Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance

Spreading the Philosophy

At the Toyo Tire Group, all corporate officers and employees refer to our corporate philosophy as the basis for their work. Since its establishment in 2017, we have taken a variety of measures to help all employees deepen their understanding of the philosophy.
We have positioned the “Corporate Creed,” the important founding spirit that we will maintain into the future, as the overarching concept; put into words our significance in society in the form of “Our Mission”; and clearly specified the vision for the company that we should strive for in that mission as “Our Vision.” We also lay down “Our Fundamental Values” as a foundation for ideas that all corporate officers and employees should value equally.
In the new medium-term business plan, the Mid-Term '21 Plan, which we announced in February 2021, we made it clear that the realization of our corporate philosophy is our raison d'être and that business plans are in place to realize the corporate philosophy.
In order for everyone in the Toyo Tire Group to understand our philosophy well, we have set up a corporate philosophy lecture as one of the in-house training programs. In fiscal 2020, department heads were given case studies to understand the importance of spreading visions and strategies linked to corporate philosophy at workplaces, as well as group work where they shared the current status of its promulgation at their workplaces. The session proved to be a valuable opportunity for them to enhance their awareness of the need to spread our corporate philosophy by sharing the challenges and efforts in doing so with their peers from other departments.
We will continue with our efforts to further spread our corporate philosophy until it is unconsciously reflected in our everyday work.

Work of the Board of Directors

TOYO TIRE holds a regular board of directors meeting once every month to make decisions on important matters and supervise the status of business execution by Directors. In FY2020, a total of 17 meetings, including extraordinary ones, were held. Outside Directors attend the board of directors meetings and other important meetings to offer their opinions on deliberations to fulfill their responsibility to monitor and supervise management.
Every year since 2017, the Company has been conducting an analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of the Board of Directors as a whole by conducting a signed survey of directors and Audit and Supervisory Board members regarding the operation, composition, activities, etc. of the Board of Directors. The compilation, analysis, and evaluation of the surveys are entrusted to a third party in order to ensure impartiality.
Based on the results of third party evaluations, we will further improve the functions of the Board of Directors.

〈Overview of the analysis and evaluation results and future steps〉

Given the progress in improvement as evidenced by higher evaluation over the previous year in many parameters, we believe that the effectiveness of the board of directors as a whole is ensured. Supervision of management, in particular, has earned a high rating for the five consecutive year.
Meanwhile, we have had a proposal that we should improve our information provision in order to increase the effectiveness of the Board of Directors. We will also make continued efforts to address other issues.
In order to further strengthen the independence, objectiveness, and accountability of the Board of Directors with regard to personnel affairs, compensation, and other matters concerning directors to further advance our corporate governance system, we have established a non-mandatory Nomination & Compensation Committee as an advisory organ to the Board of Directors, to deliberate on the aforementioned matters and offer advice, proposals, and recommendations to the Board of Directors.

Strengthen the Risk Management System

As the risk manager, in our Group, the person in charge of the Corporate Control Department is responsible for parties below the risk management officer appointed for each risk and the risk management system as stipulated in the Risk Management Rules. The main risks are managed through established activities not only to evaluate and analyze potential risks for the Group during non-emergency times and to reduce the possibility of them occurring, but also to minimize damage during emergencies and to promptly restore business.
The risk management officers have the following roles related to the main risks they are responsible for.

  • ① Develop and maintain various systems, measures, rules, and risk management systems, and compile and manage Risk Management Manuals.
  • ② Report on (i) the creation status for the risk management system, (ii) evaluation and improvement plans for the risk management system, and (iii) the implementation status of the risk management system improvement plans to the Risk Management Committee at least once a year.
  • ③ Immediately report to the risk manager if a report about concerns of an emergency are received by a business site or division manager.
  • *Risks covered by the Risk Management Committee: disasters/accidents, quality, purchasing, legal violations, information management, labor, and issues of rubber bearings

BCP Development and BCM Training

The Toyo Tire Group is also systematically promoting work to develop business continuity plans (BCP) and conduct business continuity management (BCM).
In 2019, all Group companies affiliated with TOYO TIRE HOLDINGS OF AMERICAS INC. (TTHA Group) mapped out an emergency responses plan and a BCP in the event of a disaster, which included emergency communication protocols in the wake of a pandemic or natural disaster, emergency medical procedures (securing resuscitation devices and giving instructions on their use, etc.), and measures to ensure BCP.
In fiscal 2020, we conducted BCM training at six sites in accordance with the BCP of each site. In a simulated drill, each participating organization reported on their priority responses and discussed issues with business continuity with instructions from the director of the Emergency Countermeasures Headquarters.

Dialogue with Shareholders and Investors

The Company holds a general meeting of shareholders once a year and a quarterly financial result briefing. During the first half and full year briefings, our top executives provide detailed business information, including financial results, future business outlook, business environment, and market trends, to institutional investors and securities analysts. In addition to announcing financial results, there were also small meetings attended by the president and other parties as well as several engagement opportunities for managers and institutional investors.
In addition, efforts are made to improve understanding of the Group’s management by providing opportunities each quarter for IR staff to respond to the particular concerns of institutional investors and analysts (handling individual inquiries). Furthermore, the Group actively works to respond to increasing requests by the investors outside Japan, which includes enhanced responding to individual inquiries except during the quiet period and conducting overseas roadshows.
In fiscal 2020, members of our investor relations (IR) team held dialogues with more than 350 shareholders and investors from 260 institutions. Soon after the spread of COVID-19, we quickly switched the method for announcing our business performance to conference calls, which increased the audience, bringing in more overseas institutional investors. To coincide with the announcement of the Group's new medium-term business plan in February 2021, we organized an informational meeting that combined video streaming and conference calls. Going forward, we will take every IR opportunity available, including small meetings with our board members attending, to provide explanations on our business through dialogues with shareholders and institutional investors.
The opinions and requests of shareholders and investors are regularly used as feedback for management and in-house related departments.

Expanding Communication Tools

The group publishes an annual report as a communication tool to provide various information, including top management’s thoughts on the Group’s business, business strategy and objectives, and efforts to achieve those, to the various stakeholders, including Japanese and overseas institutional investors and to deepen understanding of and interest in the Group. In the 2016 annual report, we more thoroughly covered not only the growth story and business strategy in the “Mid-Term ’17” but also the corporate governance system, compliance system, and efforts related to human resource development and the environment.
On our website, there is an Investor Relations page for communicating the Group’s latest business information in a timely manner.