Message from the CEO
In the five years since our first Long-Term Business Plan, VISION 2025, we have focused on business portfolio transformation as a top-priority issue. This has seen us look to grow our three target domains of Mobility, Health Care and Food & Packaging; pursue restructuring and improved competitiveness for the Basic Materials business sector; and grow our Next Generation Businesses by bringing about new businesses and products. But despite seeing some degree of success over these years with endeavors like strengthening our financial infrastructure, I believe we must further improve our ability to get things done if we are to achieve what we set out for.
As for the external environment, the conditions surrounding our company are changing significantly, and at quite a rapid pace. Factors here have included developments in digital transformation and an increasing focus on ESG initiatives, which are becoming ever more tied in with corporate management; the rising social awareness around environmental issues; the permeation of COVID-19, which has altered the business environment and demanded more diverse means for people to go about their work; trade tensions; and an increasingly competitive market environment.
Faced with these various changes in the business environment, we have given some real thought to how we can continue to grow Mitsui Chemicals beyond 2025. We have then formulated VISION 2030 as our new Long-Term Business Plan, setting out the new growth trajectory for our company.
Redefining Our Corporate Target
When establishing our new Long-Tern Business Plan, VISION 2030, we have taken a step back to once again look at the Mitsui Chemicals Group’s purpose. This has seen us lay out where we want to be in 15–20 years by setting a new Corporate Target: to be a corporate group that continues to grow by solving social challenges and creating diverse value with the power of chemistry.
I believe that the biggest thing our stakeholders expect of the Mitsui Chemicals Group is to provide solutions that help in solving social issues. And when it comes to achieving this, chemicals hold incredible potential. Looking 50 years down the line, I think a very important question will be how we plan responses to environmental change while also creating new business models aimed at getting the most out of chemicals in order to solve social challenges ; this combination is what will ultimately allow us to maintain sustainable growth.
It is with this sort of long-term perspective that we have redefined our Corporate Target. Then in laying out the ideal vision for the Mitsui Chemicals Group in 2030, which we have derived from this target, we have incorporated our strong belief that with the world changing at a remarkable pace, we would like to respond to all sorts of change in an agile fashion and create wide-ranging solutions to contribute to a sustainable future.
To go along with our new direction, we have defined our ideal future society as “a circular society in harmony with the environment,” ”an inclusive society creating diverse value,” and “a comfortable society in which people can enjoy healthy lives and well-being.”. Further, by then backcasting from this vision of future society, we have revised our material topics.
Our Corporate Mission, meanwhile, is our unchanging purpose, sitting as the foundation of the Mitsui Chemicals Group’s business activities. And as we aim to achieve this mission, we will continue to practice our triple bottom line management approach based on the three axes of economy, environment and society.
Working to Achieve Our Ideal Vision
While all of VISION 2030’s five-point Basic Strategy will be important, we intend to place particular emphasis to transform our business model and reform the business portfolio of our Group.
For business model transformation, we are making strong moves to transition away from our conventional materials supply businesses model, instead pursuing new businesses based on a social issues perspective.
To date, we have focused on BtoB businesses, deploying operations in which we add technical services on top of the materials that customers want. But the world is rapidly changing, and the reality is that even if we keep up this way of doing things, it will become increasingly difficult to continue creating added value.
Taking on a social issue perspective will therefore be crucial if we are to get out of this situation.
With this in mind, we will be broadening our perspective to look at the needs of the consumers beyond our customers, as well as at the issues that society more broadly must solve. We will then use this as a basis to build both solutions-based business models, aimed at creating new solutions, and circular economy-based business models, aimed at contributing to a circular economy and helping achieve a carbon-neutral society through reducing environmental impact product designs in conjunction with recycling arrangements. The ultimate goal through this is to facilitate sustainable growth both for society and for the Mitsui Chemicals Group.
In order to make progress on this front, it will be essential to get a good grip of society’s needs, then bring together in-house and external resources to create solutions for these needs as quickly as possible. And the driver of this will be digital transformation. By using digital transformation, we aim to not only get the tools for business model transformation but also change how work is carried out across various departments, redefine our organization and ultimately achieve change to our company as a whole, thereby marking a corporate transformation.
As we work toward achieving VISION 2030, we will revise our business portfolio in order to steadily carry out our Basic Strategy. We intend to announce more specific strategies for each part of our portfolio starting this November.
While each of these will involve some big challenges and transformations, we believe that with society changing in such a major way around us, we too must move away from our conventional ways of thinking. We will work toward reform in a sound yet speedy fashion as we endeavor to turn our ideal vision for 2030 into a reality.
Outline
Positioning of VISION 2030
Engage in significant environmental changes and establish
a new growth strategy toward the year 2030
In view of the progress under VISION 2025 and the change in internal and external environments, the Group has developed a new longterm business plan with 2030 as its target year.
In Vision 2030, we have revised our "Corporate Targets" for the next 15 to 20 years and defined "Our Ideal Vision for 2030", which sets out the direction in which the Mitsui Chemicals Group is aiming.
Ideal Future Society and Materiality
Our Ideal Vision for 2030
Chemistry for Sustainable World
A global solutions company that leads change
and contributes to a sustainable future
Group-wide Basic Strategy under VISION 2030
To succeed with our management priorities, our ideal vision for 2030 and our more long-term Corporate Target, the Mitsui Chemicals Group will, on a Group-wide level, pursue the following five basic strategies:
Basic Strategy
VISION 2030 Basic Strategy
Pursuing business portfolio transformation
● Rolling out a social issue perspective in all of our businesses
● Achieving growth by expanding and fleshing out our business domains
● Accelerating structural reform of our existing businesses and transforming businesses with a focus on green materials
Building solutions-based business models
● Creating new businesses by bolstering our business design capabilities
● Pursuing cross-organizational ties and strengthening cross-company partnerships
Bolstering circular economy initiatives
● Building CE-oriented business models for all of our businesses
● Rolling out CE-compatible products by transitioning to alternative raw materials and fuels
● Developing and acquiring foundational technologies able to contribute to carbon neutrality
Corporate transformation through DX
● Applying DX throughout our entire Group and all business domains
● Creating value by way of business-wide transformation spanning research, production, sales and SCs
Management and business transformation
● Popularizing a committed, eager attitude
● Improving engagement to bolster our organizational strength and transform our corporate culture
● Combining safe, secure operations with improved competitiveness at all our bases around the world
● Building sustainable SCs
Revision of our Business Portfolio through the Business Model Transformation
Shift to a business based on a perspective encompassing social issues which enables us to create value by thinking about the issues faced by society and our customers. In addition, we will push the DX to all of our businesses to accelerate our evolution to new business models.
Discover issues beyond the customer and create value through internal and external collaboration.
We will broaden our perspective beyond our customer-first principles according to which we have provided products and services matched with customers' needs and think about the ideal forms of business from the broader perspective of social issues to create highly valuable solutions unique to the Mitsui Chemicals Group. We will combine internal and external technologies and knowledge in many ways, including through internal collaboration, open innovation and alliances with outside parties, to expand business opportunities.
From “producing and selling” to “a design business”
We will advance our conventional business providing materials while working to create solutions that lead to the resolution of social issues. We will shift from the concept of producing and selling goods to a perspective focusing on an independent design business and the creation of new solutions that are not confined to tangible goods. In view of possible collaborations with all kinds of business, we will construct a business model that helps create value.
Build a circular supply chain
Following the social shift from mass production and consumption to circular services such as subscriptions and sharing, we will work to switch from the one-way business model in which we simply produce and sell goods to design products and create businesses in consideration of a circular economy in which goods are reused after use. We will act groupwide to achieve a circular economy.
Accelerate DX to achieve corporate transformation (CX)
DX is essential for the transformation of business. We will ensure that all staff have a basic knowledge of DX and appoint DX champions with advanced expertise within individual departments to swiftly disseminate expertise and accelerate the DX throughout the Group. We will transform our business styles and business models. We will endeavor to finally achieve corporate transformation (CX).
Business portfolio target
Business Portfolio
Mobility
Health Care
Food &
Packaging
With a view towards quickly achieving VISION 2030, the business portfolio has been revised for the steady implementation of the basic strategies. The specific strategies within each part of the portfolio will be announced in November 2021 or later.
Business Targets / Investment Plan
VISION 2030 Business Targets
VISION 2030 Investment Resource Allocation
