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Messages from Outside Officers
Nissan Chemical is a development-oriented company that focuses resources on research and development in order to achieve sustainable growth. Until now, we have expanded and grown the business operation by developing new businesses and products in response to changes in society. In order to fulfill our social responsibilities into the future, we must further enhance governance from all angles in our business. To that end, I will provide supervision and advice on measures on executive side from a broad social perspective.
I also believe that sharing the knowledge I have gained from my many years of experience in R&D, as well as factory management and corporate management, with the management of Nissan Chemical, will lead to sustainable growth and at the same time strengthen our corporate structure. My activities are centered on the Board of Directors and the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee, but I will actualize those through on-site visits and various internal meetings.
Nissan Chemical’s financial strategy is extremely sophisticated, and quick decisions are made on business structural reforms, research and development strategies, and changes in the social environment to enable sustainable growth. I would like to actively disclose my experience in this regard. I will continue to focus on strengthening measures as we face challenges in implementing Group-wide strategies that form our business foundation, for example, with consolidated management, capital investment, and safety and health.
As the social environment changes on a global scale, prompt management decision-making and execution are crucial to fulfill the social responsibilities expected of us. Hence, I will do whatever I can to establish “right and wrong over profit and loss” and “business basics and ethics” as Nissan Chemical’s values, and to make Nissan Chemical a company with integrity where each and every employee can work vigorously.
Nissan Chemical’s distinctive feature lies in its flexible and comprehensive capabilities in which the four business divisions of Chemicals, Performance Materials, Agricultural Chemicals, and Healthcare function in a mutually complementary way, like the wheels of a four-wheel drive car, in response to changes in the economic and social environment. The Group’s strength further rests in the fact that the Planning and Development Division and laboratories have established a system to strongly promote the creation and development of new materials and technologies by exchanging skills and human resource beyond these four business divisions. And based on my own many years of experience in R&D, I feel that the high reliability of the Materials Analysis Research Department and the Toxicology & Environmental Science Department plays an extremely important role in quality assurance of developed products. The Internal Audit Department and outside directors also actively exchange opinions on a regular basis, and I am convinced that the mindset of fostering unwavering trust in quality throughout the Company is growing.
The speed and depth of future technological development, such as introduction of AI and promotion of digital transformation, continues to accelerate at an increasing rate. While introducing innovative products based on our R&D capabilities with a broad perspective that clearly understands the ideals of a future world, Nissan Chemical’s long-term business plan, Atelier2050, requires flexibility to accurately respond to the paradigm shift in technology by promptly incorporating an awareness from a different perspective into R&D. To that end, it is necessary to take measures that appropriately nurture and engage highly specialized human resources who can play an active role globally under a system that transcends conventional frameworks. I will offer advice and guidance so that a diverse range of human resources full of individuality and vitality can flourish to generate highly agile research and development that quickly produces products with new social value.
Nissan Chemical works in a wide range of business fields, including Chemicals, Performance Materials, Agricultural Chemicals, and Healthcare. As an outside director, I am expected to provide opinions and suggestions so that the Company’s corporate management is conducted from the perspective of whether the provision of products and services in each field meets customer needs, and whether they contribute to the existence and development of humanity and the protection of the global environment. With my many years of experience as a public prosecutor squaring up to injustices in society, I believe that I have been able to bring a certain viewpoint on whether decisions are being made at the Board of Directors with a long-term perspective and multifaceted approach.
In such a chaotic and uncertain world, I intend to discuss how we can develop and improve our superior technical capabilities and R&D capabilities for the next generation.
So that the perspective of a third party, so often overlooked, is not lost, I will contribute to ensuring the effectiveness of the Company’s corporate governance with a Board of Directors that respects diverse opinions in an open and natural atmosphere.
In addition, the Company outlined its Diversity Statement in April 2021, to promote initiatives for a healthy work-life balance. Last year, I had a lunch meeting with female employees at the head office, and I was able to see that female employees raising children are capable of balancing their work life with childcare. Going forward, I would like to continue to make various proposals with the aim of creating a workplace environment where women can work more easily.
While the Board of Directors is responsible for making decisions on important management matters and supervising the execution of duties by directors and executive officers, the Audit & Supervisory Board is responsible for auditing the execution of duties by these directors. I believe that Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Members should conduct audits from an independent standpoint of the Company by leveraging their strengths of not working for the Company, and from a more objective and professional standpoint based on their work experience outside the Company. Although I have no actual experience working in Nissan Chemical, I am able to understand present actual work conditions, difficulties, concerns, and issues at each site through annual on-site inspections of each plant, laboratory, sales office, and head office department. In addition, I am making use of my experience in sales, planning, human resource, and systems in my previous jobs to provide in-depth communication and advice during my on-site inspections.
At the Board of Directors, I ask various questions to check whether sufficient consideration has been given, especially in deliberations on management policies and large investment projects. By doing so, I hope to facilitate discussions so that everyone at the Board of Directors can make decisions based on a true understanding of the matters in hand. Moreover, I feel that more effective decision-making can be achieved by providing opinions and suggestions where necessary based on my perspective from on-site inspections and individual work experience.
In addition to the Board of Directors, I actively attend various committees such as the management meeting and the Sustainability Promotion Committee where I strive for better decision-making by asking questions and giving my opinion. And in terms of my on-site inspections, I also examine from various perspectives and through open dialogue whether management’s decision-making has permeated to the workplace, and whether management is making decisions based on present workplace conditions.
