Message from CEO
On June 25, 2013, I was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Kikkoman Corporation. The environment surrounding the Kikkoman Group is changing rapidly and we are required to provide new values by responding flexibly and making changes. I believe that it is also important for us to take an approach in which we maintain our principles, and seek to develop our value to society. Since these are times of great change, we must hold on to our unshakable principles and turn our values into firm ones.
Since Kikkoman was founded, we have given careful attention to our role as a public entity within society, and have conducted our business based on an awareness of our connections with society.
In keeping with the ideas that have been handed down by our predecessors, we have set forth the current management principles of the Kikkoman Group. I believe that a foundation of our business activities is fulfilling our social responsibilities by putting these management principles* into practice.
In 2011, we formulated the Kikkoman Corporation Citizenship Framework, which sets forth the three key elements of “Responsible Operations,” “Products/Services,” and “Actions for Global Society.” This Framework shows that the implementation of these elements is the social responsibility of our company, and that carrying out this social responsibility is tied to our management principles. More specifically, we are able to fulfill our corporate social responsibility as a public entity within society by having each and every employee working on a foundation of being consumer-oriented, carrying out our day-to-day business activities conscientiously, and thus contributing to society in a way that only Kikkoman can.
I believe that these initiatives are also connected with the implementation of the United Nations Global Compact, which Kikkoman became the first Japanese company to sign in 2001. The United Nations Global Compact requires signatory companies to carry out initiatives based on 10 principles in the areas of human rights, labor standards, the environment, and anti-corruption. We recognize the high expectations and trust bestowed on the Kikkoman Group, and we will carry out our activities in order to fulfill our responsibilities.
*The management principles of the Kikkoman Group are based on the following three pillars:
1 To pursue the fundamental principle “consumer-oriented”
2 To promote the international exchange of food culture
3 To become a company whose existence is meaningful to the global society
Noriaki Horikiri
President and
Chief Executive Officer
JULY 2013
