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YUASA INTEGRATED REPORT 2023

Strategies to Maximize Value Creation

Interview with Outside Directors
We spoke with the YUASA TRADING Group outside directors about the Growing Together 2026 Medium-term Management Plan.

Investing in business resources cultivated inour core businesses and applying them overseas
as well as TSUNAGU innovation

Measures to increase the value we provide
and expand the markets we supply

Shinzo Maeda

Kyosuke Kimura

Outside Director

I believe this plan is well-anchored in changes to social conditions and the market environment. Agood point about the plan is the aggressive investment of business resources into our core businesses
and leveraging our strengths to expand areas of business growth. Among these growth strategies, theone that most draws my attention is overseas business development, which I believe is very important.
Japan’s future population decline will create a tendency toward shrinking markets. As such,it will be very important to build a strong and stable presence in overseas markets. We will makethe “mini-YUASA” we have established in Thailand succeed as a way of demonstrating the total
coordination skills of the Group. I believe this initiative will determine the success or failure ofour future overseas expansion. The key to overseas success will be the people; those engaged
in management and sales overseas need to understand the YUASA TRADING Group corporate
philosophy and management strategies. I believe the “Grand Fair” exhibition in Japan is a uniquebusiness development method, and I would very much like to see business development inThailand lead to a successful Grand Fair there. If the percentage of overseas sales can exceed 30%,
then employee awareness will change and a culture of thinking about business from a global
perspective will be created. As is true in Japan, global expansion is not possible without diversity.
It is necessary to consider cultures, religions, legal systems and the like when developing ourbusiness overseas.
The promotion of TSUNAGU innovation is also a strategy that demonstrates the strengthof a well-developed business partner network for our core businesses. However, the axis ofassessment for the products and solutions developed by companies has shifted in recent years.
Simply contributing to the sales and profits of certain customers is not enough; customers
have started to select products and solutions in line from various perspectives such as productbackground and processes, degree of social contribution and consideration for the environment.
Through the TSUNAGU innovation, I hope the Group continues providing value to society, whichmakes us the reason to be chosen by people.

Outside Director

Taking into account the current and future business environment, it can be assessed that themeasures taken by the YUASA TRADING Group to improve its corporate value are comprehensive.
Of these various measures, the most commendable is that the Group is increasing the value it
provides and expanding the markets it supplies.
I believe that many stakeholders were under the impression that we are an industrial
machinery trading company focused on the domestic market. As such, it would be difficult for
stakeholders to fully assess the existing value and growth potential of the Group. No matter how
stable the operating cash flow is, the image of business development in a limited market would
seem somewhat unattractive.
Today, we are gradually breaking away from such pre-conception. I feel that our stakeholders havecome to recognize the value that results from the connecting (TSUNAGU) that leverages the Group’s
network-building over more than 350 years of doing business. The Medium-term Management Plan
calls for a business transformation from a product out to a market out approach, and the promotion ofTSUNAGU innovation and growth strategies; I believe this approach will increase the value provided bythe YUASA TRADING Group and expand markets that demand such value.
This promotion of TSUNAGU innovation is a continuation from the previous Medium-termManagement Plan, and I hope to see it further accelerated. It doesn’t matter how niche an innovation
is—if stakeholders recognize that we are deeply involved in such matters, and if they understand thevalue we provide and the breadth of the market, then I believe that profitability will follow.
Also, it is human resources that drive these changes. I believe that if YUASA TRADING Group
employees hone their sense of integrated product-services and effectively utilize the intellectual
property that has been created, it will lead to an increase in corporate value. In promoting
overseas strategies, it will be necessary to instill the corporate philosophy and Medium-termManagement Plan among locally hired human resources. I hope the Group will continue to place
importance on investing in human resources.

20YUASA INTEGRATED REPORT 2023

Strategies to Maximize Value Creation

Interview with Outside Directors
Having welcomed two new outside directors, we spoke with them about the Group’s Medium-term Management Plan, Growing Together 2026.

Strengthening human resources development
and environment building that leverages ourbusiness partner network

Sustainability and competitiveness throughenhanced risk managementYoshiro Hirai

Miki Mitsunari

Outside Director

Newly appointed

It is my great pleasure to join the Board of Directors.
For more than 350 years, the YUASA TRADING Group has been in tune with changes inthe world, but in recent years the pace of change has rapidly accelerated. While it is of course
important to preserve good and necessary traditions, I believe it is also essential to be able torespond quickly and flexibly to drastic changes. I hope to contribute to a strong foundation thatcan support pioneering for a new future and an environment in which employees can work withvigor and vitality.
In terms of the Medium-term Management Plan and recognizing the issues to be addressed
to improve corporate value, I believe that the YUASA TRADING Group’s focus on a business
transformation from a product out to a market out approach is appropriate in light of the times
and changes in the market. I believe the Group’s greatest asset and strength is its network ofbusiness partners. How we choose to leverage this extensive network will be vital, but it is noneother than employees who can make this a success. To this end, the question then becomes how
actively employees can approach their own work—it is important to not just passively do one’swork but to also take an interest in it.
Creating new value by associating various events is much more difficult than one might
imagine. Making connections among unlimited possibilities and solving the issues of business
partners and the market will require an even greater ability to imagine and implement thanbefore. The key here is to develop human resources and build an environment that allows themto flourish. To do all of this, it is therefore vital to reform the corporate culture, including thefostering of human resources.
YUASA values include having a “Challenging Spirit,” and I believe it is important for
management-level and higher employees to first change their own behaviors. If upper levels set a
good example of a challenging spirit in action, that attitude will spread throughout the company.

Outside Director

Newly appointed

I am very pleased and humbled to be appointed to the Board of Directors.
I have been associated with the YUASA TRADING Group since its Sustainability Declaration
announcement in October 2021, and I find it to be a very dynamic organization. With a diverse
range of business partners, products, and services, there are many areas with growth potential.
I believe that in order to create new innovation, it is important to have a vibrant and enjoyable
workplace. In the future, I will fully support the moves toward being a company that is not only
carbon neutral but also one where employees find it a joy to work, where business partners arehappy, and where innovation happens.
In terms of the Medium-term Management Plan, I think that an overall good balance has beenachieved with the strategy of further expanding existing business and working in new fields thatare less susceptible to economic circumstances. Without solid profits generated from existing
businesses, we cannot invest in new solutions. Moreover, enhancing profitability with TSUNAGU
innovation requires abilities and knowledge to coordinate both sides of the TSUNAGU equation.
For this reason, I can greatly appreciate the measures everyone is taking to improve the internal
environment so employees can demonstrate their total coordination skills. In the future, I hope tosee the employees working on these efforts set goals and have a sense of accomplishment when
they achieve those goals, and I look forward to a corporate culture in which employees can feeleven more fulfilled in their work.
From the perspective of sustainability promotion, it has become very important to further
enhance risk management infrastructure to ensure transaction security. In particular, there is aneed to increase transparency throughout the value chain. Since the Group will handle a greatamount of data, I would like to see the YUASA TRADING Group improve its competitiveness byproperly and appropriately disclosing business transaction information through means such as
digital transformation (DX).