Message from the President

In April 2025, I assumed the office of Representative Director and President. I am now entrusted with the mission of navigating the Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC) Group successfully into the future. I am determined to concentrate on enhancing corporate value as we pursue Our Vision’s steadfast aim of being “an excellent company with uniqueness and presence built on chemistry.” Previously, I was responsible for research & development. I believe a shared sense of crisis amid radical changes in the external environment led to my appointment as President. In fact, unless we transform into a genuinely customer-oriented R&D company, the environment is liable to make it increasingly challenging for MGC to remain viable on the global stage. The old era is gone. Simply releasing excellent products no longer translates, with any degree of certainty, into big sales. It is time to change. We must break away from a passive stance that waits for customers to choose us. Instead, we must refresh our attention, as a material manufacturer, to the fundamental principle that “there are no sales unless we provide what customers really want.” 

Based on this recognition, I am convinced that a “market-out” concept must be widely adopted by business units across the Group. This concept focuses on accurately understanding the genuine needs of customers, engaging in ongoing dialogue with them and working together to create new products. Looking ahead, we will therefore accelerate solution-oriented business development that connects the dots via the close assessment of the real issues confronting our customers and the horizontal roll-out of solutions generated through unique R&D endeavors. At the same time, the MGC Group’s core business has always been chemical manufacturing. This is exactly why we deem it necessary to pursue our future ideal of what a chemical manufacturer should look like in 2050. It is why we are aligning our business portfolio and profit structure to this optimal profile for the future.

“Grow UP 2026,” our medium-term management plan, was announced in May 2024. Under this plan, we are strongly focused on securing return from the major growth investments we have been making in “Uniqueness & Presence” (U&P) businesses since the previous medium-term management plan. In particular, we need to establish mechanisms for more precisely gauging customer needs in the ICT field, which is experiencing radical change in the market environment. Therefore, we will undertake capital expenditure in a timely manner while carrying out the DX-driven development of new technologies and products. In these ways, we will increase profitability. We will also continue to proactively implement various measures aimed at achieving carbon neutrality as these are expected to greatly contribute to the realization of a circular carbon society. 

Meanwhile, we will continuously work to strengthen the resiliency of the Group’s overall business portfolio. To this end, we will rigorously review the rationale for maintaining businesses whose profitability or ROE falls short of our standard. If we determine MGC is not the best owner, we will then decisively divest or withdraw from unpromising products even if they do generate profit. In addition, we have set an ROE target of 12% or more as part of our “vision for MGC in 2030.” However, we realize that the outcomes yielded by initiatives to brush up existing businesses will not, on their own, suffice to achieve this target. Accordingly, we need to create new businesses that enable us to maintain robust bargaining power in price negotiations while shifting away from low-profit businesses. These endeavors require unflinching reforms that spare nothing. In sum, I believe that our business portfolio naturally calls for constant reshuffling, which is also essential to avoid the decline in corporate vitality that otherwise accompanies the passage of time.

We aspire to remain a genuine R&D-oriented company by fostering innovative ideas and heightening our sensitivity to the issues facing our customers. To achieve this, one objective of the medium-term management plan is the enhancement of human capital management. Specifically, we are promoting diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) to nurture human resources capable of employing a multilateral perspective so that we can further develop our U&P businesses. As a young researcher, I faced a number of challenging circumstances, including serving as the sole person responsible for exploratory research on an optical polymer that had yet to grow into a key material supporting our business. However, I was able to overcome these challenges thanks to MGC’s corporate culture that celebrates those who take on new challenges and values open-minded communication. Drawing on this experience, I will strive, as the President, to nurture this unique corporate culture and thereby encourage all employees to be even more proactive in taking on diverse challenges without fear of failure. 

Going forward, I ask shareholders and investors for their ongoing support of our endeavors. 

Yoshinori Isahaya
President and Representative Director
August 2025