Foundation for Value Creation

Messages from Outside Directors
With a focus on the sustainable growth of ASKA Pharmaceutical Holdings, we present messages from three
Outside Directors. They provide insights from their professional and objective perspectives, as well as their
expectations for the future of the Group.

Working for women’swell-being
Yasunori Yoshimura
Member of the Board of Directors, Outside Director
ASKA Pharmaceutical Holdings

A passive approach to growth is not an option for ASKA

People are born, grow up, mature, raise children, grow old,
and their lives eventually come to an end. In recent years,
women’s roles in this lifecycle have undergone major changes.
A growing number are choosing to build careers. And as
more women enter higher education, they are delaying
marriage and having children later in life. These trends,
combined with the fact that a growing number of womenremain single, have led to a decline in the birthrate. As thesocial landscape for women changes, so too does the natureof the health issues they face, and addressing those healthissues is becoming increasingly important. In a society withan extremely low birthrate, and one with a decliningworking-age population, there are high expectations for
women to play active roles. Companies need to provide
environments and foster cultures in which women can work
comfortably. As we are a flagship company for women’s

medicine in Japan, it is more important than ever that we
consider the life and career plans of women and provide
supportive working conditions. We must put the principlesof healthcare into practice on our own so that we canimprove productivity.
Providing opportunities for women to play an active rolein the Company leads to innovation, revitalization of theorganization through reforms in work styles, reduction incorporate risks through diversity, and improvement incorporate value. Diversity is vital not only in terms of fairness
but also for promoting corporate growth and technologicalinnovation. Recognizing this, we will fulfill our responsibility
to incorporate the concept of “Co-creation” into ourmanagement perspective. This concept means generating
things that contribute to the future by cooperating with adiverse group of stakeholders.

One of ASKA Pharmaceutical Holdings’ missions is to

Pharmaceutical Holdings or many other Japanese companies

contribute to women’s health and medical care using its

in this era of declining birthrates and aging populations.

long-standing relationships of trust and its network with

Contributing to women’s health bylearning from overseas Femtech projects“Vertical expansion” is limited to current products and theobstetricians and gynecologists. To this end, it is also

domestic market. A second, perhaps more effective strategy

important to add new and outstanding products and services

for growth is “Horizontal expansion.” This would include

in this field. As an Outside Director with expertise in identifying

adding new products and services to the existing customer

and introducing new overseas businesses, I will help create abase or expanding the sales channels of existing products inmechanism for gathering new business opportunity information.

Minoru Awabayashi

specialized fields to overseas markets.

When the Company analyzes and judges the information

Member of the Board of Directors, Outside Director
ASKA Pharmaceutical Holdings

gathered, it is my mission to offer business advice while leaving
technical judgments to the experts.

Toward further
sustainable growth
Yasuji Enokido
Member of the Board of Directors, Outside Director
ASKA Pharmaceutical Holdings

The two main focuses of ASKA Pharmaceutical Holdings aretechnology evolves. As industry and country boundaries

women’s empowerment and animal welfare. By quickly

continue to diminish, it is increasingly crucial to adopt a

identifying the trends of these two focuses, and allocating

forward-thinking strategy. This entails focusing on

management resources appropriately, ASKA has continuallymonitoring technological trends like AI and quantum

achieved sound business growth. In the future, people’scomputing, while actively pursuing international expansion.

awareness of social issues will deepen further, andI recognize that a key role of Outside Directors is to oversee

stakeholders will assess companies more strictly. With this in

the development and implementation of strategies from amind, I am committed to making sound business decisions

broad perspective, and to develop human resources andwhile constantly raising and answering the simple questions,organizations to achieve these goals. I am determined to“Is this good or bad for society? Is it right or wrong?” Thefulfill my duties with this overarching perspective in mind.

business environment is also changing dramatically as44

ASKA HD REPORT 2023

ASKA HD REPORT 202345