Direction of organization

This month marks the start of fiscal 2021. I sincerely thank all of you for your extraordinary efforts throughout last fiscal year to cope with the Covid pandemic. You exhibited outstanding adaptability to a continuously changing environment, intrepidly trying new things and finding what works to enable a wide variety of tasks to be performed online. You kept our business operations in action, and kept manufacturing sites working steadily without a major infection outbreak. Owing to your tenacity, the Asahi Kasei Group’s earnings have been recovering since the second half of last year. This is something we can all be proud of. The pandemic has not only changed the way we live and work, but also the values of society and even entire industrial structures. Under such circumstances, corporate fortunes are highly dependent on the ability of organizations and individuals to proactively devise adaptations. In such a discontinuous and uncertain era, maintaining the status quo is the path of peril. The Asahi Kasei Group has a culture of frank and uninhibited communication. This allows us to take new challenges and create new value now more than ever. We need lively discussions and exchanges, including through online formats, to determine the ideal ways of working for each organization while the coronavirus lingers and thereafter. Perform trials, confirm their effectiveness, and put them into practice. One of our SBUs is considering how to give people broader experience by allocating up to 20% of their work from different divisions, and is also reviewing the management of tasks in order to raise the effectiveness of discretionary work, while one of our core operating companies has introduced a new posting system for available positions. Each business and each workplace should continue trying various ideas, and adopt those that prove worthwhile. At the same time, we must maintain a careful eye on changes in the operating climate, customers, and markets of each business. Continually review targets and strategies as outlooks and forecasts evolve. If it becomes necessary to drastically change direction or to suspend a project, do so decisively. When faced with such a situation, actively use data and digital technology, and delve wholeheartedly into the change with the knowledge that this is an opportunity for your own personal growth. As much as we change and adapt, there are some things that we must preserve intact. Our mission of contributing to life and living for people around the world means that we must always provide new value for sustainability, remain committed to safety and sincerity, and uphold thorough compliance. Looking ahead to 2022, we will be celebrating our centennial as well as launching our next medium-term management initiative. This means fiscal 2021 is a pivotal time to lay the foundations for the next stage of development and growth for the Asahi Kasei Group. This fiscal year we will accelerate measures for sustainability including reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions and other steps toward carbon neutrality as well as plastic recycling with a view toward the circular economy, while stepping up efforts for digital transformation. Though the pandemic has yet to be suppressed, vaccinations have begun and various organizations are raising their forecasts for global economic growth. We must be sure to seize the opportunities presented by economic growth and market changes. Prepare ambitious proposals and plans conducive to the sustainable growth of the Asahi Kasei Group, and take forceful action. Please stay safe and healthy, taking care to avoid infection, and play an energetic role in our proactive endeavors this fiscal year. I know that you won’t let me down.