The Mitsubishi Chemical Group Takes on
Change with a Business Management Vision
03/13/25
/ Article on Business Insider Japan
*This English text is a translation of a document originally prepared in Japanese.
*The information, positions and affiliations mentioned in this interview reflect the status at the time of the interview.
The Mitsubishi Chemical Group faces the need to transform due to rapid changes in the business environment and the importance of addressing social issues. In response, the company announced KAITEKI Vision 35 and the New Medium-Term Management Plan 2029.
To make it effective by incorporating feedback from regular employees, President Chikumoto brought together people from diverse backgrounds.
The four members of the Corporate Strategy Department‘s Strategic Planning Group played a central role in this project. We spoke to those involved in formulating KAITEKI Vision 35 to learn about the ideas behind it and their upcoming initiatives.
KAITEKI Vision 35: a new vision for the next decade
In November 2024, the Mitsubishi Chemical Group (MCG) announced its KAITEKI Vision 35 (KV35) and the New Medium-Term Management Plan 2029 (New Plan 2029) to realize it.
KV35 is a management vision that backcasts from 2050 to envision what the MCG Group wants to be in 2035. Based on the MCG Group’s purpose of “leading with innovative solutions to achieve KAITEKI, the well-being of people and the planet,” and in light of important social issues, the Group has defined five business focus areas: a stable supply platform for green chemicals, eco-conscious mobility, advanced data processing and telecommunications, food quality preservation, and technology and equipment for new therapeutics.
New Plan 2029 covers the five-year period from FY2025 to FY2029. It was formulated as an interim milestone and a concrete action plan to achieve KV35.
The four-member team that contributed to formulating the plan was Tomoaki Murota, Yusuke Tsutsumi, Kentaro Mizuike, and Rinko Fujii, all members of the Corporate Strategy Department’s Strategic Planning Group. Murota, who heads the department, explained, “While the four of us were ultimately responsible for compiling the strategy into a presentation, the process involved extensive discussions with various people, including President Chikumoto and other members of management, people from different departments, as well as external experts.” He continued:
“What makes this team unique is that the four of us have diverse backgrounds. Apart from Tsutsumi, none of us had a previous experience in formulating a management strategy. However, since the process involved envisioning the company’s future for the next decade, it was crucial to avoid assembling a team of similar backgrounds, which could lead to siloed perspectives and considerations. With that in mind, we placed great importance on open communication, ensuring that positions or roles did not become barriers to honest idea exchange.” (Murota)
MCG announced KAITEKI Vision 30 (KV30), the predecessor to KV35, in February 2020. Needless to say, the world and society have undergone dramatic changes over the past five years. The chemical industry in particular is facing major challenges such as carbon neutrality and the circular economy.
“KV30 was headed in the right direction, but the pace of change was faster than we anticipated. It would have been difficult to achieve everything in the face of such rapid change. The question was, how can we select and focus on the MCG Group’s current strengths and assets so that we can contribute to society and grow as a company? That was the perspective behind the creation of KV35.” (Mizuike)
The company aims to solve social problems and deliver impressive results to customers with the power of materials as a Green Specialty Company.
Murota emphasized, “Customers are demanding faster responses, and their needs are becoming more sophisticated and complex. Even so, I believe that the MCG Group, which has acquired and integrated numerous businesses globally, has an extensive range of accumulated technologies, products, and expertise that can meet these demands.” However, Murota also expressed frustration over the fact that, despite this potential, the company’s performance declined in FY2023.
Speaking honestly, Tsutsumi said, “In recent years, the external environment has changed dramatically, and the current situation has become more difficult. As a result, I feel there’s a slight disconnect between employees and management.” He added, “One purpose of the goals of KV35 is to strengthen our sense of unity, so that management and employees can work together as one on the business.”
Address social issues to boost profits
As the number in KV35 suggests, it is a management vision that looks ahead to 2035. However, it is not just about dreams or ideals.
Murota said, “As a materials company, our top priority is to solve social issues. At the same time, we are committed to generating a solid profit through these solutions. KV35 is about pursuing both objectives simultaneously.” Building on this, Fujii added:
“First, we distanced ourselves from the current situation so we could engage in a discussion with a broad perspective on social change and the resulting social issues, without narrowing our focus to any specific industry or sector. We then used backcasting as our approach to identify the social issues that the MCG Group can help solve. Forecasting, on the other hand, is an approach that identifies areas where we can leverage our strengths to enhance profitability. KV35 was developed by aligning these two approaches and examining whether we can generate sustainable profits while addressing social issues.” (Fujii)
KV35 was formulated alongside New Plan 2029. In particular, during discussions on New Plan 2029, the team engaged deeply with voices from the front lines, thoroughly examining the challenges faced by each department. Here’s Mizuike’s recollection of the difficulties in this process.
“When discussing the future, there will inevitably be some uncertainties. To avoid this with KV35 and New Plan 2029, we asked each department to provide concrete figures. Based on what we want the company to be in 2035, based on both forecasting and backcasting, we talked about business strategies for achieving this vision and realistic profit forecasts. Having worked in a business division myself, I understand how much effort this process must have required. Thanks to these efforts, I take pride in the fact we developed a well-grounded strategy while also taking a long-term perspective.” (Mizuike)
A power to connect that creates new value by maximizing the MCG Group’s strengths
What kind of company should the MCG Group be in 2035? While formulating KV35, discussions were held both inside and outside the company about how to realize a vision that balances carrying out its purpose through KAITEKI on the one hand and profitability on the other, and about the organization, processes, and resources required to achieve this.
The key phrase the team arrived at was “connecting.” Tsutsumi explained the idea behind this.
“What are the MCG Group’s strengths? And how can we provide these strengths as solutions? From an early stage, we’ve been discussing and thinking about this with many different people. What people outside the company in particular have told us is that we have a wide range of highly specialized technologies. On the other hand, in the future, we will need to solve customers’ increasingly complex problems. That’s why we thought that connecting the MCG Group’s individual technologies could create even greater value than now.” (Tsutsumi)
“That’s how they arrived at the key idea of connections. Therefore, KV35 includes the following goals: connecting society/customers with the MCG, connecting needs with technology, connecting ideas with manufacturing, and connecting ideas with external partners. To address customer problems more quickly, the MCG Group will thoroughly connect optimal solutions with society’s needs.
“Until now, I’ve felt that connections between the innovations created by our R&D and customer needs have been weak. Moving forward, it’s crucial to connect our technology with the needs of our customers by paying more attention to our customers and the market than ever before. To achieve this, we have to adopt a company-wide perspective to connect the technologies, accumulated knowledge, and development capabilities across departments, rather than allowing each department to operate independently. I want to use KV35 and New Plan 2029 as an opportunity to create a company-wide system that supports connections.” (Tsutsumi)
Murota said MCG has already started implementing actions to concretely translate these connections into practice.
“In April 2025, we will establish a new Connect Initiative Department. We’ve never had a department like this before, so there may be some difficulties, but we will continue to take on the challenge of encouraging connections to provide value to society and bring together the strengths of each individual within the Group.” (Murota)
Before being assigned to the Corporate Strategy Planning Group, Fujii had been involved in plastic product sales since joining the company. She said, “My department at the time was doing its best to break into various industries by leveraging the strengths of our products.” However, she felt a strong realization when she adopted a company-wide perspective while formulating KV35.
“The MCG Group has a wide range of businesses and possesses diverse technologies. More importantly, we have a workforce of 66,000 talented individuals. With such a diverse range of strengths and knowledge, challenges faced within our department can sometimes be resolved simply by consulting a specialist in another department. However, when I was in a division, I didn’t take the initiative to step into other fields and broaden my perspective. There are limits to what one can do and the knowledge they can acquire alone. But when people connect with each other, they can solve problems and create new value. If KV35 encourages employees to broaden their perspectives, I believe it will make our company even stronger.” (Fujii)
KV35 and New Plan 2029 were announced in November 2024, but this is just the start, not the end. The four individuals involved in formulating the plan have already started working toward the next goal: embedding the plan of “connecting” in the daily actions of every employee.
Fujii said with enthusiasm, “If every employee doesn’t fully grasp KV35 and New Plan 2029 and put them into practice in their daily work, everything will end with the announcement.”
“We have established discussion forums at each workplace so every employee can incorporate the company-wide management strategy of KV35 and New Plan 2029 into their own work. Through these discussions, employees can take ownership, connect with one another through their networks, and collaborate to address social issues as a team. That’s the kind of company we strive to be.” (Murota)
A commitment to empowering young and mid-career employees over the next 5 to 10 years
Mizuike expressed his enthusiasm, saying, “If employees discuss and change their behavior, I think they will find new questions about what to consider next, and KV35 will evolve even more.” Fujii added, “KV35 doesn’t contain all the answers. Rather, it serves as a starting point for discovering them.”
“We aim to provide good products that earn our customers’ appreciation while also contributing to solving social issues. To become a company that endures for decades and even centuries, we need to fully leverage the capabilities of our young and mid-career employees over the next five to ten years, which is a goal of New Plan 2029 and KV35.” (Fujii)
Lastly, Murota reflected. “Formulating KV35 and New Plan 2029 was a process of continually asking ourselves what kind of company the MCG Group is and where we are heading.” One answer, as mentioned earlier, is to become a green specialty company that solves social problems and delivers impressive results to customers with the power of materials.”
Connections are essential to achieving this in today’s increasingly complex and rapidly changing society. By connecting knowledge rather than relying solely on individual expertise, combining the many technologies within the MCG Group, and co-creating with other companies, the MCG Group is stepping forward into new challenges for the future.
See here for more about the Mitsubishi Chemical Group’s KAITEKI Vision 35 and the New Medium-Term Management Plan 2029.
Management Policy｜Mitsubishi Chemical Group
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