  2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Number of occurrences disclosed 0 0 0 0 0

Number of cases in Japan only

Measures for Large-Scale Disasters

During large-scale natural disasters or pandemics, staff may be unable to be secured, leading to business suspension and damage to production and distribution functions, meaning that there is a risk of delays in product supply.

Therefore, the Asahi Group prepares various action manuals, provides facilities and supplies, and implements disaster-prevention training, based on various themes, such as employee (and their family's) safety and business continuity.

Securing Employee Safety

We are constantly moving forward with the preparation of disaster supplies and a safety confirmation system*, and the fortification of an emergency communications system. *Safety Confirmation System A system that enables employees to report on the status of their safety to a dedicated server via phone or the Internet in the event of a disaster, or by calling or e-mailing a pre-registered contact point on the dedicated server.

Business Continuity

We are constantly promoting system development to protect against negative impact to the continuity of the Group's business operations. We have formulated Business Continuity Plans (BCP) at major Group companies for use in the event of a large-scale earthquake and based on our past earthquake disaster management measures and efforts made during the Great East Japan Earthquake. In addition, we are implementing each countermeasure and transferring servers for internal systems to safe facilities depending on the type of server controlled and are also implementing redundant systems.
Finally, we formulated responses to keep damages to an absolute minimum, including the temporary suspension and recommencement of business during an outbreak of a communicable disease, which all business units could potentially encounter, in accordance with national guidelines.

Prevention of Environmental Pollution

We are making efforts to improve facilities and implement training drills based on ISO14001 specifications in preparation for a state of emergency, such as earthquakes and fire breakouts, which impacts the surrounding environment.

Installation of liquid containment dikes

We have introduced an automatic chemical sensor system to prevent emissions from leaving the factory by having a sensor immediately detect when an abnormality has occurred, such as the inflow of chemicals or product into a rainwater drainage ditch.

Introduction of an automatic chemical sensor system

We have introduced an automatic chemical sensor system to prevent emissions from leaving the factory by having a sensor immediately detect when an abnormality has occurred, such as the inflow of chemicals or product into a rainwater drainage ditch.

Implementation of Preparatory Drills

We implement drills in preparation for the possible release of chemicals or oil outside the factory during major disasters, such as earthquakes, to keep the environmental impact to surrounding areas to an absolute minimum.

Cyber Security System

The Asahi Group has established a cyber security promotion system called “ASAHI-CSIRT*” in accordance with the Cybersecurity Management Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

We use this system to devise countermeasures against security risks such as information leaks due to targeted attacks and insider threats.

Organization that deals with incidents related to computer security such as information leaks and system failure due to cyber-attacks.

CSIRT (Computer Security Incident Response Team): (taken from “Cybersecurity Management Guidelines” by METI)

Risk Management Associated with Procurement of Raw Materials

The yield of malt and other agricultural produce that act as the main ingredients in products manufactured by the Asahi Group varies greatly depending on the weather and other conditions. Since the 1980s, which saw a rapid increase in the amount of imported ingredients, the Asahi Group has dispersed the crop-producing regions it uses to supply the ingredients used in its products to ensure the stable supply of these ingredients looking ahead. For example in Asahi Breweries, Ltd., malt is procured from three different areas - North America, Europe and Australia - and by doing so the Asahi Group can circumvent the risk of insufficient produce due to natural disasters and weather variations.

This form of decentralized procurement was also implemented in 2020 as in previous years. While climate change persists, we have managed to secure the stable procurement of produce at the current time. We will continue to strive towards the secure procurement of produce by decentralizing production regions in the future.