The JVCKENWOOD Group believes that one of its most important management issues is to increase the transparency and efficiency of its management decision-making process and improve corporate value by strengthening corporate governance. To this end, we make it a basic policy to enhance our corporate governance through the establishment of a structure that calls for “the separation of management from the execution of businesses”, “the appointment of External Directors and External Audit & Supervisory Board Members”, and “the improvement of check functions by establishing an Internal Audit Division”, thereby strengthening the Company’s internal control system on a Group-wide basis.
[JVCKENWOOD Group Corporate Governance System]
Corporate Governance Structure (as of April 1, 2022)
1. Reasons for adopting an executive officer system in the form of a company with Board of Company Auditors as a corporate governance system
JVCKENWOOD believes that the most effective way to embody its corporate governance principles of separating management from execution, appointing external directors and auditors, and strengthening checking functions by establishing an internal audit department is to introduce an executive officer system along with an audit and supervisory board. The aim is to establish a mechanism that facilitates collaboration among internal departments. Therefore, we have established the following management structure.
2. Matters concerning the Board of Directors
The Company shall regard the Board of Directors as the fundamental and strategic decision-making body, as well as the supervisory body for business execution. The Board of Directors shall have a regular meeting once a month and an extraordinary meeting as necessary to discuss and resolve basic policies and important matters relating to management, as well as supervise and monitor the status of business execution. The term of office of Directors is one year to ensure the clarification of their responsibilities and swift management decision-making. The Board of Directors shall also actively appoint External Directors to promote highly transparent decision-making and take the initiative in corporate reform and governance.
Nine Directors—Mr. IWATA Shinjiro (Chairman of the Board and External Director), Mr. EGUCHI Shoichiro (Representative Director of the Board), Mr. NOMURA Masao (Representative Director of the Board), Mr. MIYAMOTO Masatoshi (Representative Director of the Board), Mr. SUZUKI Akira, Mr. KURIHARA Naokazu, Mr. SONODA Yoshio, Mr. HAMASAKI Yuji (External Director) and Ms. ONITSUKA Hiromi (External Director)—were elected at the 14th Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders held on June 24, 2022.
Since June 2016, JVCKENWOOD has appointed an External Director independent from and neutral to the management of the Company as the Chairman of the Board of Directors, and established a place for active exchange of opinions and discussions at meetings of the Board of Directors. As of June 24, 2022, Mr. IWATA Shinjiro, who serves as External Director, chairs the Board of Directors. The Chairman of the Board determines agendas for a meeting of the Board of Directors in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Officer in charge of Administrative Division, etc. prior to deliberations of the Board of Directors. In addition, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is responsible for convening meetings of the Board of Directors and preparing minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors, etc. as the Representative Director of the Board.
3. Matters concerning the Audit & Supervisory Board
The Company adopts a company with an Audit & Supervisory Board framework as its organizational structure. Audit & Supervisory Board Members are responsible for the corporate audit function and their duties include attending Board of Directors’ meetings and other important meetings, as well as holding Audit & Supervisory Board meetings, auditing the execution of Directors’ duties, the business execution of the entire Group, and corporate accounting. The Audit & Supervisory Board holds meetings once a month, and extra meetings as needed.
Three Audit & Supervisory Board Members—Mr. IMAI Masaki (Audit & Supervisory Board Member), Mr. SAITO Katsumi (External Audit & Supervisory Board Member) and Mr. KURIHARA Katsumi (External Audit & Supervisory Board Member)— were elected at the 12th Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders held on June 19, 2020, and Mr. FUJIOKA Tetsuya (External Audit & Supervisory Board Member) was elected at the 13th Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders held on June 25, 2021.
4. Matters concerning the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee
The Company established the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee, for which all of its External Directors serve as committee members, in December 2015, with the aim of strengthening the independence and objectivity of the functions of the Board of Directors. Since its establishment, the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee has made proposals to the Board of Directors regarding candidate representatives for JVCKENWOOD, and reviewed the appropriateness of director candidates and directors’ compensation plans proposed by the representatives and others, and reported its opinions. The Board of Directors has determined director candidates and directors’ compensation, taking into consideration the opinions stated by the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee.
In addition, in April 2019, the Company added the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to committee members of the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee in order for External Directors who serve as committee members to share accurate internal information in a timely manner and to improve the effectiveness of the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee. The procedures for deliberating a proposal and making determination regarding candidate representatives for the Company by the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee are performed by three committee members who serve as External Directors except for the committee member who is the CEO.
As of June 24, 2022, Mr. IWATA Shinjiro, Mr. HAMASAKI Yuji and Ms. ONITSUKA Hiromi, who serve as External Directors, and Mr. EGUCHI Shoichiro, who serves as CEO, serve as committee members, and Mr. HAMASAKI Yuji chairs the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee by resolution of the Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee as of the same date.
5. Matters concerning Executive Officer System
The Company has introduced an Executive Officer System under which the management supervisory function is separated from the business execution function to clarify management responsibility and business execution responsibility since its establishment in October 2008.
The Board of Directors, in order to lead the Company’s initiatives in corporate reform and governance, is chaired by an External Director, holds discussions between External Directors as independent directors and Directors concurrently serving as Executive Officers to make highly transparent decisions, and entrusts the business execution to Executive Officers. In accordance with decisions made at meetings of the Board of Directors, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), serving as the Chairman, takes the lead in the Executive Officers Committee’s meetings.
Each of the Executive Officers is in charge of the Mobility & Telematics Service Sector (M&T Sector), Public Service Sector (PS Sector), or Media Service Sector (MS Sector) or serves as General Executive of the Business Division in those sectors while being in charge of the DX (Digital Transformation) Business Division, which is responsible for new business development, and assumes responsibility for the overall operations of all businesses in the four regions, the Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), APAC (Asia Pacific), and China as the general manager or representative, and thus their responsibilities are clarified in both businesses and regions. Furthermore, we introduced an execution system under which each Executive Officer is appointed to the positions of CFO (Chief Financial Officer) , CTO (Chief Technology Officer) , CISO(Chief Information Security Officer)or is in charge of each corporate division to support the CEO, and performs their duties.
The Company formulated a medium-term management plan, VISION 2023, in May 2021. The following is a summary of the areas of expertise and skills expected of the management team in order to solve the management issues faced by the Company and achieve medium to long-term improvements in corporate value, as well as to ensure diversity and balance on the Board of Directors.
* The above 1 to 5 and Skill Matrix are excerpted from Securities Report for the 14th Fiscal Year Ended March 2022 (April 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022). (Japanese)
*Title as of March 31, 2022
Board of Directors meetings |
Attendance |
|
---|---|---|
External Director of the Board | IWATA Shinjiro | 13 times (93%) |
President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) |
EGUCHI Shoichiro |
14 times (100%) |
Director of the Board |
MIYAMOTO Masatoshi |
14 times (100%) |
Director of the Board |
NOMURA Masao |
14 times (100%) |
Director of the Board | SUZUKI Akira | 14 times (100%) |
Director of the Board | KURIHARA Naokazu | 11 times (100%) *1 |
Director of the Board |
SONODA Yoshio |
14 times (100%) |
External Director of the Board |
HAMASAKI Yuji |
14 times (100%) |
External Director of the Board |
ONITSUKA Hiromi |
11 times (100%) *1 |
Fulltime Audit & Supervisory Board Member |
IMAI Masaki |
14 times (100%) |
External Audit & Supervisory Board Member |
SAITO Katsumi |
14 times (100%) |
External Audit & Supervisory Board Member |
KURIHARA Katsumi |
14 times (100%) |
External Audit & Supervisory Board Member | FUJIOKA Tetsuya | 11 times (100%) *2 |
Audit & Supervisory Board Meetings |
Attendance |
|
Fulltime Audit & Supervisory Board Member |
IMAI Masaki |
14 times (100%) |
External Audit & Supervisory Board Member |
SAITO Katsumi |
14 times (100%) |
External Audit & Supervisory Board Member |
KURIHARA Katsumi |
14 times (100%) |
External Audit & Supervisory Board Member | FUJIOKA Tetsuya | 11 times (100%)*2 |
Nomination and Remuneration Advisory Committee meetings |
Attendance |
|
External Director of the Board | HAMASAKI Yuji (Committee chairman) | 16 times (100%) |
External Director of the Board |
IWATA Shinjiro |
15 times (94%) |
External Director of the Board |
ONITSUKA Hiromi |
12 times (100%)*1 |
President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) |
EGUCHI Shoichiro |
15 times (100%)*3 |
Board of Executive Officers meetings |
14 time/year |
*1 Attendance at Board and Committee meetings since appointed (June 2021 to March 2022)
*2 Attendance at Audit & Supervisory Board meetings since appointed (June 2021 to March 2022)
*3 Excluding one meeting deliberated by outside directors alone