Pentax 2008 Annual Report Download - page 8

to market changes and allow us to sustain a measure of
profitability through cost competitiveness even when product
prices fall in the face of difficult market conditions. Concerning
capital investments, from approximately one year prior we have
carefully considered which areas to be aggressive in and which to
narrow down, and have taken actions accordingly. We intend to
pursue the same policy in the year ahead and the years following,
channeling the minimum required level of financial resources into
primarily frontline technology areas.
It has been approximately eight years since I took up the
position of CEO. The scale of the Hoya Group businesses has
grown substantially since then, but many improvements still need
to be made in the operation and organizational structure of the
businesses. With the addition of the Pentax business, I believe we
have an excellent opportunity to review our operations from the
ground up during the upcoming fiscal year. The Company has so
far ridden the wave of market growth to achieve solid performance
gains, a ride that has for too long lulled certain segments into
contentment with current levels of success. It is difficult to change
what one has become accustomed to, and the change requires
vast expenditures of energy. However, we believe some areas
require reform from the standpoint of sharpening our competitive
edge. Rather than fearing change, we intend to bring the
Company back to its roots and commence with efforts to bring
about such changes. I would like to start by changing the mentality
of each Group employee to put such measures into practice.
Business Portfolio Management and a
Medium- to Long-Term Vision to Support
Sustained Growth
Hoya’s concept of business portfolio management is a business
philosophy that entails retaining and subsuming several different
businesses within the Group simultaneously and balancing them
to sustain profitability, stability and growth overall. This is Hoya’s
basic attitude regarding management.
As with living things, every undertaking follows a life cycle of
birth, growth, maturation and decline. In line with this process,
enduring expansion requires constant generation of new
businesses, or else the drawing in of new businesses from the
outside. As one business is being born, another business may be
removed from the portfolio once it has served its purpose.
My role as CEO is to continually tune the Group’s business
portfolio to the needs of the times. I consider it my highest
mission to ensure the continued growth of the business entity
that is the Hoya Group, through selection and winnowing of
businesses, appropriate allocation of resources and the
development of an optimal business portfolio.
Based on this approach, in the fiscal year under review we
added the new portfolio elements of Pentax’s businesses to Hoya’s
existing business portfolio. This was part of a two- to three-year
effort to transform the Company, as well as one of the processes
toward paving a new path for Hoya’s growth over the next 10 years.
I see Hoya as an optics company. In that sense, I aim to
develop the Company’s businesses by leveraging its optical
technologies and maximizing opportunities for growth and profits
within those fields. Optics is one area that still has potential for
growth. I remain optimistic about the potential for new business
development in this domain.
Striving for Sustained Growth into the Future
through Management Integration with Pentax
I said before that Hoya is an optics company. In looking to the
next phase of the Company’s growth utilizing its optical
technologies, one business we had longed to enter at some point
was endoscopes and other medical devices. We explored this field
early on, but starting a business from the ground up takes time.
Instead, we deemed outside resources a more effective way of
keeping pace with the times, and settled on the business
integration with Pentax as a viable option.
The medical endoscope business is very attractive, and one in
which Pentax possesses superb technologies and development
capabilities. The medical endoscope business shows tremendous
potential. I would like to consciously cultivate this business into a
pillar to support the Hoya Group’s growth 10 to 20 years into the
future. Although I simply say the “medical equipment field,” this
market is expected to diversify. Limiting the domain to optical
technologies, which is an area of particular expertise for both
corporations, we can demonstrate undisputed competitive
advantages. To this end, we are aggressively investing
management resources to cultivate and develop new markets.
A Message to Our Stakeholders
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