Tokyo, Japan—Olympus Corporation’s new medium-term vision for the five years from fiscal year ending March 2013 is based on the management structure established on April 20, 2012, with “Back to Basics” as the slogan.
The company aims to return to the basic values it had at founding and make a fresh start to regain the credibility of its stakeholders, rebuild itself and create new corporate value.
Olympus designated three corporate management policies: Back to Basics; One Olympus; and Profitable Growth. Again expressing regret for its past misconduct, the board hopes to achieve profitability by adopting Back to Basics as the principle behind all of its actions and strategies. “We will make a concerted effort to share values and goals among all our employees around the world with the aim of building ‘One Olympus,’ ” it was announced. “ We aim to regain the credibility of our stakeholders, rebuild Olympus and create new corporate value by going back to the basic values that existed when Olympus was first established.”
Those founding values include: “Our mission to contribute to society and its development through products and solutions; continuously strive to develop the world’s first and best products; [and] focus on customers and customer needs.”
The core businesses moving forward will be Medical, Life Science & Industrial, and Imaging. As far as the Imaging business is concerned, Olympus plans on reviewing its product lineup by allocating management resources and focusing on mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras and high-end compact cameras.
To achieve profitability, Olympus plans to restructure its manufacturing functions, select and concentrate advertising expenses and reduce SG&A expenses. The company will reduce the number of employees by 2,700 (approximately 7% of worldwide employees) by March 31, 2014, by restructuring subsidiaries and global production sites, in addition to enhancing the efficiency of the indirect workforce at headquarters and in each business unit. It will also eliminate or consolidate 40% of the 30 production sites currently operating around the world by fiscal year ending March 2015. olympus.com
