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Mitsui Chemicals to Install New Management System

April 25, 2003

In order to accelerate its management innovation, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (MCI) has decided to reconfigure its management system as described below. Under the New Management System, MCI is determined to focus its all-out strength toward realizing a “Strong Mitsui Chemicals Group” and continue fulfilling the expectations of its shareholders, customers and other stakeholders

1. Smaller Board Headcount and Introduction of Executive Officers System

  1. In order to speed up decision-making, MCI will reduce the number of Board Directors, from the current 29 to 14, effective June 27, 2003.
  2. On the other hand, in order to bolster MCI management' s operational execution function, an Executive Officers system will be introduced at the same time.
  3. The Board of Directors will maintain its functions of management supervision as well as corporate strategy formulation. But in order to prevent any gap from occurring between those functions and MCI's actual business operation, those heads of the Business Groups (as described below) who are concurrently Board Directors will double as the Executive Officers responsible for operational execution.

2. Introduction of Business Group System

  1. Effective June 27, 2003, MCI will newly introduce a Business Group system to replace the current Group system. As compared to the existing setup, the new Business Group system would give much greater responsibility as well as authority to the Business Group heads, thereby boosting the speed and the efficiency of company management and operation.

    The new system will consist of four Business Groups: "Petrochemicals," "Basic Chemicals," "Functional Polymeric Materials" and "Functional Chemicals & Engineered Materials," which are built upon the current Groups of the same designations.
  2. Designed as free-standing managerial entities having at once the production, sales & marketing and research functions, the new Business Groups will exert even stronger leadership over the works and research organizations in an effort to achieve autonomic growth and expansion as well as improved asset efficiency.

3. Introduction of New IT System

Beginning Fiscal 2004 (specifically, with the start of budget preparation in January 2004), MCI will kick off a new, full-scale information technology (IT) system designed to support the New Management System and promote efficient execution of MCI’s business operation. Making maximum use of the results of the joint system development -- mainly focused on SAP/R3 -- which had been conducted together with Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. until this March, the new IT System will be constructed to accommodate the New Management System

4. Relocation of Head Office

MCI is scheduled to relocate, within this year, its head office from the current Kasumigaseki Building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, to the newly developed Shiodome City Center in Minato Ward where it hopes to refresh itself in pursuit of “Strong Mitsui Chemicals Group.”