2019-2020年ニールセン非財務マテリアリティ評価

Updated responsibility & sustainability non-financial materiality assessment highlights Nielsen’s commitment to proactive engagement with its stakeholders

要旨

事業全体の意義ある継続的改善へのコミットメントの一環として、ニールセンでは社内外のステークホルダーの皆様を巻き込み、3回目の非財務的マテリアリティ評価を実施しました。ステークホルダーの声に積極的に耳を傾けるこのような機会は、ニールセンが現在そして将来にわたって、事業やコミュニティを通じて直接的・間接的に価値を創造する能力を戦略的かつ進化的に理解する上で重要です。ステークホルダーが現在のニールセンをどのように見ているかをより良く理解することを追求するだけでなく、ニールセンのビジネスの成功やステークホルダーとの関係に影響を与える可能性のある新たな問題を含め、将来の潜在的なリスクや機会を特定するためにもこのフィードバックを活用しています。この評価を実施するため、バリューチェーンのあらゆる側面において、ステークホルダーと直接、または代理人を通じて関わりました。

The results of this assessment inform our strategic approach in a variety of ways: our ongoing communications about Nielsen’s overall commitments; how we proactively respond to environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related inquiries from investors, clients, and other stakeholders; and how we allocate resources to areas of greatest impact and importance to Nielsen. These issues cut across all aspects of our business, operations, and value creation through our client and industry relationships, our employee base, and our communities.

The issue areas highlighted through this materiality assessment are naturally interconnected with the ESG issues that matter most to our business, such as our commitment to employee engagement and development; diversity across our workforce and approach to measurement; Nielsen Cares projects that leverage our data and associates’ talents to make a social impact; our work to ensure our suppliers operate sustainably; and our commitment to helping our clients embed sustainability into their product and consumer engagement strategies. Through responsible, sustainable business practices, we’re committed to connecting key ESG best practices with our core purpose as a company to deliver greater value for all of our stakeholders. The responsibility to deliver on our key ESG commitments, aligned with the material priority areas identified in this assessment, is shared by all of our functional teams and leaders across our global business.

この評価では、詳細なインタビューやフォーカス・グループ、既存文書のレビュー、ウェブコメンタリー、調査、ESG基準設定者、評価者、ランカーからのフィードバック、ソーシャル・メディアや従来のメディア・コンテンツ、ウェビナーなどを通じてステークホルダーの意見を収集した。主なステークホルダーは、従業員、顧客、業界の業界団体や有力者、規制当局や政策立案者、地域団体や非営利団体、投資家、サプライヤー、戦略的ビジネス・パートナーなどですが、これらに限定されるものではありません。私たちは、複数の地域にまたがる社内外の意見をバランスよく取り入れるよう努めました。フィードバックは文書化され、社内チームと外部の専門家が数百の関連するトピック分野を特定しました。そして、これらの問題は、その強度、ステークホルダー・グループ間で言及される頻度、ステークホルダー、社会、事業に対する相対的な影響などの要素を考慮してランク付けされました。優先順位は、ニールセンが最も独自に、または直接的に、ステークホルダーが関心を持ち、当社の事業にとって重要な分野に取り組むことができる分野に与えられました。

We’ve linked our ESG strategy and external reporting efforts as part of a cohesive cycle focused on continuous improvement, enabling us to transparently share our ongoing journey through our Nielsen Global Responsibility Report そして regular updates. Our next Nielsen Global Responsibility Report, planned for publication in 2020, will cover each of these material topic areas in greater depth. We will continue to publish regular updates on these and other priorities via Nielsen News Center and other outlets.

戦略的アプローチ

As with our previous two assessments, we intend to use this information to guide both how we prioritize and resource continuous improvement efforts, and how we publicly report on these ongoing initiatives. This is our third non-financial materiality assessment; the most recent previous assessment was published in 2017. Going forward, we are committed to continuing this practice of conducting these assessments on a periodic basis.

We’ve decided to use a new visual format to distill our priority issue areas for this assessment, as we feel this more appropriately conveys the overlapping and dynamic interactions among our most material issue areas. Rather than the traditional horizontal/vertical axes we’ve used in previous years, we chose instead to use a Venn diagram format to show how these key strategic areas are inherently interconnected and interdependent. Much has changed in our business and operating environment since we published our last assessment in 2017. Shifting market and industry dynamics, increased pressure on our clients’ business models, new and emerging data privacy regulations, and the rapid pace of technological innovation are some of the key factors that we’ve highlighted with our stakeholders as forces of change for our business. While change creates opportunities for evolution, we also recognize the enduring importance of foundational elements of our brand—integrity, trust, transparency, and quality data representative of all consumer populations—aligned with the key areas that came out of this most recent assessment.  

Although this graphic does not include the traditional axes of “importance to stakeholders” and “importance to society,” we have applied these fundamental considerations to our analysis and issue prioritization per the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards. Each issue area contains a myriad of nuanced topics that were specifically cited by our stakeholders, which we recognize as critical for Nielsen to monitor and lead on as we seek to create economic, social and environmental value within and beyond our business, both today and over the long term. We have included definitions for each issue area below to reflect our stakeholders’ feedback and to clarify their unique meaning in the context of our business.

While the most material topic areas highlighted in this narrative are those that ranked highest among the hundreds of inputs we received from our stakeholders, all should be considered important. Topics at the center of the diagram—“Data,” “Trust,” “Transparency,” and “Diversity & Inclusion”—were recognized across stakeholder groups as the foundation on which all of the other issues are based.

At the center, “Data” was most prominently and frequently cited by all stakeholder groups. Data is at the core of our business, and it is fundamental to how we create value across all the other issue areas. Given the nature of our business across more than 90 years, the central importance of data is no surprise. The data we collect, analyze and share with the clients and industries we support each day is the lifeblood of our business. Our clients expect our data to be unbiased, accurate, trustworthy, and collected according to the highest standards of privacy, security, and integrity so they can rely on our insights for their important business decisions. Our shareholders expect us to continue to adapt our use of innovative new technology to the rapidly-changing end-markets in which we work. Our data must also represent all consumers, and we are similarly focused on ensuring that our own workforce represents the communities we seek to measure in order to harness the power of diversity to drive better business outcomes. We also recognize the unique opportunity for data to help communities and nonprofits more effectively deliver on their missions; we seek to contribute to these efforts through our Data for Good initiatives.  

ニールセンの多くのステークホルダーにとって、特定のトピックは、成功し、持続可能な企業が責任ある経営を行うための基本的な「テーブルステークス」とみなされています。ニールセンにとって、これらに限定されるものではありません：

• 長期的に経済業績と成長を維持する；
• Addressing climate change-related issues that impact our global footprint;
• Mitigating any negative ethical, social or environmental impacts that flow through our end-to-end business and supply chain; and
• 特に従業員のボランティア活動や、社会的に良い影響を与えるData for Goodプロジェクトを通じた独自の見識の現物支給を通じて、地域社会との関わりを深める。

主要課題分野の定義

私たちのベン図形式は、すべてのマテリアル・トピックがいかに補完的で相互依存的であるかを示しています。例えば、私たちは誠実に行動し、規制を遵守し、ステークホルダーと透明性のあるコミュニケーションをとることで、データに対する信頼を築き、維持しています。ダイバーシティ（多様性）とインクルージョン（包括性）は、私たちの人材確保、引きつけ、エンゲージメントの推進をサポートし、最終的には、私たちのビジネスモデルが地域や文化を超えてすべての消費者を反映できるよう継続的に進化することを支援します。透明性は、当社のビジネスモデル（および当社が提供するデータ）が健全であり、データの収集と使用に影響する現行および新たな規制を遵守しているという信頼を顧客と株主に与えます。これらの優先分野には相互に関連性があるため、いずれも等しく重要であり、当社の将来の成長に不可欠です。

図に示すように、ステークホルダーの協力により、非財務的マテリアルの優先トピックを以下のように特定することができました：

Data

For close to a century, Nielsen has provided data and analytics based on scientific rigor and cutting-edge innovation, continually developing new ways to answer the most important questions facing the media, advertising, retail and fast-moving consumer goods industries. Since data powers Nielsen’s business, it must be of the highest quality: consistent, reliable, and representative of all consumers and channels. The business of data creates responsibilities—a responsibility to protect the consumer, a responsibility to protect the marketing ecosystem, and a responsibility to manage it all with integrity and transparency.

Clients, in particular, expressed interest in how Nielsen ensures that the consumers who provide information to us are representative of a broad range of perspectives, with a special focus on multicultural consumers. On the analytics side, they expect transparency on how we confirm that our insights are unbiased, and that consumers’ privacy is protected through our approach to privacy by design. All stakeholder groups emphasized the importance of protecting the confidentiality of the data and information we collect, and utilizing the latest technology and practices to secure it. We will continue to invest in wide-ranging data privacy, security and integrity safeguards to ensure quality and security are never compromised.

Additionally, stakeholders across the board see continued opportunities for Nielsen’s data to be used for societal and environmental good. To deliver on this, we plan to continue to focus on Data for Good projects where we can make a unique impact through our data, insights, and capabilities, as part of our $10 million annual commitment to pro bono work and our overarching Nielsen Cares volunteer platform.

We believe that our commitment to high-quality, science-backed data is an essential service to the marketplace. The ability to provide useful data, independent of bias towards buyer or seller, will only become more crucial. We also anticipate our ability to make a positive social impact will grow as we continue to work with key nonprofits across our priority cause areas.

信頼

私たちの使命は、世界中の消費者と市場に関する最も完全で信頼できる情報を提供することです。消費者が当社と進んで情報を共有するためには、当社を信頼する必要があります。私たちは、すべての個人情報および機密データをプライベートに保つというコミットメントを真剣に受け止めています。

特に、消費者の期待や規制環境の変化が、消費者情報を収集、利用、販売するすべての企業の能力に影響を与える中、信頼はニールセンのすべての業務を支えるものであり、ニールセンの社会的事業許可に不可欠なものです。ニールセンの事業、製品、そして社員が築き上げ、維持しなければならない信頼の基盤は、競争上の重要な差別化要因であり続けています。私たちは、広告、消費財、メディアなどのリソースを方向付け、市場を形成するために私たちの洞察を利用するクライアントにとって、私たちが提供するデータが代表的で正確であり、クライアント自身の予測分析に役立つものであることを保証することが重要な役割であると認識しています。

As it is critical to providing independent measurement services for the industries we support, trust is also a key aspect of our talent engagement and retention strategy. Our employees are especially interested in the future evolution of our business as it aligns with their own unique opportunities for career growth. We’re committed to openly sharing new opportunities for learning and development as we seek new ways for our associates to be engaged and grow in their careers alongside our company’s continued evolution.

透明性

透明性 is key to our ability to showcase the differentiating value of our data, and to share our progress on how we innovate to better meet the imperatives of our world today by connecting with existing and new clients, entering new measurement channels and evolving into a new phase of Nielsen’s overall growth. Specifically, stakeholders expect continued transparency around data collection methodologies and analysis, strategy and future plans, financial reporting, leadership changes and ambitions, and diversity representation. Employees, too, want to continue to be engaged in our long-term growth plans and the resulting opportunities for career development.

Media buyers and advertisers need transparency in order to effectively negotiate and trade in an open marketplace. In using rigorous, independent measurement that provides a source of truth, they want to understand just how effective their efforts are and how they can improve upon them. More clarity ultimately means more trust that they are getting exactly what they paid for. The consumers who provide this data—with every click, every like, and every transaction—also want to know that they are protected. Consumers are more aware and concerned about how data about them is being captured and used today than ever before.

Our success is dependent on stakeholders’ confidence that our data, business practices, forecasting, and financial reporting are unimpeachable. Our business practices, professional behavior, approach to corporate governance, codes of conduct, Global Responsibility Report, public filings, インサイト そして ニュースセンター, are all a part of our focus on transparency toward our commitment to build and maintain trust across all of our stakeholder groups.

Diversity & inclusion

Diversity & Inclusion remains critical to our business, in terms of our ability to 含む すべて consumers across our measurement solutions, to ensure that our workforce represents the changing demographics around the world, and to enable all associates to perform to their full potential. As artificial intelligence and machine learning evolve and present new use cases for measurement, we recognize the importance of ensuring that these tools are used in a responsible way that is representative of all consumers.

The importance of nurturing a diverse and inclusive workplace touches every aspect of Nielsen’s business. A diverse talent pool creates a more productive environment with a broad range of thoughts and experiences that spurs innovation. Clients expect Nielsen to consistently evolve and deliver to provide new insights about multicultural consumers, audiences and media. We can’t effectively measure these audiences without ensuring that our own workforce also reflects a diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, and life experiences. Outreach to diverse communities also gives us access to new talent pools and a deeper understanding of multicultural communities as we expand our consumer panels.

私たちはまた、すべてのサプライヤーとビジネス・パートナーが多文化的なアプローチを体現し、私たちが測定しようとする世界を反映することを期待しています。

Beyond our own value chain, our recent public position opposing the proposed citizenship question in the 2020 U.S. Census was cited by various stakeholder groups as a welcome example of leadership in support of upholding strong data science principles and representing diverse populations.

Business model evolution & innovation

Business Model Evolution & Innovation reflects the importance of continuing to evolve our approach to measurement and the ways that we deliver our data and services across the industries and clients we support. Our data helps clients around the world understand what’s happening now and what’s happening next; to that end, our measurement capabilities and technology must innovate to stay ahead of the rapid pace of change all companies and industries are experiencing today.

また、市場全体を俯瞰し、消費者が商品を購入しメディアを消費するすべてのチャネルを測定しなければなりません。このようなエコシステムが急速に進化し成長し続ける中、一貫性があり比較可能なデータを提供する独立系プロバイダーとしてのニールセンの地位は、今後ますます重要になるでしょう。ニールセンは、オープンで軽快なコラボレーションの精神と、クライアントと業界が共有する目標の達成を支援するベロシティに焦点を当てた絶え間ないイノベーションを通じて、テクノロジーの継続的な改善と測定能力の拡大に取り組んでいます。

Clients and investors are focused on opportunities for Nielsen to stay ahead of the curve through innovation on the cost-side of our business by growing more efficient and developing streamlined ways to collect and synthesize data in an increasingly complex world. Innovation is key to our ability to succeed, and we recognize the importance of protecting our innovations and intellectual property across our entire footprint. Protecting innovation by promptly seeking patent protection on both the revenue-generating side of the business through new products and services and the cost-side of our business through efficiency-generating processes will remain a hallmark of Nielsen’s innovation strategy.

Nielsen’s innovation imperative encompasses the need to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to grow our measurement capabilities in new ways, how we engage with our clients, and how we ensure that all channels, categories and consumers are reflected in our coverage. To more seamlessly deliver for our clients and the industries we support, we’ve simplified our organization into two core platforms: Nielsen Global Media and Nielsen Global Connect.

Our focus on innovation also includes opening up to new clients and new end-users of Nielsen data and services as we become more product- and technology-focused as a company. One of these new opportunities is a focus on the sustainability related intelligence we can provide our clients, particularly in the consumer packaged goods and retail spaces.

タレント・エンゲージメント

Nielsen’s future relies on a skilled and stable talent pool. Ensuring that すべて Nielsen associates feel engaged and supported throughout their career journeys—regardless of race, gender, background or any of the other factors covered by our global non-discrimination statement—remains critical to our ability to attract, maintain, and grow top talent at our company in order to create and deliver better solutions to the marketplace.

As it is especially critical that our employees remain engaged throughout their time at Nielsen, in recent years we’ve invested in growing employee engagement in new ways across a variety of different dimensions, such as regular employee engagement “pulse checks,” encouraging associates and their managers to connect through regular check-ins, and expanding the capacity of our internal mentoring and leadership development programs. Employee engagement is the emotional and psychological connection our associates feel about their workplace and the work that we do. It’s about belonging, commitment, growth, and teamwork. And ultimately, it helps lead to both individual and business success.

現在の従業員は、雇用の安定、多様性を支援する社風、将来のキャリアアップや昇進の機会に関する透明性を重視していると回答した。アソシエイトは、継続的な研修とリーダーシップ開発の機会を、従業員を維持し、従事させるための重要な方法として挙げた。

ニールセンでは、人材戦略は長期的なビジネス戦略と直接的に整合しています。つまり、イノベーション、テクノロジー、効率性に重点を置き、それに伴う組織の変革によって、クライアントとニールセンがサービスを提供する市場の効率的な運営を支援するという目的を継続的に実現することが、私たちの人材開発と戦略的なワークフォースプランニング の原動力となっています。

Compliance & integrity

Compliance & Integrity complements our cross-cutting focus on trust and transparency. This includes our internal engagement with employees on the need to protect Nielsen’s brand and reputation; the way we engage with our panelists and the consumers we measure; the protections we maintain in our relationships with third-party partners and suppliers; and the end-deliverables we share with our clients. Integrity encompasses good governance, regulatory compliance, and responsible business practices.

As an independent data and measurement company, our clients—and the industries we support—depend on us to be an unbiased arbiter. To serve as a source of truth, integrity must be part of the foundation of all that we do at Nielsen. Maintaining such a culture helps protect the integrity of our data across the clients and markets we serve around the globe, builds a better workplace where employees feel respected and engaged, and increases our stakeholders’ trust in our business and brand. This connection between a strong culture of integrity and increased trust has been critical to our ability to foster a supportive work environment, effectively engage with consumers, provide cutting-edge measurement services, and ultimately to help our clients and markets grow.

データ・プライバシーの進化、サイバーセキュリティの開示要件、そして世界中の規制により、コンプライアンスの状況はより複雑になっています。私たちは、これらの要件を確実に満たし、それを上回るために、これらの重要な分野への投資を続けていきます。