| | | of minority groups and women? Also, how do you control your suppliers overseas? If a problem arises, it is no good arguing that a problem is the subsidiaries' alone and of no concern to the parent company in Japan. The parent company will also face charges of complicity for not fulfilling its management control responsibility over the subsidiary. Toyoda Regardless of the country in which we operate, we will continue to be an equal opportunity employer. Most of our plants overseas are located in rural areas, thereby expanding job opportunities for local residents, in an effort to be a good corporate citizen. In the area of environmental conservation, we ensure that our plants in Japan and abroad acquire ISO14001 certification. We obtain information and confirmation from suppliers in advance to eliminate the risk that prohibited substances like hexavalent chrome may be contained in components. Ideally speaking, the parent company should identify the impact on society caused by its afiliates and suppliers. Among our suppliers, we have direct transactions with Tier-I suppliers. We should perhaps work harder to identify their social impacts but we have tended to delegate this to overseas afiliates, except in the area of environmental conservation. We will, however, improve our control over overseas operations. Tanimoto It's not easy to marriage philosophies and directions with overseas companies. Even when Japanese companies merge, it takes considerable time until they come to understand each other. Toyoda I agree. It is not wise to rush things. We must be prepared to spend a certain amount of time to ensure a mutual | | understanding because of differences in culture and language. In our case, we acquired BT Industries in 2000. It took five years before we developed a new structure, the Toyota Material Handling Group (TMHG), which combines our materials handling equipment businesses. In order to deepen our mutual understanding and further promote consolidation in moving forward, we drew up a document entitled, TMHG Values and Principles. Its basic thinking comes from our Basic Philosophy, Quality First, Customer Oriented, Innovation, Teamwork. We also added develop international leadership and management. In my irst speech as president this year, I announced to all our employees that we would follow these values and principles. The materials handling equipment business accounts for one-third of our group's employees and is our most globalized business. After establishing a global business structure in this business, we intend to extend it to other divisions and eventually across the entire group. | | |
| | | Respect the Cultures and Customs of the World Tanimoto As business becomes global, impacts on the environment and society will spread. Which particular issues should be urgently addressed and greater attention paid to? Toyoda Compliance, for one. The term "compliance" is most often used in reference to obeying laws and ordinances. Obeying the law is a company's minimum obligation. We must respect local cultures and customs as well, and in a manner that is in tune with the changing times. | | |