Bridgestone 2008 Annual Report Download - page 10

scale of operations be world class, but the substance—the
quality—of those operations and its management must also be of
the highest levels in order to sustain protable growth.
The most obvious evidence of being a leader “in substance”
is protability. Accordingly, I am focusing on reinforcing and
maintaining an “earnings structure that generates steady prots”
and on management oriented toward “balanced protability and
asset efciency.” Specically, in line with our focus on asset
efciency, our management objective is to achieve a consolidated
group ROA of 6% by 2012, and to strengthen further asset
efciency thereafter.
The growth strategies we will continue to implement in order to
achieve those management goals described above are to expand
the reach and depth of our strategic products, to reinforce our
fundamental competencies, and to expand our business domains;
all of these strategies are critical components of the Group’s
fundamental management policy.
Our efforts to achieve those objectives will be complemented
by our commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is
my belief that CSR activities include many initiatives that are
indispensable in bolstering our capabilities as a corporation. CSR
activities play an essential role in the achievement of our corporate
philosophy, and I consider the enhancement of our CSR activities
to be an important management focus.
MID-TERM MANAGEMENT PLAN——MTP2008
The Group has developed its Mid-term Management Plan (MTP)
as a tool to assist it in achieving the ultimate management goal
mentioned above. Details of the plan are provided in the special
strategy section of this report. Here I will provide an overview of
our approach to the plan.
MTP2008, which was announced in October 2008 (covering
2009 through 2013), is an update of MTP2007, which covered the
ve years from 2008 to 2012.
Rolling updates are a distinctive feature of MTPs at Bridgestone.
Each year we exibly add or update initiatives to take into account
changes in the business environment, while holding steady the
fundamental direction of the Bridgestone Group, its objectives,
and the growth strategies we have embraced to realize those
objectives.
Although the quantitative management objectives of MTP2008
were announced in the midst of severe global economic problems,
they are even more challenging than the objectives contained in
MTP2007. The reason is that the impact of those economic
problems has not been incorporated into the plan due to the
difculty of measuring their inuence over the medium term.
These objectives, however, are not based on an unrealistically
optimistic outlook. Rather, we believe that sound decision making
requires that management formulate a plan and refrain from
lowering targets or slowing down the speed of implementation,
even if it is expected that the challenging conditions, which cannot
be controlled, will continue for some time. For the Bridgestone
Group, the MTP is both a map of where we are headed, and a
guide as to how we will get there.
It is, in fact, because we are in such a difcult economic
and business environment that we will closely follow the MTP
roadmap, strive to get through the difcult period, and move
boldly into the future.
ORGANIzATIONAL STRATEGY AND
HUMAN RESOURCES
I believe that the SBU (strategic business unit) system is the
optimal system for Bridgestone’s global operations. The MTP
and the SBU system complement each other as management
tools that will be indispensable in the achievement of our ultimate
management goal. The SBUs can swiftly identify and respond
to market and customer needs worldwide, while the Global
Management Platform (GMP) supports the SBUs by providing
various specialized functions.
We are condent that as
global economies recover,
the Bridgestone Group
will be well positioned for
growth and will emerge
stronger than ever before.
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