Bridgestone appoints two new global COOs
Tokyo, Japan – Bridgestone Corporation announced that its Board of Directors decided on April 18th to strengthen its global management structure by appointing two Joint Global COOs under the Global CEO, effective May 1. In a press release Bridgestone Group stated that “Bridgestone has been working on its Corporate Transformation (CX) for the past two years since the start of Third Foundation/Bridgestone 3.0 in 2020 focusing on “execution” and “delivering results” with an “aggressive approach” and “challenge” spirit which has brought us closer to becoming a “strong” Bridgestone. In anticipation of a series of turbulent events such as the situation in Russia and Ukraine, it is imperative to further strengthen our global management structure, which is more flexible and agile than before and oriented toward global optimization, in order to achieve the goals of Mid Term Business Plan, which concludes in 2023.”
Comments from Shu Ishibashi, Global CEO and Representative Executive Officer of Bridgestone Corporation, “Two Global Joint COOs will be appointed as global business managements focusing on “execution” and “delivering results” with an “aggressive approach” and “challenge” spirit.
One is Masahiro Higashi, who is currently responsible for the global mining and aircraft tire business, the Japanese tire business, and the Japanese diversified products business. He will continue to lead Bridgestone’s global sustainability strategy and, effective May 1, expand his responsibilities to include the BSCAP business, which is expected to generate synergies in the Bridgestone home market – Japan and Asia, where Bridgestone has a long history of success.
The other is Paolo Ferrari, head of Global Solution Strategy and head of BSAM Business. He will continue to lead the global solutions business strategy and, as of May 1, expand his responsibilities to include the BSEMIA business, where we expect synergies from the mature premium tire and solutions businesses in the Americas and Europe. Both of them have contributed to the CX and business performance over the past two years, and I am confident that they will support the Global CEO as No. 2 in this new and turbulent business stage and contribute to the enhancement of our corporate value.”
The current SBU concept as a glocal management structure will remain, with the Head of BSCAP reporting to Masahiro Higashi and the Head of BSEMIA reporting to Paolo Ferrari.
Through this strengthened executive structure, the Bridgestone Group is committed to the 8 Bridgestone-like values starting with the letter “E” (Energy, Ecology, Efficiency, Extension, Economy, Emotion, Ease, and Empowerment) in the “Bridgestone E8 Commitment “. The Group will commit to creating the value to realize a sustainable society.