Bridgestone 2002 Annual Report Download - page 7

05
large sizes, high-performance specifica-
tions and other high-value categories.
Meanwhile, growth in vehicle ownership
in newly emerging economies means long-
term growth in demand for commodity-
grade tires.
We are allocating ¥56 billion ($467
million) to expand our global production
capacity for passenger car tires. That
includes adding capacity for high-value
tires at plants in Japan and Poland and
for commodity-grade tires in Thailand,
Indonesia, China, Costa Rica and Mexico.
Global demand for truck and bus tires
is also poised for growth. We are therefore
allocating ¥27 billion ($225 million) to
expand production capacity for truck and
bus tires in Thailand, China and Spain.
Corporate Branding
Our flagship companies in the Americas
and Europe changed their names as of
January 1 this year. Bridgestone/Firestone
Americas Holding, Inc., and Bridgestone/
Firestone Europe S.A. have become
simply Bridgestone Americas Holding,
Inc., and Bridgestone Europe NV/SA.
Our principal subsidiaries already have
adopted a common look at the portals to
their corporate Web sites on the Internet.
These changes are part of a concerted,
global program to build a powerful corpo-
rate identity under the Bridgestone name.
That identity will furnish a solid founda-
tion for promoting products strategically
under our Bridgestone, Firestone and
other brands.
Shareholder Value
We continue working to earn a higher
valuation for our company in the market-
place. For example, we are working sys-
tematically to raise net return on assets.
Pursuing and attaining targets for higher
efficiency in each sector of operations will
strengthen our earnings structure and will
reinforce the market value of our company.
A more direct measure for increasing
shareholder value is our new framework
for repurchasing shares of common stock.
That framework provides for repurchasing
shares in a quantity or value of up to the
lower of 35 million shares or ¥50 billion.
The share purchases will help optimize our
capital structure. They also will help raise
return on equity and earnings per share.
Corporate Governance
We adopted a new management format in
2002. Formerly, members of the board of
directors were concurrently responsible for
overseeing management and for managing
individual sectors of operations. Our new
format divides those responsibilities by
allocating managerial responsibility to the
newly created category of corporate offi-
cers and by focusing the board of directors
on corporate governance.
The new management format allows for
objective oversight of management. It also
has occasioned a sharp reduction in the
size of the board of directors. The smaller
board now comprises only 10 members,
down from 28 in 2001. That size is con-
ducive to genuine debate, which is essential
to meaningful corporate governance.
This year, we have adopted a new mech-
anism for ensuring continued compliance
with rigorous guidelines for corporate
ethics. We have established a compre-
hensive framework for acquainting all
employees with our ethical standards, for
enforcing adherence to those standards
in daily operations and for addressing
any issues firmly and promptly.
We thus continue to make steady progress
in addressing new and continuing priori-
ties. That progress is in line with our
philosophy of earning the trust of people
everywhere by providing products and
service of superior quality. We take pride
in fulfilling that philosophy, and I look
forward to reporting further progress
next year.
April 2003
Shigeo Watanabe
President, Chief Executive Officer and
Chairman of the Board
We are undertaking a concerted, global
program to build a powerful corporate
identity under the Bridgestone name.