Project Completion Report

SECTION A: Project profile

Project number & title: / PPWE 01 2014S - 50 Leading Companies for Women in APEC
Project time period: / June – November 2014 / Date submitted: / Dec19 2014
Committee / WG / Fora: / Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE) / Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE)
Project Overseer Name / Organization / Economy: / Toshikazu Yazawa/
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan (METI)

SECTION B: Project report and reflection

  1. Project description: In 3-4 sentences, please describe the project and its main objectives.

The project seeks to provide support for increased career and economic opportunities for women in the APEC region and beyond.The project objectives are 1) to raise awareness of women’s economic contributions to business activities today, and 2) contribute towards greater opportunities for women to take on more leadership roles and to be further included into economic activities. To achieve these objectives, the project has nominated48 exemplary companies and organizations from APEC economies to share their efforts in increasing opportunities for women with stakeholders in APEC economies and beyond. These companies were nominated by the public agencies from 14 APEC economies.

  1. Meeting objectives: Describe how the project met each of its proposed objectives. Please outline any challenges you may have encountered in delivering the activity.

The project seeks to contribute to the greater inclusion of women in economic activities in the APEC region by disseminating exemplary cases of companies increasing opportunities for women. The most crucial step in reaching this goal is to share this report on best practices with as many companies as possible so that they can learn from these cases. In order to do so, the report has been aided by various collaborating organizations, including the Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG) and the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), in addition to PPWE. The project team hopes that the best practices will be widely propagated through these entities and channels. The project has focused on applicable real-life cases from actual organizations in the hope that these cases will be seen as models by those who are searching for ways to increase opportunities for women.

This project revealed a number of significant outcomes from different companies’ actions to encourage women’s participation and leadership. Despite the wide variety in company sizes, structures, sectors, and leadership, this study has found that the participants in the project have shared many common factors for successful practices to contribute towards greater opportunities for women to take on more leadership roles and to be included further into economic activities.

One challenge that the project faced was that in some cases, companies that were nominated for this publication later declined to participate, typically for privacy reasons. The project respected these companies’ decision. When the total number of nominated companies did not exceed 50, additional companies were considered. Since some economies nominated more than 5 candidates in the early stages, the project team accepted one or two additional candidates from these economies. Company selections were conducted in a manner that sought to ensure as balanced a representation from each economy as possible.

  1. Evaluation: Describe the process undertaken to evaluate the project upon completion. (e.g. evaluation through participant surveys, peer reviews of outputs, assessments against indicators, statistics demonstrating use of outputs etc.). Provide analysis of results of evaluations conducted and where possible include information on impacts on gender. Evaluation data needs to be included as an appendix.
  1. Output indicators:Describe the main project outputs below. This may include workshops, tools, research papers, reports, recommendations, best practices, action plans.

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Indicators
(Edit or Insert rows as needed) / # planned / # actual / Details or notes
# workshops / events / 0 / 0
# participants (M/F) / 50 / 53
(11/42) / Participated in surveys for inclusion in the publication
# economies attending / 21 / 14 / Nominated participating organizationsfor inclusion in the publication
# speakers engaged / 0 / 0
# other organizations engaged / 0 / 4 / Supported the nomination process for some economies
# publications distributed / 2 / 2 / 50 Leading Companies for Women in APEC(English version and Japanese version)
# recommendations agreed on / 0 / 0
Other: / 0 / 0

Comments:

  1. Outcomes: Describe any specific medium-term changes to policy, processes or behaviour that can be attributed to result from this activity. Please include details on:
  • What indicators were used to measure medium-term impact? (Example indicators: type/number of policies/ regulations/processes changed, % of businesses conforming to new standards, change in sector’s commercial activity, # individual action plans developed, # agencies using resource or tools etc.)
  • Monitoring plans in place and proposed indicators to measure impacts, including any impacts on gender. Please summarise relevant information.

The reports have been uploaded to the APEC publication database (English version) and the METI website (Japanese version). As an indicator of the report’s dissemination, we will continue tomonitoraccess numbers for both versions of the publication.

  1. Participants (compulsory for events): Must be gender-aggregated. May be included as appendix.

Economy
(Insert rows as needed) / # male / # female / Details
(participants’ organizations)
Australia / 2 / 1 / The Australian Army, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and KPMG Australia
Indonesia / 3 / PT AnugrahaWeningCnd, PT Binusa Riau Persada, TorajaMelo
Japan / 6 / Hikari Kikai Seisakusho Co Ltd, Mo-House, Sanshu Seika Co Ltd, Shiseido Co Ltd, Takashimaya Co Ltd
Republic of Korea / 2 / 0 / Bow Industrial Corporation, M.Son Co Ltd
Malaysia / 5 / CALMS Technologies SdnBhd, CIMB Group Holdings Berhad, Malaysian Software Testing Board (MSTB), Natural Wellness Holdings (M) SdnBhd, Sipro Plastic Industries SdnBhd
New Zealand / 2 / 2 / Bank of New Zealand, Kensington Swan, Westpac New Zealand Limited
Papua New Guinea / 2 / HR Business Solutions, Women’s Micro Bank Limited
The Philippines / 6 / Bohol Bee Farm Resort, Computer Professionals Inc, Crea 8 Innov 8 Marketing, ECHOSTORE Sustainable Lifestyle, Filip + Inna, Pointwest Technologies Corporation
Russia / 2 / FBK, Powder coatings center RADAR
Singapore / 2 / EY Singapore, International Paradise Connexions Tours & Travel Pte Ltd
Chinese Taipei / 5 / Business Next Publishing Corp, HoneyBear Love House Co Ltd, Lifenergy Biotech Corp, Yupinwu Ltd
Thailand / 2 / Toshiba Thailand Co Ltd
The United States / 5 / 3 / AT&T, Baxter International Inc, Citi Hong Kong, Eli Lilly and Company, Procter & Gamble, Qualcomm, State Street
Viet Nam / 3 / Orchid Joint Stock Company, Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation, Saigon Union of Trading Cooperatives
Other:

Comments: What was the approach undertaken for participant nomination/selection and targeting? Please provide details. What follow-up actions are expected? How will participants/beneficiaries continue to be engaged and supported to progress this work?

In order to collect and present good examples, companies were selected from each APEC member economy based on the criteria below. In most cases, public agencies (such as a ministry for foreign or economic affairs) selected exemplary candidates for inclusion in the report, relying on self-nomination from each company as much as possible. Each participating economy was asked to provide two to five companies that met the following criteria:

aAt least one company is a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and one company is a major company

bThe company’s principal headquarters is located in the home economy of the nominating public agency

cThe company is able to verify that the representation of women in managerial positions, senior leadership or decision making positions are at the top level in its economy, or otherwise the company has been able to significantly increase the representation of women in managerial positions, senior leadership, or decision making positions within the last two or three years

In some cases, the public agencies of the participating economies relied on support from third parties (e.g. the national chamber of commerce or other industrial associations) to nominate companies on behalf of the agency. Other agencies chose to select companies by referring to past domestic surveys, relevant national awards, or other methods. These measures helped to ensure transparency and to remove possible biases from the selection process.

In some cases, companies that were nominated for this publication later declined to participate, typically for privacy reasons. The project respected these companies’ decision.

When the total number of nominated companies did not exceed 50, additional companies were considered. Since some economies nominated more than 5 candidates in the early stages, the project team accepted one or two additional candidates from these economies. Company selections were conducted in a manner that sought to ensure as balanced a representation from each economy as possible.

<Exceptions>

In a few instances, exceptions were made to the above criteria in order to encourage a more diverse set of nominations and to accommodate a wide variety of participating economies. These exceptions are as follows:

Criterion (a): Economies were allowed to nominate a single company that is either a SME or a major company if it was difficult to nominate both types of firms

Criterion (b): Participating economies could nominate subsidiaries of companies owned and/or based overseas if it was difficult to nominate companies that were fully based in the home economy

Criterion (c):Upon the request of some economies, some non-profit and public organizations with exemplary practices were included in the report

  1. Key findings: Describe 1-3 examples of key findings, challenges or success stories arising from the project (e.g. research or case studies results, policy recommendations, roadblocks to progress on an issue, impacts on gender).

Below are listed 3 of the 7 key findings from this project regarding key factors for successful practices that companies have undertaken to contribute towards greater opportunities for women to take on more leadership roles and to be included further into economic activities.

1) Strong commitment by leadership is a key component for successful policies to support women’s participation and leadership. Many of the companies that participated in this project emphasized the strong commitment to diversity shown by their leadership. Often, the company was founded by a woman who overcame many barriers as she led a company to success, and that founder’s commitment to women’s participation and leadership is etched into the DNA of the company. In other cases, senior leadership have realized, for various reasons, that their firm’s demographics don’t match its growth potential, and have taken actions to steer their policies to be more conducive to women’s success.

2) Policies that provide equal opportunities based on merit and respect employees’ lives naturally attract and retain women. Some of the companies that participated in this project do not have any women-specific policies: instead, they have become companies where women contribute at all levels through implementing policies which increase opportunities for all qualified staff members through merit-based recruitment and promotion. In addition to merit-based recruitment and advancement, firms which work to support their employees’ work-life balance through policies respecting employees‟ lives, such as flexible work schedules and maternity/paternity leave, have found that these policies have led to improved individual performance by employees, improved sales, and high retention rates, as well as high morale among employees.

3) Recruitment of women is an important tool for building the foundation for women’s participation. Some companies chose to employ various methods to ensure that female recruitment and promotion meet standards for women’s participation at all levels of the company. Examples of such methods include implementing a quota system, setting specific goal numbers or percentage of women hired and promoted, making sure certain numbers of women are included among every group of candidates, and recruiting women or external experts into hiring teams. These policies help to ensure that a company develops into a more diverse employee base and supports the future development of women leaders from within the company.

  1. Next steps:Describe any planned follow-up steps or projects, such as workshops, post-activity evaluations, or research to assess the impact of this activity. How will the indicators from Question 5 be tracked? How will this activity inform any future APEC activities?

Dissemination of the report is particularly important for this project as the next step, and we would like as many companies/organizations as possible to refer to and learn from these best practices. We are planning to disseminate the report through various channels, such as social media, magazines and interested organizations, so that the report will be seen as models by those who are searching for ways to increase opportunities for women.

  1. Feedback for the Secretariat: Do you have suggestions for more effective support by APEC fora or the Secretariat? Any assessment of consultants, experts or other stakeholders to share? We hope that the Secretariat examines feedback trends to identify ways to improve our systems.

The APEC Secretariat has contributed valuable and practical advice as we navigated through the procedures in publishing this report.

SECTION C: Budget

Attach a detailed breakdown of the APEC- provided project budget, including:

  • Planned costs: (using most recently approved budget figures)
  • Actual expenditures
  • Variance notes: An explanation of any budget line under- or over-spent by 20% or more.

This is a fully “self-funded” project.

SECTION D: Appendices

Please attach the following documentation to the report as required. Note that the participant contact list is a mandatory requirement for all Project completion reports.

 / Appendices / Notes
 / Participant contact list: contact info, gender, job titles (mandatory)
 / Experts / consultants list: contact info, job titles, roles, gender
Event Agenda
 / Reports, websites or resources created: links or soft copies
Post activity survey or other evaluation data (raw and/or aggregated)
Other information or resources
FOR APEC SECRETARIAT USE ONLYAPEC comments: Were APEC project guidelines followed? Could the project have been managed more effectively or easily by the PO?

Participant contact list

Economy / M/F / Name / Job Titles/
Organizations / Contact Info (e-mail)
Australia / F / Hannaford, Michelle MRS / The Australian Army /
Australia / M / Ryan Burke / Commonwealth Bank of Australia /
Australia / M / Wilkins, Simon / KPMG Australia /
Indonesia / F / Lucia DondaYuniar / PT AnugrahaWeningCnd /
Indonesia / F / ImasShidiq / PT Binusa Riau Persada /
Indonesia / F / Diana Irina Jusuf / TorajaMelo /
Japan / F / Chika Senda / Hikari Kikai Seisakusho Co Ltd /
Japan / F / Yuka Mitsuhata / Mo-House /
Japan / F / ChiyoShishikura / Mo-House /
Japan / F / Chieko Inagaki / Sanshu Seika Co Ltd /
Japan / F / Yuka Yoshida / Shiseido Co Ltd /
Japan / F / RieMita / Takashimaya Co Ltd /
Republic of Korea / M / Choi WonSeok / Bow Industrial Corporation /
Republic of Korea / M / Lee Daehoon / M.Son Co Ltd /
Malaysia / F / Koh Lee Ching / Chief Executive Officer, CALMS Technologies SdnBhd /
Malaysia / F / HamidahNaziadin / Group Chief People Officer, Group Corporate Resources, CIMB Group Holdings Berhad /
Malaysia / F / Mastura Abu Samah / President, Malaysian Software Testing Board (MSTB) /
Malaysia / F / ShahnasbintiOli Mohamed / Managing Director, Natural Wellness Holdings (M) SdnBhd /
Malaysia / F / NorainiSoltan / Managing Director, MD Office, Sipro Plastic Industries SdnBhd /
New Zealand / M / Kenny Clark / Corporate Affairs, Bank of New Zealand /
New Zealand / M / Alastair Carruthers / Kensington Swan /
New Zealand / F / Sandra Gilliam / People Director, Kensington Swan /
New Zealand / F / Sue Foley / Corporate Affairs, Westpac New Zealand Limited /
Papua New Guinea / F / Linda SinchaParu / Executive Director – Human Resources, HR Business Solutions /
Papua New Guinea / F / ThushariHewapathirana / Chief Executive Officer, Women’s Micro Bank Limited /
The Philippines / F / Victoria C. Sandidge / Chairman / President, Bohol Bee Farm Resort /
The Philippines / F / Rosario M. Gruet / Vice President & Co-Founder, Computer Professionals Inc /
The Philippines / F / Dulce Blanca T. Punzalan / Executive Director / Proprietor, Crea 8 Innov 8 Marketing /
The Philippines / F / Regina Francisco / President, ECHOSTORE Sustainable Lifestyle /
The Philippines / F / Natasha van den Brink / Associate, Filip + Inna /
The Philippines / F / Cristina G. Coronel / President / Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pointwest Technologies Corporation /
Russia / F / Irina Sukhova / Vice-President for Corporate Development, FBK /
Russia / F / RadmilaBelavina / General manager, Powder coatings center RADAR /
Singapore / F / Sarah Wazirzada / Assistant Director - Diversity & Inclusiveness, Talent, EY Singapore /
Singapore / F / Wang Siyun Gretchen / Accounts cum HR Executive, Accounts/HR, International Paradise Connexions Tours & Travel Pte Ltd /
Chinese Taipei / F / Ming Chi KUO / Vice Managing Director, Business Next Publishing Corp /
Chinese Taipei / F / Ms.Wu / Director, HoneyBear Love House Co Ltd /
Chinese Taipei / F / Sylvia Lien / President, Lifenergy Biotech Corp /
Chinese Taipei / F / Sharon Lin / Manager, Lifenergy Biotech Corp /
Chinese Taipei / F / Ms. Liu / Presidenｔ, Yupinwu Ltd /
Thailand / F / KobkarnWattanavrangkul / Chairperson, Toshiba Thailand Co Ltd /
Thailand / F / NartidaDedkaew / Toshiba Thailand Co Ltd /
The United States / F / Belinda Grant-Anderson / VP-Diversity & Inclusion, AT&T Services, Inc., AT&T /
The United States / F / Jessica De la Torre / AT&T /
The United States / M / David Basmajian / Head of Policy, Baxter APAC Area, Baxter International Inc /
The United States / M / Wayne Fong / Head of Corporate Affairs, Citi Hong Kong /
The United States / M / John F Steele / Government Affairs, Eli Lilly and Company /
The United States / M / Nathan Graham / Senior Global Government Relations and Public Policy, Government Relations, Procter & Gamble /
The United States / F / Lee Wills / Qualcomm /
The United States / M / Steven Xavier Chan / Vice President | Head of Regulatory, Industry and Government Affairs, Asia Pacific, State Street /
Viet Nam / F / Nguyen Thi Dong / General Director, Orchid Joint Stock Company /
Viet Nam / F / Tran Kim Linh / Assistant to General Director, Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation /
Viet Nam / F / Lo Nguyen Phuong Khanh / Secretary of Executive Committee, Saigon Union of Trading Cooperatives /

Experts / consultants list