10/31/2025

Lively has released its 5th report in a series aimed at fostering vision and foresight for a sustainable future. The report, “Integrating HRDD and Kaizen for Sustainable Management,” is now available on Lively’s official website.

This report outlines four steps for identifying, preventing, and mitigating human rights risks in supply chains, presenting a perspective that reframes corporate human rights due diligence (HRDD) from compliance to value creation. Historically, HRDD has often been treated simply as a “legal compliance” or “obligation,” with limited cases where it has led to practical implementation on the ground or transformed corporate culture. Going forward, efforts are needed to move beyond such formalistic approaches and embed HRDD at the core of the business.

Given this context, this report highlights “Kaizen,” Japan’s unique management philosophy, as one concrete example of how to integrate HRDD into a company’s core. HRDD and Kaizen share common principles such as continuous improvement, accountability, and proactive problem-solving, presenting measures that can be integrated into daily business processes.

The full report can be downloaded here after entering the required information.