Responsible unit of Sustainable Development
The Board of Directors is the highest governance unit for sustainable development in the Company. In March 2022, the "Governance and Sustainable Development Office" (formerly known as the "Corporate Governance Group" and later renamed in June 2022) was established under the Board of Directors to promote corporate governance, develop a sustainable environment, and participate in social welfare. The head of each unit collects internal and external information on environmental, social, and corporate governance issues related to the company's operations, and conducts risk identification and evaluation; regularly reviews corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, and sustainable development issues, as well as the formulation of management policies, strategies, and goals, and their performance and progress.
The "Governance and Sustainable Development Office" has set up four functional groups, and all departments of the Company shall participate in the operation of each group according to their business and responsibilities. The main responsibilities of each group in promoting sustainability issues are as follows:
(1) Sustainable Environment: Greenhouse gas inventory, climate change information, energy saving and carbon emission reduction advocacy, etc.
(2) Social Responsibility: Stakeholder rights, social welfare, human rights management, etc.
(3) Corporate Governance: Integrity management, legal compliance, risk management, intellectual property management, etc.
(4) Information and Communication Security: Information and communication risk control, data governance, and e-business, etc.
The internal control system—the management of sustainability information
Supervision of sustainable development by the board of directors
The Company adheres to the founding purpose of “the way of great learning consists in manifesting one's bright virtue, consists in loving the people, consists in stopping in perfect goodness”, and guards each product and service. Adhering to the pursuit of sustainable operation and profitability, incorporating corporate social responsibility, attaching importance to the rights and interests of stakeholders, emphasizing the principles of environmental, social and corporate governance and materiality, for the Company's management policy, operational activities and risk management policies or strategies, so as to achieve the goal of sustainable operations.
The "Governance and Sustainable Development Office" reports to the board of directors at least once a year on the implementation of corporate sustainable development, including
(1) In accordance with the principle of materiality, conduct environmental, social and corporate governance risk assessment projects related to the company's operations;
(2) Formulate relevant risk management policies or strategies;
(3) Implementation of sustainable management matters.
The board of directors listens to reports from the management team, supervises the company to formulate sustainable strategies and reviews specific actions, and urges the management team to make adjustments when necessary. The last two reports to the board of directors were on May 9, 2024 and June 21, 2023.
ESG Report
Implementation status of Sustainable Development
Risk Assessment
This disclosure of information covers the sustainable development performance of the Company in its main bases from January 2023 to December 2023. The risk assessment boundary is based on the Company's overall operating activities. Conduct analysis and evaluation according to the principle of materiality, and formulate relevant management policies or strategies as follows:
| Major Issues | Risk Evaluation Items | Management policy or strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental | Climate risk | 1. Establishment of energy-saving policy: We shall make the policy of equipment retirement for issues such as energy saving, water saving and power saving. 2. Greenhouse gas inventory: We have voluntarily inventoried and disclosed greenhouse gas emissions and shall continue to do so annually and set specific targets for reduction. 3. Climate risk execution: The physical risks of natural disasters (such as floods and droughts) caused by global climate warming, as well as the transition risks of increasing the proportional use of renewable energy pursuant to government regulations, international initiatives, and requirements (power prices in Taiwan will increase and the use of renewable energy will lead to rising costs). Based on its own business characteristics and in accordance with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework, the Company has conducted annual climate risk and opportunity identification, as well as climate change-related response actions including governance, strategies, climate risk and opportunity analysis, climate scenario analysis, risk management, indicators and goals, and it has publicly disclosed such information on the Company’s official website and in the sustainability report. |
| Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction | The Company's energy consumption is mainly based on the purchase of power from Taiwan Power Company; the power consumption in 2023 was 533,706 kWh, a decrease of 17.5% from 647,051 kWh in 2022, and the specific targets and implementation of energy saving shall continue to be carried out: ● The stores are using energy-saving LED lighting and variable frequency air conditioning equipment. The amount of investment in energy-saving equipment during the past 2 years was NT$21,071 thousand in 2023 and NT$29,785 thousand in 2022. ● The stores are gradually using green building materials and environmental materials for renovation. ● We continue to conduct energy-saving and carbon-reduction advocacy and educate our employees on the temperature standard of indoor air conditioning and on turning off the power. | |
| Resource and Waste Management | 1、 The Company continuously endeavors to reduce the possible impact of waste on the environment by taking various voluntary actions to avoid over-packaging of products and to fulfill the responsibility of being environmentally friendly. The Company also enhances the efficiency of resource utilization by classifying and recycling various types of waste. 2、 In response to the regulations in the Targets and Implementation Methods for Restriction of Internet Shopping Packaging promulgated by the Ministry of Environment of the Executive Yuan in July 2023, the Company conducted a thorough check of the packaging materials and packaging methods for e-commerce orders from July to December 2023, all of which were found to be in line with regulations. It is planned that in 2024, original boxes used in stores will be recycled into circular boxes for shipping in subsequent e-commerce orders to achieve the goal of packaging reduction. | |
| Social | Occupational risk | 1、 Improvement of occupational safety management: The Company has issued the Occupational Health and Safety Management Manual, the Human-caused Hazards Prevention Plan, the Abnormal Workload Disease Prevention Implementation Plan, and the Performance of Duties Unlawful Infringement Prevention Plan, etc., stipulating relevant requirements for labor safety and health measures, including accidents, fire safety, electrical work safety, machine and equipment work safety, first aid and rescue, preparation, maintenance and use of protective equipment, accident notification and reporting, etc. The Company conducts monthly advocacy of occupational safety, on-the-job education and training for new employees, as well as related drills and environmental safety inspections. 2、 Implementation of contractor management: For suppliers engaging in renovation, etc. in cooperative clinics/stores, the Company has formulated rules in accordance with labor safety, health, environmental protection, and other laws and regulations; incorporated such rules into the contractor agreement; and checks from time to time whether the suppliers have conducted advocacy and implementation in accordance with the regulations over the course of construction. 3、 Employee physical and mental health: prevention and treatment of emerging infectious diseases, annual employee health examinations, subsidized employee travel, monthly birthday parties, etc. |
| Labor-Management risk | 1. Labor–management communication channels: Conduct regular labor–management meetings and establish communication channels and employee complaint mechanisms to promote harmonious labor–management relations. 2. Protection of friendly workplace: Strengthen management measures for the collection, processing, and use of personal data; continuously perfect the rules in writing; and respect the rights and interests of employees (parties to the case concerned). 3. Selection, cultivation, and retention system: Strengthen the diverse channels and equality of personnel recruitment, the planning and implementation of education and training, as well as the fair and appropriate performance evaluation and promotion system. 4. Compliance with labor laws and regulations: Ensure that existing human resources management procedures and related administrative operations comply with regulatory requirements. | |
| Corporate Governance | Strategy risk | 1、 Business report: The management team proceeds with the report, communication, and discussion based on its business strategy and operational overview prior to each Board meeting. 2、 Board supervision: Board members make suggestions on the content of the management team’s report based on their profession or areas of expertise. If the goals and strategies involve items that could possibly cause significant operational risks, the Board of Directors will prioritize such items on the watch list. |
| Operating risk | Each unit manages annual operating plans and goal achievement status through operations meetings. 1、 Customer relations: Establish standards and customer complaint channels for products, services, personal data protection and other matters concerning consumer rights and interests, and conduct customer service training. 2、 Product safety: Conduct data management and quality information on licenses issued by the Department of Health, manufacturing dates, expiry dates, product quantity, finished product inspection records, etc. 3、 Supply chain management: Prudently evaluate and actively develop new material sources, strengthen strategic supply chain partnerships; establish safety stock and expiry date controls to flexibly respond to market demand, grasp market conditions through business information collection or market research so as to respond in advance. 4、 Technology trends: Get a good understanding of customer and terminal application demand, product applications and equipment upgrades, and other technological developments so as to respond to rapid changes in the external environment; grasp the changes and dynamics of the peer industry, markets, industries, and customers in order to respond and to serve as a reference for the direction of services, technology, and product development. | |
| Financial risk | 1、 Interest rate risk: Monitor changes in the interest rate market, grasp capital demand and conditions, maintain good relationships with banks, and strive for the best financing and deposit interest rates. 2、 Exchange rate risk: Mainly due to conversion adjustments in foreign currencies for long-term foreign investment positions. Accounts receivable and accounts payable generated from operations are currently mainly based on receipts and payments in New Taiwan dollars from local market transactions and purchases through agents rather than direct import/export and export sales; therefore, the impact of exchange rate risk is relatively small. 3、 Credit risk: The accounts collectible are from brand-authorized cooperative clinics (monitored using monthly receivable statements) and customers of self-operated eyeglasses stores (monitored using daily cash/credit card statements). 4、 Financial changes: Regularly monitor the financial structure, solvency, operating capabilities, profitability, cash flow, etc. using financial statements. | |
| Information security risk | 1、 Information security protection mechanism: Introduce ISO/IEC 27001 information security protection measures and conduct vulnerability risk assessment and improvement for hosts/networks/applications; establish file encryption mechanisms and plan secure cloud services to reduce the risk of confidential and sensitive data leakage; regularly inspect the vulnerability of the external service system, perform penetration testing, and use network risk detection tools; make timely improvements to ensure the security of the external service system; regularly conduct disaster recovery drills, strengthen the data security backup mechanism, and establish incident response capabilities to ensure the Company’s continuous operations. 2、 Information Security Policy: A total of more than 20 rules such as the Information Security Policy and related implementation procedures have been formulated, revised, and announced in the Company’s document management system to facilitate compliance. The Personal Data Protection Act has been formulated and revised to protect and manage personal information, and the Information and Human Resources departments are in charge of relevant protective measures. The Legal department also implements trade secret protection to ensure the implementation of confidentiality obligations. 3、 Information security risk awareness: Improve employee information security risk awareness through education and training. As of 2023, 326 attendees have completed the training on the Personal Data Protection Act, 324 attendees have completed the training on Advocacy of Information Security, and 327 attendees have completed the training on the Trade Secrets Act. New employees will be trained in succession. | |
| Legal Compliance | 1、 Implementation of ethical corporate management: The Company has formulated the Code of Ethical Corporate Management, the Code of Ethical Conduct, and the Advocacy of Employee Code of Ethics and Whistleblowing system to regularly advocate the values and corporate culture of ethical corporate management and guide colleagues’ conduct to be in line with ethical standards so as to avoid involvement in unlawful activities. 2、 Internal control and internal audit operation: The internal control process controls the Company’s transactions, projects, risks, and dispute cases; enables timely discovery; and tracks improvements through internal audits. 3、 Support in legal affairs: Provide legal consultation and suggestions to deal with issues on regulatory compliance, disputes and litigation, investment as well as mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property management, and other matters. 4、 Contract seal and intellectual property: Manage the signing status of various types of business contracts and control relevant risks through the contract system; supervise and manage the creation, issuance, use, abolishment, and other matters of the Company’s seals through the seal management system to reduce the Company's Overall legal risks; formulate the Intellectual Property Rights Management Guidelines; and conduct regular inventory of intellectual property rights to confirm validity. |