Thank you for visiting our Sustainability page.
I would like to take this opportunity to outline the Hodogaya Chemical Group’s approach and commitment to sustainability management.
As a chemical manufacturer, we uphold “environmentally friendly manufacturing” as part of our VISION. This expresses our wish to be a company that pursues sustainability, not growth and profit margin alone, and contributes to a sustainable society.
In FY2023, we achieved the FY2025 targets for energy intensity and CO2 emission intensity (per unit of sales) ahead of schedule due to changes in product composition. In addition, external evaluations have improved, with our FTSE Russell score increasing to 3.5, maintaining the EcoVadis Silver Medal, our CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) rank rising to B, and our “Integrated Report 2023” receiving the “Excellence Award” at the 3rd Nikkei Integrated Report Awards.
In addressing environmental issues, we are undertaking reduction efforts in practical and steady ways. We see our mission as advancing technological innovations that improve manufacturing process efficiency and reduce environmental impacts, and thereby contribute solutions to social issues. I am confident that these individual initiatives will ultimately lead to trust in our Company and to a sustainable society.
Also, as a chemical manufacturer, safe operation is our primary mission. In FY2024, we achieved zero Lost-time accidents at all business sites. We will continue to further enhance our Responsible Care activities and work towards zero accidents, zero disasters, and safe operations.
Human resources who support innovation will be more important than ever in expanding our business. To secure talented and motivated human resources, we are taking action with a particular focus on the balance among four components of engagement: psychological safety, resonance with our VISION, opportunities for growth, and fair evaluation and compensation.
Recruiting people from outside is also important. To recruit outstanding students, we will explore programs to support repayment of scholarship funds as well as increases in starting salaries. In addition to mid-career recruitment, we are conducting “alumni hiring,” or the re-hiring of employees who had resigned from the Company.
We will further work to create comfortable and inclusive workplace and increase the percentage of female managers, as well as actively promote young employees to higher positions and provide motivation to work. We have also launched a review of compensation plans. We intend to make a break from conventional seniority-based plans and, in the case of midcareer hiring, make flexible use of means such as an annual salary plan separate from the Group’s salary plan. We are also studying a change in compensation structure from job function-based salary to hybrid job-based salary that adds position-based salary to job-based salary. We are setting position-based salary for management positions and clarifying compensation in line with roles and responsibilities. The structure also allows for compensation for specialists who do not have subordinates, based on their level of expertise.
We plan to expand eligibility for participation in the Japan Employee Stock Ownership Plan (J-ESOP) to all employees. We believe that this will instill in all employees a shareholder mindset and allow everyone in the Company to work as one to enhance our business performance and corporate value.
We have also introduced 360-degree evaluations for managerial personnel and are conducting qualitative evaluations. By using these evaluations in personnel placement decisions, we achieve smooth and highly effective management.
Our aim in these initiatives is to motivate all officers and employees into acting as a driving force that leads Hodogaya Chemical to its next stage.
In our overseas subsidiaries, particularly in South Korea, quick decision-making is often required, which may partly reflect the local business culture.
In South Korea, there is also a strong emphasis on prioritizing investment in research and development over dividend distribution, with the belief that corporate growth ultimately leads to returns to all stakeholders, including shareholders.
Within the Hodogaya Chemical Group, our approach to managing Korean subsidiaries involves not only governance based on capital structure but also the assignment of personnel ranging from directors to section managers who are stationed locally and engaged in day-to-day operations. These individuals have earned the strong trust of the subsidiary’s management and, through close communication, work to align business operations and strategic direction while serving as a bridge to our corporate management team.
As the importance of governance continues to grow globally and external scrutiny becomes increasingly stringent, we strive to ensure the effectiveness of sound governance without undermining the autonomy of our subsidiaries. By doing so, we aim to enhance the overall corporate value of the Group—something we believe represents one of our key, though often unseen, strengths.
An issue that I believe the Group must definitively address over the long term is Green Transformation (GX).
In addition to the development and manufacture of battery materials, we are undertaking research on perovskite solar cells* as part of our technological development activities to promote GX. Perovskite solar cells use organic compounds as an alternative to silicon, an area in which the Japanese government is also focusing its research efforts.
Hodogaya Chemical is endeavoring to contribute to early commercialization by providing highly durable and highly efficient materials.
Moreover, we will focus on the promotion of digital transformation (DX), an important issue under SPEED 25/30, as we believe that the accelerated promotion of GX will help secure our competitiveness by promoting innovation through the use of digital technology.
*Perovskite solar cells: Solar cells made from perovskite, which has a crystal structure that converts light into electricity. Expectations of reduced costs through coating and printing technologies that enable mass production.
I compare management not to a mountain to climb but to a “slope that goes ever upward.” In climbing a mountain, the summit exists as a point to be attained. Management, however, has no such goal but rather always aims for a new height. I believe that it is my role to show employees concrete targets and paths and to draw out their motivation. I am committed to create an environment in which all employees can take pride in their work and together embark on the uphill climb of enhancing our corporate value. My ultimate goal is to make Hodogaya Chemical a company that all employees are glad to have chosen.
Along with our shareholders, investors, customers, business partners, local communities, society, and personnel, students heading out into the working world are also important stakeholders of ours. To remain a company needed by all of these people, we will strive to create value through our business.
Through our chemical technologies, the Hodogaya Chemical Group will continue contributing to the creation of an environmentally conscious society for another hundred years. Our vision of “A corporation that contributes to establishing a sustainable society by means of environmentally friendly manufacturing” will never waver. As a company that believes “Your Dream is Our Business,” we will continue our endeavors and pioneer the future. As we do so, I sincerely ask all of our stakeholders for their continued support for our Group.