The meaning of a company's existence is questioned in an era when future prediction is difficult

Many Japanese companies are oriented towards ESG management. Under these circumstances, investors and other stakeholders are paying attention to a company's "Our Group's Purpose (raison d'être). Whether Our Group's Purpose and communicated it correctly both internally and externally, and whether it is promoting business strategies based on Our Group's Purpose- these evaluations are becoming important indicators that determine corporate value. Kunio Ito, Professor Emeritus of Hitotsubashi University, who was involved in establishing Macnica 's Our Group's Purpose, and Kazumasa Hara President of Macnica, had a discussion.

Mr. Ito: Many Japanese companies have come to emphasize ESG management. A new stakeholder called "society", which is composed of diverse values, has created a major trend to demand environment, social, and governance from companies. Please regard this as the first crustal movement.

In the past, tangible assets such as land, factories, and equipment were the most important indicators for determining corporate value, but now the ratio of intangible assets such as patents, human resources, and brands that do not appear on the balance sheet has increased significantly. . This is the second crustal movement. Since 1995, US companies have experienced a surge in investment in intangible assets, which has led to the emergence of innovators like GAFA.

Institutional investors emphasize ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) when evaluating a company's intangible assets. The two crustal movements are closely linked. And now, the intangible asset that is attracting the most attention is “Our Group's Purpose”. In 2018, a well-known institutional investor wrote “Our Group's Purpose” in the title of a letter to corporate executives, and it attracted a lot of attention.

Hara: Personally, I think of "Our Group's Purpose" as the source of corporate value and the concentration of intangible Our Group's Purpose. If we can communicate our "purpose," which expresses the essence of why Macnica has been able to grow as a company, what its strengths are, what is the culture that creates its strengths, and what shapes its culture, both internally and externally, I believe that it will not only contribute to ESG management but also have various ripple effects.

Mr. Ito: Exploring the company's history, culture, and strengths is an important process for reaching your company's Our Group's Purpose. Ideally, this process should be promoted not from the top down, but by the management team, executives, and general employees working together. In the process of discussing the company's Our Group's Purpose, employees are always conscious of their own Our Group's Purpose. While deepening insight into the company, it will be a creative activity that allows employees to deepen their insight into themselves. And when the Our Group's Purpose of the company and the Our Group's Purpose of the individual overlap, the energy of great change is born.

If you just look back at the past and go with the flow, it will be difficult to make a leap forward. Macnica 's Our Group's Purpose review team is looking back on our history, exploring who we are, and having repeated discussions about how we can jump from what we have accumulated so far and how we can overcome it for the future. think. I have participated in Macnica 's team discussions many times, and each time I discover new things and it's exciting.

Hara: In the past, after working on Macnica 's mainstay semiconductor business, I was involved in the launch of a new business. At this time, I have a strong memory of repeatedly asking myself questions about where I should look for a "resource" for communication with customers I was meeting for the first time. Unless we can clearly communicate who Macnica is, what its strengths are, where we came from, and where we are going, we will not be able to build a relationship of trust with our customers.

Mr. Ito: That's an inevitable story that reached Our Group's Purpose in the field of business. Many Japanese companies have a "management philosophy", but it is meaningless if you just look at it on your forehead. For many employees, the management philosophy has already been decided when they join the company, and although they were told about it during new employee training, there is no further dialogue after that. The formulation of a Our Group's Purpose is a valuable opportunity for management and employees to work together, allowing each of them to Our Group's Purpose as their own theme.

Mr. Ito: Japanese companies have deep roots in membership-based employment, symbolized by seniority and lifetime employment, but there are voices pointing out the limitations of ``a sense of belonging to the company'' and ``material connections.'' When formulating Our Group's Purpose, we can liberate the minds of employees and clarify their ``reasons for working at Macnica'' through discussions with everyone from management to general employees, which should lead to increased employee motivation.

Hara: I agree with you. I think that when we are freed from material and institutional ties, the "spiritual connection" between the company and its employees will become even more important. We need to strengthen the connections that arise from empathy and ask ourselves what values and aspirations a company has that make people want to work with us. This is closely related to the theme of "co-creation activities" that Macnica has set.

That is why we believe that the process of creating a Our Group's Purpose, and the dialogue to deepen empathy after it is formulated, is important. Our Group's Purpose is not something that is nominal, but employees will not be satisfied unless it is accompanied by substance. In that sense, I take pride in the fact that the discussions in the current project are going through essential processes.

Mr. Ito: Our Group's Purpose is the foundation of a company's business policy, a code of conduct for employees, and a foundation for setting future-oriented business domains. When taking on a new challenge, evaluating whether it is in line with its Our Group's Purpose enables firm decision-making and enables steady promotion of business strategies. A company that has a Our Group's Purpose spread throughout the company feels secure from the customer's point of view.

Macnica is an unusual company that I can't really categorize. It combines the strengths of Silicon Valley venture companies and Japanese companies, ``agile and collaborative.'' It is also unique that the culture of "First Penguin" is deeply rooted. I feel that there is a culture of doing things before anyone else, preferring change to maintaining the status quo, and wanting to change the world.

Hara: Thank you. I received a lot of valuable advice from Professor Ito. VUCA: In an era where volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity are accelerating and predicting the future becomes increasingly difficult, corporate management based on Our Group's Purpose is inevitable. I think it will be. Along with our newly established Our Group's Purpose, we will accelerate new business challenges. Please look forward to the future of Macnica.

Mr. Ito: It was a valuable experience for me to be able to support the formulation of Macnica 's brand Our Group's Purpose. We hope that the establishment of Our Group's Purpose will be the starting point for further business growth.

Macnica has always been at the forefront of change in its efforts to commercialize autonomous driving technology. In Sakai Town, Ibaraki Prefecture, we are supporting the practical implementation of autonomous driving shuttle buses on public roads, the first local government to do so. In Sakai-machi, where there is no train station and a poor transportation network, it has been difficult for elderly people who have surrendered their driver's licenses to go out freely. Through this initiative, we are contributing to solving local issues, such as improving the ease of getting around the town and encouraging townspeople to go out. There are plans to launch on-demand service in the future, and it is expected that this service will become an indispensable means of transportation for residents.

Macnica The company's "Connoisseurship" to anticipate changes in society and discover "technology" to meet social issues and needs, and "Knowledge" (intelligence) from handling various sensors and semiconductors for many years, are fully utilized. We make full use of our "intelligence" (intelligence), which comes from many years of handling a variety of sensors and semiconductors. We will implement the future we have envisioned in collaboration with professionals in various fields, and create new value to solve social issues that are now before our eyes.

Digital transformation (DX) at manufacturing sites is providing new guidelines for the management strategies of Japanese manufacturing industries. Please pay attention to Macnica 's "sensing x AI technology" that accelerates DX in the field and management.

Macnica 's AI social implementation service "Re:Alize" is a creative solution that combines the "skill" of providing a huge number of sensors to various sites with the "knowledge" of data scientists who are familiar with manufacturing sites. Its effectiveness has already been proven by various customers in areas such as automating inspections on manufacturing lines, mixing of raw materials, demand forecasting and production planning, and supply chain optimization.

Macnica is focusing on realizing "DX for people and organizations" that connects the workplace and management. We will continue to accompany the Japanese manufacturing industry by providing solutions that directly lead to strengthening companies' dynamic capabilities (ability to adapt to change), such as the design, implementation, and operation of manufacturing execution systems and digital twins.

Macnica has assembled an expert team specializing in cybersecurity, AI, and brain science to accelerate research into cutting-edge technologies. We connect this R&D function to social implementation and work to solve customers' business and social issues.

The Security Research Center, now in its ninth year since its establishment, has acquired deep knowledge through research into attackers' objectives, strategies, and methods, and has proposed highly effective countermeasures. We are also focusing on investigating cyber-attacks that affect the real world, such as attacks on IoT devices, which have been rapidly increasing in recent years. Macnica leverages the knowledge gained through research to provide a wide range of solutions, including the implementation of effective security measures against increasingly complex and sophisticated attacks, compliance, and accountability.

In the field of AI, where social implementation is accelerating, the AI Research Innovation Hub (ARIH) is steadily producing results. ARIH has accumulated a wide range of knowledge through research on AI research and development around the world. We propose the optimal realization method for the customer's real problem and goal, and surely link it to the implementation on the site. Furthermore, at the BRAIN AI Innovation Lab. (BRAIL), which conducts research that fuses brain science with the knowledge of AI, we work with customers to solve problems using essential data that the individual is unaware of. We support fields such as skill transfer, neuromarketing, ability development and human resource development.

It's not just the power of technology that will make a creative future a reality. This is only possible because of the "power of people" - the intelligence to master cutting-edge technology, the knowledge cultivated through a variety of experiences, and the will and desire to move toward realizing our vision. Macnica 's human resources, with their diverse personalities, are the driving force behind this.

How will Macnica contribute to realizing the future envisioned by our customers?

Macnica 's people are pioneers with a spirit of challenge, and they have the determination and ability to take on challenges faster than anyone else and see them through to the end, even in these unpredictable times, without fear of failure. We are determined to face a new era by accompanying our customers on their new challenges and solving various social issues.

Looking to the future and creating the present. We are Macnica.