Fujitsu 2011 Annual Report Download - page 75

Q: As an outside director, you’re expected to provide
insights on innovation in management strategies
and competitiveness from a global perspective. What
do you think about this role?
Innovation using ITC technologies to respond to globally
diverse and rapidly changing needs is increasingly important
as a foundation of business strategy. During the gathering of
world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, held
annually in January, I felt that my role was to utilize my years
Q: As an outside director, you’re expected to provide
deep insights on politics and economics from a global
perspective. What are your thoughts on this role?
My expertise is in international relations with a focus on East
Asia and China, so this is clearly the area of my expectations.
Today, the existing world order represented by Europe, the U.S.
and Japan is facing an enormous challenge, notably in the
Asia region where these countries compete. Fujitsu’s future
Yoko Ishikura
Director
Professor, Keio University
Ryosei Kokubun
Director
Professor, Keio University
We spoke to two of Fujitsu’s outside directors, both known for their tremendous knowledge
and insight anchored by a global perspective, about initiatives for improving corporate value
going forward.
Messages From Outside Directors
of experience and global network of contacts to promote the
development of an innovative social IT system utilizing the
cloud computing in which Fujitsu excels. In tandem with this
is the need to nurture and appoint personnel with an inter-
national outlook to support this system that performs as a
global response to frequent natural disasters and various
types of risks.
Q: What measures do you plan to take as an outside
director to enhance corporate value?
Rather than the unilateral pursuit of short-term profit, a lead-
ing global trend in recent years for enhancing corporate value
has been the creation of shared value with long-term benefit,
in essence utilizing corporate assets to help resolve global
issues such as energy, environment, poverty, security and
education in cooperation with national governments, NPOs
and social entrepreneurs. The breadth of Fujitsu’s business
operations provides ample opportunities in this regard, and I
hope to pursue such activities and to present specific examples
to the world.
success lies in the globalized world, centered on Asia. Fujitsu’s
future is also the future of Japan so I am hopeful that through
Fujitsu my expertise will contribute, if only in a small way, to
Japan’s development.
Q: What stance will you take as an outside director to
enhance corporate value?
The greatest strength of an outside director is the lack of any
direct interest. If the Board of Directors makes management
decisions only looking down from above, that company will
have no future. In this way a company is exactly the same as a
society. The first issue in corporate value is whether or not a
company is internally well grounded. Ultimately, it is the moti-
vation of individual employees that will determine if a com-
pany succeeds or fails. It may sound like a cliché, but just as all
politics are local, frontline worksites are where anything can
happen. This is why in my role on the Board of Directors I look
up from below as much as possible, and always try to raise
simple and meaningful questions.
FUJITSU LIMITED ANNUAL REPORT 2011
RESPONSIBILITY
073
ON STRENGTHENING CORPORATE GOVERNANCE