Top Commitment

The Group’s Mission is based on founder Shojiro Ishibashi’s business philosophy embodied in his words, “I am convinced that a simple profit-seeking business will never thrive, but a business that contributes to its society and country will be forever profitable.” This belief and our Mission also are in line with the current notion of sustainability. Today, our Mission is becoming more important than ever.

The society around us is in the midst of major changes, including international relations, the economy and technological innovation, and the pace of these changes is accelerating year by year. Mobility, especially with regard to automobiles, is undergoing a “once in a century” fundamental transformation, as is represented by concepts such as MaaS^*1 and CASE^*2. Furthermore, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues from 2020, not only brings about major changes in our lives and economies, but also has shown that the critical challenges the world faces — climate emergency, loss of nature and growing inequality — are interconnected. Society as a whole must work toward the realization of a sustainable society so that all people can continue living well within planetary boundaries.

Since its establishment in 1931, the Bridgestone Group has been expanding and evolving its business from Japan to Asia and globally, from tires to diversified products that support lives and industries, and now to solutions. The Group has evolved to meet the changing needs of society and continue supporting the safe and secure mobility and lifestyles of individuals in each era.

Looking ahead, the Group will continue to evolve to support society and each individual. Through our business activities, and the technologies and innovations that support them, we will provide value to our customers. We also strive to create social value to further contribute to the realization of a sustainable society. The Group also will carry out a wide range of social contribution activities around the world beyond our business domains, to continue fulfilling our responsibility to future generations as a global leader in the industry.

In particular, with regard to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we have identified 13 of the 17 goals that the Group will focus on, and will actively contribute to the achievement of these SDGs by 2030. We believe that it is the role and responsibility of our Group to anticipate changes in society, turn them into opportunities, and contribute to the realization of a sustainable society through our business and social contribution activities.

Evolution toward a sustainable solutions company: Bridgestone 3.0 Journey

In 2020, the Bridgestone Group embarked on a new chapter in its history with a new vision: “Toward 2050, Bridgestone continues to provide social value and customer value as a sustainable solutions company.”

Following the Group’s founding in 1931, and our “second foundation” in 1988 with the merger of Bridgestone and the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, we positioned 2020 as our “Third Foundation” and the first year of Bridgestone 3.0. The Mid-Long Term Business Strategy was formulated to realize our new vision.

The Mid-Long Term Business Strategy places sustainability at the core of management and business, and aims to serve society by creating social and customer value while gaining a competitive advantage, by evolving into a solutions company that leverages the strengths of our tire and rubber business. This February, we announced our Mid Term Business Plan as a concrete execution plan for 2021 to 2023. In line with this plan, we will drive our Mid-Long Term Business Strategy from framework to execution with an aggressive approach and challenging spirit.

The base of our strategy is building a unique business model. By further strengthening our core tire business and leveraging its advantages to globally expand our solutions business, which we call our growth business, we aim to amplify the value of these two businesses. Furthermore, to ensure our evolution into a sustainable solutions company, we have established a new business portfolio. To sustainably grow toward the future, we have added on exploratory business, in addition to our existing core and growth businesses. We have started with exploring the recycle business and the soft- robotics business, both areas where Bridgestone can leverage its core competencies, such as mastering rubber.

The components of our core, growth, and exploratory businesses are not fixed. We will evolve our business portfolio to meet the changing needs of society and our customers, developing our current growth business into a core business, and our exploratory businesses into growth businesses. New exploratory businesses will also be born.

In conjunction with our business activities, we are also accelerating our environmental initiatives and other activities to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. Traditionally, the Group has continued to contribute to the improvement of resource productivity and the reduction of CO₂ emissions in our “produce and sell” tire business, and our solutions business, which provides value at the time of product “use.”
Looking ahead, we look to commercialize the recycle business to “renew” end-of-life tires to rubber and raw materials. By 2030, we aim to construct a circular economy where business value such as revenue and profits are sustainably generated and circulated, linked with efforts toward resource circulation and achieving carbon neutrality, across all of our “produce and sell,” ”provide value at use” and “renew” business areas.

The other exploratory business, soft-robotics, is a new attempt in the Group’s diversified business, designed to support mobility and lifestyles that prioritize safety and peace of mind. The soft-robotics business utilizes soft robots that work harmoniously with people to respond to social and customer issues such as work automation and need for contactless interactions. By leveraging Bridgestone’s core competencies such as know-how and technologies in mastering rubber and mastering contact, we will continue to explore new areas to ensure sustainable growth.

In this way, through the support of the mobility and movement of people and objects, we aim to realize our Sustainability Business Framework that pursues a win-win- win situation among society, our customers and Bridgestone. Bridgestone will empathize with society and customers, and collaborate with various partners for innovation and co-creation of value to empower our journey.

We are redeveloping our Technical Center in Kodaira, Tokyo, to establish the Bridgestone Innovation Park, a global hub for innovation and co-creation. In addition to the Bridgestone Innovation Gallery opened in 2020, which introduces the Group’s history and innovation initiatives, B-Innovation, an innovation center, and B-Mobility, a small-scale test course, are planned to be completed at the end of this year. We also will enhance coordination among the Group’s innovation centers around the world to reinforce co-creation and innovation on a global scale.

1. MaaS (Mobility as a Service)
2. CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric)

To contribute to the realization of a sustainable society, we also are working to solve social issues through various activities beyond our business activities. Our Way to Serve, introduced in 2017, guides the Group’s efforts in contributing to the realization of a sustainable society and embodies our strong commitment to fulfill our responsibility for the future. To improve the way people move, live, work and play, we are promoting various initiatives globally, focusing on three priority areas: Mobility, People and Environment. Our more than 140,000 teammates around the world commonly guided by our Mission and Our Way to Serve are engaged in their daily work.

In the area of Mobility, we are enhancing mobility through advanced technologies and solutions, to make it smarter, safer and more accessible. We recognize that “tires carry life” is our fundamental principle and responsibility as a tire manufacturer. As such, we are engaged in promoting road safety by conducting education around the world.

With regard to People, we are promoting various social contribution activities to support communities and enhance the way people live, learn and work. In regions around the world where Bridgestone is located, we are expanding education and training opportunities to support the learning of the next generation, supporting victims of natural disasters, working to prevent and lessen the impact of such disasters, and implementing health promotion programs and educational activities to promote healthier communities.

Furthermore, the Group has formulated its Global Human Rights Policy and is promoting initiatives to address various issues related to basic human rights, while actively working on the development and promotion of diversified talent including the advancement of women. These spirits of diversity and inclusion, which aim to realize a society where people from different backgrounds can live and work together, are rooted in the Group’s culture as one of the foundations of our corporate philosophy, the Bridgestone Essence’s “Seijitsu-Kyocho” (Integrity and Teamwork).

As a Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner, Bridgestone is proud to support the values associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Games, such as respect for diversity, global solidarity, and the creation of an inclusive society. Under the manifesto, “CHASE YOUR DREAM,” and through various activities together with local communities, the Group not only supports the challenges of athletes, but all those around the world who are chasing their dreams.

In 2021, the Bridgestone Group joined The Valuable 500, an international movement committed to promoting the advancement of people with disabilities. The Valuable 500 and Bridgestone share the belief that people with different experiences, skills and perspectives can create new value for business and communities by working together. Taking this opportunity, we will further promote initiatives for diversity and inclusion, aiming to realize a society in which all people can live well with peace of mind.

In the area of Environment, we are accelerating our ambition to decouple business growth from environmental impact and resource consumption, based on our “Long-Term Environmental Vision” for 2050, and the “Milestone 2030” mid-term environmental targets newly formulated in 2020. In particular, over the past year, we have updated and clarified our targets for reducing CO₂ emissions to work more aggressively toward becoming carbon neutral. Our goal is to reduce 50% of our CO₂ emissions by 2030 compared to 2011, and to become carbon neutral by 2050. We will continue to work toward the realization of a circular economy and achieving carbon neutrality to ensure a healthy environment for current and future generations.

As a global company, we are building trust with society and our stakeholders by continuing to respond to society’s expectations and fulfilling our social responsibilities through business activities and social contribution activities. The Group prioritizes fundamental initiatives for six key themes: Compliance and Fair Competition, Business Continuity (BCP) and Risk Management, Human Rights and Labor Practices, Safety and Industrial Hygiene, Procurement, and Quality and Customer Value. In addition, we will not only ensure thorough governance by keeping our promises and carrying them out, but also continuously evolve our Group’s governance in line with our business strategy, just as we evolve our business in line with the dynamic changes in society. The governance for co-creation also will become increasingly important, as we connect and actively collaborate with a wide variety of partners including yourselves. By building trust and deepening interaction with empathy, we hope to accelerate further value co-creation in the future.

2021 marks the 90th anniversary of our founding and is an important milestone toward our 100th anniversary. It is also the second year of Bridgestone 3.0, a year in which we must deliver results. Managing our business in line with our Mid Term Business Plan, we will continue to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by providing social and customer value. We would like to invite all of our stakeholders, including customers, shareholders and business partners, to join us on this journey, and hope this report will be a start.