The world has seen, and will continue to see, volatility relating to disruptive innovations in technology, cyber attacks, geopolitical disputes and macroeconomic risks, sustainability and ESG, and catastrophic events (such as scarcity, natural disasters, humanitarian crises, as well as outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics). While change is constant in the world, the challenges of recent and future years require global companies, such as the Bridgestone Group, to build and sustain operational resilience. The Bridgestone Group’s 2030 Long Term Strategic Aspiration recognizes these challenges and focuses our efforts on becoming a resilient “excellent” Bridgestone.
To that end, the Bridgestone Group has committed to enhancing its global and regional programs to manage risks, including the Bridgestone Group’s ability to identify, assess, mitigate and respond to significant enterprise-wide risks. As part of our continuous efforts to manage global risks and ensure we deliver on the Bridgestone’s Mission of “Serving Society with Superior Quality,” the Bridgestone Group recently introduced several program enhancements that will enable us to remain resilient and, in some occasions, transform volatility into opportunity.
Earlier this year, the Bridgestone Group established the Global Management Risk Committee (the “GMRC”). The GMRC is a chartered committee consisting of the CEOs and Chief Risk Officers (each a “CRO”) from each strategic business unit, as well as other expertise within the organization. The GMRC meets several times a year (including through a regular cadence of meetings and on an ad hoc basis as needed) and has direct oversight of the most significant enterprise-wide global risks. The GMRC evaluates various global risks from a short, medium and long-term perspective, and provides direction and oversight for the relevant leaders and cross functional groups within the organization who are charged with leading the risk management efforts. Members of the GMRC also periodically provide updates and reports to the global CEO and board members. These periodic updates provide regular opportunities for senior leadership to engage with the global program, provide direction and to help ensure risk management is part of the Bridgestone Group’s strategic planning and decision making.
In addition to the GMRC, the Bridgestone Group also has a Chief Risk Officer Council (the “CRO Council”). The CRO Council consists of the CROs and dedicated enterprise risk management professionals from each region. The CRO Council meets frequently and has direct responsibility for the design and implementation of enterprise risk management at the global and regional levels, including investment in and use of leading risk management technology and systems, and continuously enhancing our business continuity and crisis management activities. The CRO Council helps ensure alignment on global risk-related activities together with risk-related activities for each strategic business unit and region. The efforts of the CRO Council will help build and sustain a culture of resiliency (including, for example, by periodically conducting risk identification exercises and defining risk appetite) and embedding enterprise risk management in strategic planning and decision making throughout the organization. The CRO Council reports into the GMRC and also closely collaborates with the Bridgestone Group’s Global Sustainability Committee to ensure that sustainability is integrated into ERM processes (including, for example, that materiality assessments relating to our sustainability program are helping inform our global and regional risk management programs). Each of the CROs are also responsible for driving and coordinating operational risk mitigation and management activities at the department and SBU levels within their respective regions. Finally, each of our SBU board of directors has a Governance and Risk Committee to provide additional oversight over Bridgestone’s risk management efforts.
In addition to the internal resources who are focused on global risk management, the Bridgestone Group also periodically engages different external experts and other third parties to help support the global and regional risk management programs. These third parties periodically support on conducting risk related activities (such as risk identification and validation exercises), advising on particular risk topics (such as geopolitical disputes) and other program enhancements.
