Masazumi Kikukawa
on the future of

01.Purpose-Driven Management

Reframing the Creation of Habits—
the Core of Our Business since Our Founding—as Our Purpose

We established our purpose because we felt that it was important to clearly state how we seek to run our businesses to contribute to society in order to get all our employees oriented in the same direction and advance efficiently toward our goals. The establishment of the purpose is not the start of something brand new; rather, it serves to more clearly define the efforts we have long been engaged in, reframe them and mark a new beginning.
Since our founding, we have sought to contribute to everyday health by providing products, offering information and promoting educational activities for consumers, constantly proposing the formation of better habits.
Take, for example, the uptake of tooth brushing habits. As a result of working alongside other manufacturers, government bodies, dentistry associations, schools and other stakeholders to establish the habit of tooth brushing across society, today, approximately 80% of people in Japan brush their teeth twice a day or more, four times the level 50 years ago. Over the same 50-year period, the rate of cavities among elementary school-aged children fell to a quarter its previous level. The establishment of proper tooth brushing habits has contributed greatly to the public’s oral health.
Even more importantly, the size of the toothpaste market has also quadrupled over the past 50 years. As this shows, by helping form habits that are beneficial to consumer health while also contributing to the vitality of markets, we can build strong businesses. I believe that this is the essence of what it means to implement our purpose.

03.Taking Action that Transcends Existing Organizational Frameworks

Revising Existing Business Frameworks
to Contribute to a Higher Level of Consumer Health

We have designated “Accelerate growth in four fields of value creation” as one of our growth strategies.
In formulating this strategy, we asked ourselves what fields would be important to realize health as we see it, and how we could expand our businesses while leveraging our existing strengths.
Health, as we see it, is based on a healthy state of mind and body for the individual, but also encompasses healthy relationships with others, such as one’s family and community.

Four Fields of Value Creation for Accelerating Growth

The first field of value creation, Oral Health, is an area of growing importance, given the deep connection between the health of the mouth and that of the entire body, as well as the advance of demographic graying in Japan and many other countries.
The second, Infection Control, refers to prevention. We have an important role to play in creating the conditions for effective infection prevention not only at the levels of the individual and family, but across society, and thereby helping maintain both physical and mental health.
In the third area, Smart Housework, as lifestyles continue to diversify, one-size-fits-all approaches to housework are no longer adequate to meet consumer needs. We will therefore work to enable new housework habits that fit individual needs.
The last area, Well-Being, is an area in which we have until now sought to contribute through the provision of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and supplements. In the case of OTC drugs, this has allowed us to serve customers only for limited intervals at a time, while they take our products to treat specific symptoms. Going forward, we will offer products, services and habits that meet individuals’ needs based on their long-term health and lifestyles. By doing so, we will contribute to consumer health at a more advanced level.
These four fields of value creation are very different from the framework of our existing businesses. We cannot create new businesses by staying within the bounds of old forms of value. Furthermore, in addition to working alone, I believe that providing value alongside other companies is a new area that we must explore going forward.

05.Corporate Branding and Human Resource Development in a Diverse Society

Increasing Awareness and Shared Commitment to Our Purpose both Externally and Internally to Enhance Employees’ Professional Fulfilment and Autonomy

In order to generate dynamism that will realize innovative change, we made a focus on corporate branding, professional fulfillment reforms and diversity & open innovation an explicit part of Vision2030. These may seem like three separate issues, but they are closely interlinked.
Corporate branding entails promoting recognition of and support for business implementation based on our purpose, both externally and internally.
Ensuring that employees all understand that the ultimate objective of their work is to implement our purpose and increasing their commitment to the purpose will lead to greater professional fulfillment.
To enhance professional fulfilment, employees must have a clear sense that they are growing into more autonomous versions of themselves. To this end, it is crucial to ensure that employees are connected with the right inspiration and opportunities to grow by proactively interacting not only with others within Lion, but a wide range of people outside the Company.

Enabling Each Individual to Grow through Diverse Interactions

Lion is proactively advancing initiatives in the areas of diversity & open innovation. We hope that by interacting with a more diverse range of people, each of our employees will gain insights into the areas they need to work on as well as their own strengths, helping them to grow.
The adoption of our side job system—in which Lion employees can work side jobs at other companies and employees of other companies can work side jobs at Lion—is a part of these efforts. In 2020, when we sought to fill eight side job positions with external human resources for a project to build new business models, we received more than 1,600 applications.
As a result of this project, in February 2021, we launched Gokinjyo Cheftomo, a service that allows users to take home dinner side dishes prepared at local restaurants. The participation of outside individuals working side jobs at Lion was a tremendously important factor in enabling us to set up this new business so quickly.
Likewise, we expect that working side jobs at other companies will enable Lion employees to quickly obtain experience and insight they would not have access to solely by working at a single company.

07.Sustainability

Offering Environmentally Friendly Habits
to Realize Sustainability for the Planet

designated “Reinforce Initiatives to Address the Sustainability Material Issues” as a management strategy. In particular, we have identified “Creating Healthy Living Habits” and “Promoting Environmental Initiatives for a Sustainable Planet” as our top-priority materials issues, the areas in which we must contribute to society most.
To realize sustainability for the planet, it will be crucial for us all to shift to more environmentally friendly habits. Such a shift ties directly into the implementation of our purpose; going forward, creating habits that support not only the physical and mental health of individuals, but also the health of the global environment, will be extremely important.
For example, in Japan, around 90% of liquid toiletry products are available in refill pouches made of thin plastic film. In Europe and the United States, this figure is still around just 10%. The establishment of habits related to effectively using such pouches can significantly reduce plastic use. I call this “pouch culture.”
Pouch culture is just one example of the ways that everyday habits can have a big impact over time. By creating numerous such habits and spreading them across Asia, we hope to contribute to the protection of the global environment.
Furthermore, because pouches still use plastic, we will need to develop frameworks and technologies for collecting and reusing them to realize a higher level of recycling. This is something that Lion cannot do alone, so we will expand collaboration both within the industry and across industries.