Toshiba 1998 Annual Report Download - page 7

Toshiba Corporation Annual Report 1998 5.
■ Executive Officer System for More Speed
We h ave fundam en tally altered corporate governan ce at Toshiba. Th is m ainly en tails th e estab-
lishmen t of the executive officer post and a sign ificant reduction in the n um ber of directors.
The new system separates th e Board of Directors from th e executive officers. Directors can devote
th em selves to corporate decisions that protect th e in terests of shareholders and to overseein g th e
executive officers’ activities. Executive officers will con centrate on form ulating an d implem en t-
ing strategies for their respective busin esses. We believe th is organ ization will greatly shorten the
decision -m akin g process.
■ A Smaller Head Office
As part of our revolution in man agem ent, we are creating a smaller, more efficient headquarters.
Each business is respon sible for its own adm in istrative fun ctions. Th is allows h eadquarters to
focus on corporate plannin g and auditing. Head office staffing can be m inim ized. Furtherm ore,
we will greatly in crease th e n um ber of people involved in th e auditing office. This is essential to
achieving our overriding objective of in vigorating the en tire Tosh iba Group.
■ Moving Toward the Best Group Managem ent
Decen tralization alone will n ot im prove Tosh iba’s performan ce. We m ust clearly enun ciate a
vision an d strategy for th e Group as a whole. This n eeds to be followed by an exh austive review
of th e perform ance an d outlook for each business. In som e cases, we m ay con clude th at a busi-
ness has no growth potential or cannot be globally com petitive. Drastic restructurin g an d even
divestitures m ay be called for. Th e fiscal year that we started in April 1998 m arks th e begin ning of
a revolution in how Toshiba does business. We want th is to be the year where people inside and
outside this com pany can see chan ge taking place.
Over the years, Toshiba h as accum ulated a wealth of quality people and business skills, all
while developing world-class tech nologies. Now we n eed to pursue a strategy th at takes full
advan tage of th ese resources. Capturing positions at the forefron t of our strategic fields is essen-
tial to success in th is age of mega-com petition . We pledge that th e people of Toshiba will do th eir
best to achieve these goals, and ask for the con tinued support of our shareholders and business
partn ers in this un dertaking.
July 1998
Fum io Sato Taizo Nish im uro
Chairm an of the Board Presiden t an d Chief Executive Officer