Third-Party Opinion
MARUI GROUP’s Co-Creation Sustainability Report 2017 is one of the few
sustainability reports that I have found to be fun and interesting to read. Thespirit of the Company, its ambitions and resolve, was present throughout its
pages, leaving a very favorable impression. Moreover, this report led me torediscover MARUI GROUP. I believe that the most fundamental role of a sustainability report is to illustrate the “personality” of a company as is done inthis report, but few have succeeded in this respect.
I have particularly high praise for this report with regard to the following
five areas.
Peter David Pedersen□ The design was exceptional and it was easy to read.

Co-founder, E-Square Inc.
Executive Director,The Academy for Corporate LeadershipCo-founder, Next Leaders’ Initiative for Sustainability□ There was a consistent narrative spun throughout the report based on aBorn in Denmark in 1967, Peter David Pedersen
graduated from the Institute of Cultural
Anthropology at Copenhagen University. His
activities in Japan began in 1984. Mr. Pedersen
co-founded E-Square Inc. in 2000 and workedwith numerous Japanese multinationals onsustainability strategy. In 2000, he introduced
Japan to the concept of lifestyles of health andsustainability (LOHAS). He left his position as CEOof E-Square Inc. in 2011 but continued his work asco-founder. Mr. Pedersen became executivedirector of The Academy for Corporate Leadership(TACL), a part of TRANSAGENT Co., Ltd., in 2014.
In 2015, he became co-founder and represen­tative director of Next Leaders’ Initiative for
Sustainability (NELIS­).

clear theme (inclusion).
□ The constant inclusion of real people (managers, employees, external stakeholders, etc.) gives the report an added degree of warmth.
□ The introduction of future employees set to join MARUI GROUP next year
and their statements about their anticipations for joining the Company andthe workstyles to which they aspire were most interesting.
□ The section on workplace inclusion presented the idea that diversity andhealthcare management, based on a broad definition, could give rise toinnovation. This idea is inspiring. Also, the views on and definition of diversity were themselves diverse, which was a plus.
If there were an area requiring improvement, it was probably not related toreporting per se, but more to the need to further develop some of the activities
described in the report. For example, the direction the MARUI GROUP indicated for its ecological inclusion and reduction initiatives is sound and good,
but it felt like there was more that could be done in this area. Preserving ahealthy environment is crucial to the happiness of future generations. I hope
to see MARUI GROUP implementing innovative and distinctive initiatives inthis regard in the future. As for the FinTech (credit card) business, there is nodoubt a negative side to this business, namely collecting debt from payment
delinquents. I would have liked to have known more about how MARUI GROUP
addresses this issue, that is, how it overcomes the dilemma presented by theneed to protect the human rights of delinquents while also responding to thenecessity of recovering debt.

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