Abstract
The development of sustainable corporate supply chains is essential to making the globalized economy more sustainable, and pressure from two major stakeholders, consumers, and investors will accelerate corporate movement in that direction. If ethical consumption demand grows to become mainstream, corporations will shift to ethical products by adopting sustainable supply chains. Additionally, if investors focusing on ESG factors come to appreciate such actions and provide a positive evaluation of corporate value, corporations will shift to sustainable supply chains and production of ethical products. Currently in Japan, both ethical consumption and ESG investment are still at an early stage. However, consumer attitudes are favorable regarding ethical consumption, with more than 60% of consumers sympathizing with the idea of ethical products. The Japanese ESG investment market is also developing quickly, growing more than seven-fold between 2014 and 2016 due to the introduction of the Japanese stewardship code and the corporate governance code. Global market share is, however, only two percent and further growth is expected due to the high level of interest in ESG investment on the part of major government pension funds.
