The catalyst for Sharp Corporation to move forward in its electronics business was the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Sharp Corporation founder Tokuji Hayakawa, who had started his own business in Tokyo in 1912 at the age of 19, invented the Ever-Ready Sharp Pencil (called the “Sharp pencil” in Japan today) in 1915, based on his knowledge of metalworking. His business was going well, with volume orders coming in from overseas. Then, on September 1, 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake hit Tokyo. He lost the pencil factory to fire. Much worse, he also lost his beloved wife and their two sons.

Determined to rise again, Hayakawa moved to Osaka, about 400 kilometers west of Tokyo, and used his experience in working with metal to develop a crystal radio set. The product succeeded in its first commercial introduction in Japan. His company then developed other products, such as Japan’s first television set and the world’s first all-transistor-diode electronic calculator. Sharp grew to become a manufacturer of a full range of electronic products.

The spirit of its founder, who was able to rise up in the face of adversity by challenging himself with a new goal, became a keystone of Sharp’s corporate culture and has been passed along ever since. At Sharp, we consider environmental change to be a new opportunity for innovation, and we are pioneering efforts for the next era—starting with transforming ourselves.

Sharp is celebrating its 100-year anniversary this year and has taken on the challenge of becoming an “Eco-Positive Company” as its corporate vision. An “Eco-Positive Company” is a company that works with all stakeholders in creating solutions that have significantly more positive impact on the environment than the negative impact caused by company operations.

Sharp has also developed two business visions to help support its corporate vision. The first is to “Contribute to the world through environment- and health-conscious businesses, focusing on energy-saving and energy-creating products.” The second is to “Contribute to a ubiquitous society with one-of-a-kind LCDs.”

In response to the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent accident at a nuclear power plant, the expectations for solar power generation and renewable energies have increased, and the need for saving electricity and other forms of energy in our daily lives as well as in business has become more important than ever. Sharp believes making further efforts to realize these visions will help lead the way to recovery of the disaster-hit areas, stimulate growth in Japan, and contribute to the world.

In response to an increasing worldwide demand for safe, low-carbon energy, Sharp has been developing its total solutions business related to solar energy in various parts of the world.

In Thailand, one of the world’s largest mega solar power generation plants, with a capacity of 73 megawatts, began operations at the end of 2011. Sharp had received an order to build this plant from NED (Natural Energy Development Co., Ltd.), one of Thailand’s independent power producers, and had worked on the project in cooperation with ITD (Italian-Thai Development Public Co., Ltd.) and ITE (ITALTHAI Engineering Co., Ltd.), Thailand’s largest construction companies.

With an eye to starting an independent power producer business in Europe using solar power, Sharp established the joint venture company ESSE (Enel Green Power & Sharp Solar Energy S.r.l.) in July 2010 with Enel Green Power, a group company of Enel Corporation, the largest electric power company in Italy. ESSE’s first solar power generation plant was completed in March 2011 in southern Italy, and the power generation business has begun. Sharp is also planning to build multiple solar power generation plants, with a total capacity of more than 500 megawatts, by the end of 2016 and to develop power generation businesses in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, focusing on the Mediterranean region.

The solar cells to be used in these power plants will be supplied by a thin-film solar cell plant in Italy operating under a joint venture established in July 2010 between Sharp, Enel Green Power, and STMicroelectronics. The plant began mass-producing thin-film solar cells at the end of 2011.

In the North American market, Sharp acquired Recurrent Energy, LLC, an American developer and operator of solar power generation plants, in 2010 and is now advancing the business by developing mega solar power generation plants.

The key factor to growth in solar power generation is to achieve grid parity (where solar power generation costs are equal to conventional power generation). For Japan, it is predicted that technological innovations will make it possible within several years to achieve grid parity for general households.

Sharp will increase its solutions capability by expanding business throughout the value chain to include the development and production of cells and modules for solar panels, system design, construction and maintenance of mega solar power generation plants, and its independent power producer business. Further, Sharp is opening the way to an era of renewable energy by contributing to the achievement of grid parity worldwide.

In addition to energy-creating efforts through its solar power business, Sharp is developing and promoting energy-saving products, such as LCD TVs, LED lighting, air conditioners, refrigerators, and digital MFPs.

Considering the limits of fossil fuels, renewable energy (like solar power) and energy-saving products are essential for future growth, especially for newly emerging economies and developing countries where energy resources are insufficient. To this end, Sharp is advancing a locally self-sufficient production system of “local production for local consumption” for both solar power generation and energy-saving products.

As a result of its global operations for promoting energy-creating and energy-saving products, Sharp forecasts that its fiscal 2011 results will confirm the early achievement of its fiscal 2012 goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Sharp will reach this goal—the most important goal for realizing its corporate vision—one year ahead of schedule. Reaching this goal means that the reduction in emissions resulting from customers using Sharp’s energy-creating and energy-saving products will be more than double the total greenhouse gas emissions from Sharp’s business activities.

Sharp’s efforts, based on its corporate vision of becoming an “Eco-Positive Company,” have spread throughout the entire Sharp Group and have led to reductions and prevention of greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and other environmental burdens. Moreover, environmental awareness among employees has risen as a result of progress made, in every area of the world that Sharp operates, in activities designed to contribute to the environment and society.

As the international community and the world economy continue to change and shift away from traditional frameworks, Sharp is operating more globally than ever. Sharp is aware that there are growing expectations for its corporate activities to contribute to solutions for issues that are important to society, such as protecting the global environment, respecting human rights and equality, and providing opportunities for primary education.

Based on its business philosophy and its business creed of “Sincerity and Creativity,” Sharp will continue striving to create new value by developing proprietary technologies and one-of-a-kind products and devices. And Sharp will further contribute to the sustainable development of society by working to help resolve the previously mentioned societal issues through the utilization of management resources that include an employee-diversity strategy and activities to support education.

As a participant in the United Nations Global Compact since 2009, Sharp continues to support the Compact’s 10 principles regarding human rights, labour, the environment, and anti-corruption. Sharp will fulfill its social responsibilities by continuing to make further efforts in each area, so that it can gain trust from all of its stakeholders, including consumers, shareholders, investors, business partners, suppliers, employees, and local communities.

Sharp will continue to make efforts for transparency, disclosing information about its business operations and sharing stakeholders’ valuable opinions with management. We look forward to hearing your candid opinions.