Our Sustainability Message from Outside Directors
Creating an organization where harmony among diverse
personalities generates vital energy

Amid strong performance, now is the time to implement
measures looking to the future

Needs for management and succession of property in Japan are on the rise. It is becoming increasingly importantfor consultants to be able to analyze diverse customer situations and make optimal proposals. For this reason, theGroup focuses on training consultants and creating pleasant workplaces.

In 2022, the Groupʼs property consulting and real estate-related businesses grew, and ROIC management became
established. As a result, the company achieved its best ever performance. Toward further future growth, we arestrengthening our efforts in human resource development, DX, and reform of work styles.

As Japan's population ages, there is a growing needfor asset utilization and management due to uncertainty
about society’s future. Japan also has many familybusinesses with long histories, and highly specialized
consulting services related to asset management andbusiness succession are in high demand among thecommunity. We help to ensure the business continuityof family-owned businesses that play a major role in
the local community. Socially, this is very meaningful.
Our Group has been providing consulting services while
prioritizing our relationships with clients passing on assetsand businesses. It is important to sustain these kinds ofrelationships over the long term.
To further enhance the quality of the Group'smanagement, it needs to consider three perspectives:

Outside Director

Haruo Shimada

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Aoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 2023

investors, clients, and society. Needless to say, ourreputation among investors and clients is of paramountimportance. In recent years, society's view of thecompany has also grown in significance. Pursuing an
optimal balance among these three perspectives is sureto improve quality of management.
Amid an ever-changing external environment, ourclients' family structures and asset situations are becoming
more diverse. As a consulting company, our Group iscommitted to understanding and analyzing each client'ssituation in order to make optimal recommendations. To
carefully carry out a series of processes, it is essential tohave consultants who have a deep love for people as wellas true sensitivity. This is why we need to focus more thanever on recruiting and training human resources. Beyond
improving the skills of individual consultants, it is alsoessential to take a team approach to complement eachother.
In the future, it will be more important to improve thequality of services through the use of digital technology.
In recent years, we have been making a dedicatedcommitment to DX. The cornerstone of these efforts is theART system. We will continue to evolve the ART systemand devote efforts to increasing the uptake of the systemby users.
But how can consultants and other employees in various
divisions be highly motivated to work? This question
is key to the future growth of our business. The Groupestablished a Sustainability Committee in 2022, and partof the Committee’s responsibility involves reforming theway we work. We intend to be a company that promotes
understanding of diversity, creating workplaces whereeveryone can work in comfort, where all employees canfeel fulfilled in their daily work and always want to give
their best.
Creating an organization in which diverse personalitiescan coexist in harmony and create vital energy is anextremely challenging task for all Japanese companies.
We will redouble our efforts to be recognized as a pioneerin overcoming this significant challenge.

Ever since Spring 2020, the Group's core property
consulting business has been severely constrained by theprolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a challenging
environment in which meeting with clients was not easy,
AZN as a whole managed to achieve record sales andprofits in 2022. I believe this is the result of the efforts ofour consultants and other front-line employees.
In 2022, we steadily increased the number of clientsand sales in our property consulting business, while
Advantage Club, one of our strategic individualizedservices, achieved significant growth. With an increasing
number of similar products from other companies now
following suit, we need to further enhance the appeal ofAdvantage Club without taking our high market share forgranted. Moreover, after the USA, Japan has the second-

Outside Director

Keiji Watanabe

largest number of financial asset holders owning morethan 100 million yen in financial assets. Great business
opportunities are evident in the IFA and STO businesses
that we have established.
Return on invested capital (ROIC)-based management,
which we have been working on since 2021, has also
taken firm root in 2022 after a year of experience. Useof ROIC has driven activities for improvement in every
division, leading to increased productivity. ROIC andreturn on equity (ROE) for 2022 were 12.2% and 22.0%,
respectively—well above the levels of typical Japanesecompanies. This is the result of effective use of funds
entrusted to us by investors.
Even though our current performance is solid, we needto undertake initiatives with an eye to future changes in theenvironment. Companies with management philosophiesand purposes such as ours are necessary for society, andI would like to point out three key points for growth.
The first key point is human resource development. In
particular, it is very important to train many consultants able
to think from the client’s perspective, build relationships oftrust, and make recommendations that satisfy clients.
The second key point is DX initiatives. Digital technology
is a powerful tool in proposing optimal solutions to clientswith diverse needs. Digitalization is also an essential factor
in improving the performance of consultants. Significant
tools in our Group include the ART system, but we need
to focus more on training people to use it to its fullest
potential. In the future, we will also need to consider how
to incorporate technologies such as AI and big data. I
believe that eventually, we will consider establishing neworganizations such as a research and development center.
The third key point is even further development of work
style reforms. In the summer of 2022, we conducted aninternal survey that clearly identified several issues for ourGroup. It is very important to create a workplace that ispleasant and rewarding to work in not only for women
but also for men. We moved several measures into
implementation for immediate improvement.
As a Group, we will work together to ensure that all
employees find their work rewarding, are able to overcome
challenges, and have ample opportunity to grow further.

Aoyama Zaisan Networks ｜ Integrated Report 2023

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