Greeting from Maxell

Yoshito Tsunoda

President and
Chief Executive Officer

The Maxell Group's basic management philosophy is to benefit society by developing outstanding original technologies and products guided by a founding spirit that advocates"Harmony and Cooperation, Working with Heart and Soul, and Being of Service to Society." Also, the Group aims to reflect the perspectives of all stakeholders in its measures to increase corporate value. To that end, the Group stringently pursues equitable, transparent corporate activities while working as a good corporate citizen to truly enrich society by rigorously implementing product's reliability, seeking harmony with the environment and actively contributing to society.

The Maxell Group is seeking fresh possibilities in new technologies, product areas, and organizational formats under its long-term vision Breakthrough to New Horizons while advancing initiatives to realize its medium-term mission of Change for Growth. Guided by that medium-term mission, we are actively investing management resources in three businesses for priority strengthening--batteries, optical components, and functional materials--to accelerate the reweighting of our business portfolio and establish a highly profitable business structure. Through those efforts, we aim to achieve an operating income margin of 6% by fiscal 2010.

In the fiscal year, ended March 31, 2008, the Group faced severe business conditions due to falling product prices and raw material price hikes. In response to those conditions, the whole Group made a concerted effort to improve earning power by actively investing in the three businesses for priority strengthening while restructuring operations to rebuild core businesses as well as strengthening "Monozukuri" manufacturing capabilities, which are the foundations of the Group's business.

In the fiscal year, we actively undertook operational and capital tie-ups with companies that have competitive products and advanced technological capabilities in order to bolster the three businesses for priority strengthening, particularly optical components and functional materials.

Sliontec Corporation, which has advanced technologies for pressure-sensitive-adhesion processes and coating, became a subsidiary in September 2007. Both companies will pursue synergies between their operations by combining technologies to advance the development of new high-value-added functional films while developing new sales routes through the mutual use of sales channels. Further, in December 2007 we strengthened the competitiveness of optical components and established a foothold for the opening up of new markets by entering into an operational and capital tie-up with Chinontec Industries, Inc., which has industry-leading capabilities in optical lens technology. Going forward, we will consider a variety of options for increasing the earnings of the three businesses for priority strengthening, including entering into capital or operational tie-ups with competitive companies or acquiring such companies.

Increasing Corporate Value through High-Quality Management Based on an Awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility

 

The Maxell Group is working to realize corporate management that reflects an awareness of corporate social responsibility. To that end, we are reinforcing corporate governance systems, rigorously implementing compliance management, and developing internal control systems. At the same time, we are taking measures to ensure product safety, our highest priority, and achieve conservation of the global environment in accordance with society's expectations.

 

Ensuring rigorously equitable and transparent corporate activities is a fundamental policy of the Group. Accordingly, we will work to enforce rigorous corporate ethics among executives and employees and further strengthen compliance management.

 

The Maxell Group is likely to continue facing severe business conditions. However, we will conduct business activities with a strong awareness of our role as a corporate citizen. At the same time, we aim to heighten corporate value by steadily implementing measures guided by our Breakthrough to New Horizons long-term vision and Change for Growth medium-term mission.

 

June 2008 

Yoshito Tsunoda,
President and Chief Executive Officer

 

 

• The homepages of Hitachi can be viewed here.