THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO.,LTD. : News Release

News Release
 
 

Yokohama Rubber is strengthening corporate governance to ensure transparency and fairness. Key initiatives are as follows:

  1. Amid a dramatically changing business environment, since 1998 we have gradually shrunk our board of directors to streamline decision-making.
  2. To reinforce the strategic roles of top management, we established the Management Council, mainly comprising the chairman and president. The Council discusses business plan strategies and implementation.
  3. At the fiscal 2003 annual general meeting of shareholders, we amended our articles of incorporation, halving the terms of directors to a year. The goals were to clarify responsibilities and improve flexibility and speed.
  4. To enhance strategic effectiveness, we introduced an executive officer system following the shareholder gathering for fiscal 2004. We aim to build an effective corporate governance system by clarifying responsibilities and authority while streamlining decision-making and implementation.
  5. We maintain a four-member Board of Corporate Auditors, which includes two external members. They are Junnosuke Furukawa, member of the board and senior advisor of The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., and Yuzuru Fujita, president and chief executive officer of Asahi Mutual Life Insurance COMPANY. Full-time auditors must participate in Management Council and other important meetings. We also conduct internal audits based on annual plans.

In addition to reinforcing corporate governance, we are striving to satisfy community expectations through the following committees, which we set up in April 2003.

Compliance Committee
The Compliance Committee supersedes the Corporate Ethics Committee, which we established in January 1998. The new body compiles and distributes materials and educates on corporate activity standards to ensure adherence to laws and regulations and business ethics.

Risk Management Committee
This committee fortifies our defense against various Group risks. It conducts educational forums and regularly assesses risks. We also maintain the Central Disaster Prevention Committee, the Environmental Preservation Promotion Committee, and other entities for more focused risk management.
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