Konica Minolta 2004 Annual Report Download - page 5

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The concept “true growth is achieved through change” has been a
recurring theme for me throughout fiscal 2003, the fiscal year
ended March 31, 2004. In the fiscal year under review, Konica
Minolta implemented a number of innovative initiatives in response
to the challenges the Company faced and in an effort to become
a highly respected corporate group to all stakeholders. We are
among the first Japanese companies to simultaneously spin off
operating companies, establish a holding company, and adopt a
board-with-committees structure. We are proud of the speedy man-
ner in which we have accomplished the integration of the Konica
and Minolta managements. Driven by the concept of change, the
Company has achieved these two major results in a very short
span of time, and taken concrete steps toward attaining its goal.
Looking back at the last fiscal year with satisfaction, I am con-
vinced that the engine for growth has been clearly established.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004, consolidated net
sales were ¥1,123.6 billion, operating income ¥73.2 billion,
and net income ¥19.3 billion. The Group was quick to derive syn-
ergy benefits from management integration with significant contri-
butions from the mainstay Business Technologies and Optics
businesses.
The Konica Minolta Group commenced implementation of its
medium-term management integration plan, which was designed
to maximize the benefits of integration. For the duration of the
plan, ending March 31, 2007, Konica Minolta has clarified
objectives for each fiscal year. Fiscal 2003 was identified as a
preparatory phase, a period in which we would promote the reor-
ganization and integration of Group companies both in Japan and
overseas. This phase is essentially complete. In fiscal 2004, we
are directing Groupwide efforts toward reinforcing our business
platform and shifting our focus in an effort to realize rationalization
and synergy benefits created through management integration. In
the final year of the program, fiscal 2006, we will leverage the
benefits of the management integration and embark on a period of
significant growth.
As key issues of the plan, we are stepping up efforts toward
business portfolio management, working to more swiftly realize
synergy and integration benefits, and fostering a corporate culture
that will allow all employees to achieve their maximum potential. In
the practice of business portfolio management, we are allocating
management resources to those businesses earmarked for signifi-
cant growth, including the core Business Technologies business
and the strategic Optics business.
We have identified the Photo Imaging business segment as
requiring fundamental restructuring. In the Photo Imaging business,
addressing rapid changes in the market, we will promote rational-
ization to secure more stable earnings rather than promote the
expansion of our business scale. As a part of this initiative, we
consolidated the film and camera businesses in April 2004 and
are accelerating efforts to establish a business capable of respond-
ing to the digitization and film-less era.
Based on a wealth of technology and expertise, the Konica
Minolta Group strives to become an indispensable player in the
field of imaging, and in an ever-evolving digital network society, to
be recognized as essential to all stakeholders’ needs.
As a corporate citizen and member of the global community,
we also place high priority on ethical and transparent manage-
ment and compliance while promoting the goal of sustainable
growth. To this end, we will make every effort to achieve the
objectives of our medium-term management integration plan, draw-
ing on maximum benefits derived through management integration,
and will endeavor to enhance the Group’s corporate value.
August 2004
Fumio Iwai
President & CEO, Representative Executive Officer
KONICA MINOLTA HOLDINGS, INC. 2004