Today's Notables

The previous mid-term business plan entitled "Think" that ended in March was dramatically effected not only by the financial crisis precipitated by Lehman Shock, but also the Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami Disaster. We had to revise our forecast downward on a per year basis but as of the last year in the plan, we were still able to achieve the goals that were put forth three years prior and therefore, made a good landing to begin the next plan. April is the first month of the new mid-term business plan entitled "MOVE". MOVE stands for "Motivating with an Organizational Vision of Excellence," which means in Japanese that it is the vision of excellence in our corporate culture that brings together and solidifies the motivation of employees to move in alignment with that vision. The word "MOVE" also signifies a movement toward a higher level of development and growth in our organization.

I attend the study group of medium-sized enterprise that is hosted by the Kansai Productivity Center and Japan Management Quality Award report meetings as my training as a managing executive. Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with many excellent managers at various industry meetings and exchanges with executives from other industries, and have reached the conclusion that the more commitment their is to the corporate mission, the greater the quality of a company’s leadership. I also found the commitment of leadership to thoroughly impart the principles of the corporation does not stop with regular employees. They work hard to make sure that part-time employees and subcontractors also understand it. I have seen companies who also go the extra mile to even reach out to those foreign laborers who may not understand Japanese, in order to make sure they fully understand the corporate mission. In this respect, I think PRIMIX still has a way to go.

For that reason, we decided to express the vision in such a way that made it easier to understand and to adopt a training program for all employees, but particularly for the mid-level employees in order to promote thorough understanding. We are also asking employees to clarify their own personal mission as they approach the next three years, which may involve the cooperation of a team or further training. The ultimate goal is to link the vision with the actions and behaviors so our customers will want to rely on us over the long term for their needs. By responding with alacrity, being reliable and treating customers with empathy in our behavior and actions, we can become the "business partner with the inquisitive mind" that we want our customers to think of us as.

In addition, we developed five main strategic policies to work toward over the next three years and then ask each department to implement those policies in very specific terms for their department by building them into the balanced score card and strategic map. I hope this provides an opportunity for a fresh start as we begin to MOVE toward new targets over the coming three years, and look forward to the support of our stakeholders as we continue to grow and develop toward becoming an excellent company.