Regarding the 48th term's keyword "battle group"

About the keyword "battle group" of the 48th term

■CONTENTS 01: The 48th class becomes a "fighting group"
■CONTENTS 02: What is a combat group?
■CONTENTS 03: How to improve your fighting power - How to fight

CONntents 01: The 48th class will be a "battle group"

CONTENTS 01: The 48th term will be a "battle group"

The 48th term started on June 1st.

As an organization, we will operate as a "self-sustaining fighting group" that focuses on the quality and quantity of our actions , with the premise that we share our philosophy and values ( see the President's Diary "Policy Notebook" ).

The external environment has changed dramatically in the 47th fiscal year, starting with supply chain disruptions caused by the impact of COVID-19, followed by currency fluctuations stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising prices for raw materials and other resources. We expect these effects to continue into the current fiscal year.

While short- to medium-term activities remain important, we believe that the increasingly harsh environment makes it even more important to look to the future from a long-term perspective and "fight."

CONTENTS 02: What is a combat group?

CONTENTS 02: What is a battle group?

The harsh environment I mentioned at the beginning has come about at an all too rapid pace. Unless we face the market and our rivals and raise our awareness to be chosen by more customers, the environment is changing to the extent that before we know it, customers will have left us. I feel that simply "doing what we want to do" alone will not be enough to overcome this difficult situation. On the other hand, this environment is similar for other companies. If the changes are occurring under the same conditions, then we need to take an aggressive approach to sales activities with a more combative mindset, in addition to a desire to be of service to our customers .

Although we say "battle," it's important to note that the opponent is not other companies or customers. The battle here is within your own organization and within yourself. In business, if you try to fight against other companies or customers, there won't be much true value left, whether you win or lose.

Now is the time to fight, as the environment is getting tougher and we are in a state of emergency. From now on, we will flip the switch and turn this crisis into an opportunity.

CONTENTS 03: How to improve your fighting power - How to fight

CONTENTS 03: How to improve your fighting power-how to fight

Ten years ago, Okafoods was in a "state of emergency" within the company, and employees were trying to trip each other up. I fought with my employees and avoided fighting with myself, so if we had been facing the current external environment back then, I might have made excuses like "the exchange rate is out of our control" or "we're lucky we don't go into the red." Sadao Ichikura once said, "whether the mailboxes are red or the telegraph poles are tall is the president's responsibility." I realize now that it was none other than myself who created the internal environment that encouraged internal fighting.

At Oka Foods today, we have put into practice environmental improvement, Oka Juku, and FISH activities (business improvement activities), which have resulted in a well-established mindset and adult core, so there is no fighting between employees. In this current emergency external environment, we need to improve our fighting capabilities based on our fundamental philosophy through friendly competition within the company, not just compete with other companies, but in order to deliver value to stakeholders .

And what's needed for this is motivation and skills . As for motivation, you need to get rid of the idea of "doing only what you want to do at your own pace, as much as possible," and instead increase your enthusiasm (sense of tension and responsibility) until you see results. As for skills, you need to improve your abilities (planning and execution skills) by learning and growing ( see President's Diary "Learning and Growth" ). By combining these two with the number of people who are serious about the company and themselves and the amount of activity, the organization will become a solid fighting force.

For employees, this means having to deal with difficult and tedious tasks, which puts them in an uncomfortable zone. However, in the post-COVID world, where we have run through this as a fighting force, a completely different landscape will unfold.