Promotion system for various policies and measures

Komatsu holds the "Komatsu Way Committee" twice a year (or more as necessary), chaired by the President and composed of responsible persons from each business and function, to deliberate, decide on, and promote the execution of policies and important measures regarding human resources, labor affairs, education and human resources development, and employee benefits for the entire group. Furthermore, the content of the deliberations of the Komatsu Way Committee is reported to the Board of Directors for consideration.

Global personnel policy

Komatsu Group companies have established a personnel management system that can be tailored to the unique needs and circumstances of each region based on the following basic policy, with the aim of realizing an environment in which diverse human resources worldwide can contribute to business growth as a team.

• "Any action violating human rights (harassment of subordinate personnel, sexual harassment or other harassment related to pregnancy, childbirth, parenting or nursing care)" is specified as grounds for disciplinary action.

About the Komatsu Way

The Komatsu Way is a statement of values and standards that all workers at every level of the Komatsu Group are expected to meet and uphold. The Komatsu Way is a written statement of our corporate strengths, beliefs that support those strengths, the basic attitude of mind and perspective, and a manner of action (style), which our predecessors created based on the founder’s spirit, throughout the history of our growth and development. We aim to spread this knowledge to all employees and maintain it into the future.

The Komatsu Way/TQM promotion activities

To disseminate and practice the Komatsu Way at all Komatsu Group companies around the world, we are conducting various promotion activities and human resource development programs. Employees’ understanding of the Komatsu Way is deepened via training sessions and the creation of opportunities for exposition and group debates. We foster interpersonal communication between employees at such sessions to minimize generational gaps, allowing for a more effective "trickle-down" spread of this knowledge. Since 2007, Komatsu has been engaged in brand management activities to "be indispensable to our customers and continue to be their partner of choice". This objective is accomplished by visiting customer workplaces to understand their ideals and to build relationships that enable us to work together with them to help achieve their goals through concerted efforts by Komatsu Group and its distributors. In addition, the third edition of the Komatsu Way has been translated into 13 languages so that employees can read and understand it in their native languages. We have also considered the intrinsic differences between foreign cultures, and have worked to craft the Komatsu Way in a manner that is both easy to understand and relevant to the international community at large. This allows us to promote the Komatsu Way in domestic and foreign settings, allowing for uniformity across the group.

The Komatsu Way training for overseas in FY2023 was conducted online for the European region. Additionally, for the promotion of Total Quality Management (TQM), a new training program aimed at developing local instructors was established, and the first session was conducted. In Japan, in addition to group training and online training, we are providing an e-learning program to enhance understanding in job-specific training.

We will stay committed to the development of human resources and will strive to systematically ensure the spread of the KOMATSU Way and TQM so that they take root globally.

We believe that through these activities, we will be able to foster employees who practice the KOMATSU Way and pass it on to the next generation, leading to the sustainable growth of the entire Komatsu Group.

Brand management initiatives

What are brand management initiatives?

Becoming invaluable to our customers, who both create and assess our corporate value

Komatsu embodies this concept in our statement "our corporate value is the total sum of trust given to us by society and all stakeholders." With this in mind, Komatsu's basic management policy is focused on increasing our corporate value through customer engagement initiatives.

Having grouped our various stakeholders into two distinct categories, while the former is responsible for employees, affiliate companies, sales / service shops, etc., the latter includes society, shareholders, investors, media, etc. We have come to the conclusion that it is only our customers who take on both of these roles. Customers create corporate value by purchasing our products, and assess our corporate value through the use and evaluation of our products (which returns to us via feedback).

We have thus redefined the meaning of "heightening the trust placed in us from our customers", into a commitment to "increase the trust placed in us to a degree at which our company is indispensable to our customers, in order to guarantee complete customer loyalty and retention". As of FY 2007, we have begun initiatives designed to mold our brand into one that conceptualizes this vision.

Realizing our customers' vision and mission "from the customer's perspective"

Our brand management (BM) activities are built on the fundamental principle of "from the customer's perspective". One of the most common misconceptions regarding marketing activities is that such initiatives involve finding means to differentiate a product from the competition, or about finding a unique position within the market. Komatsu believes, however, that the crux of marketing involves working from the customer's perspective, discovering what customers want and responding specifically to those needs.
To realize this grand vision, we are engaged in activities designed to create sustained development and refinement in our management resources and capabilities. In the past, these initiatives tended to rely on experience and intuition, but in the context of Komatsu's BM activities, we have replaced them with a variety of tools and methods designed to develop case studies and accumulate validated experience that can be disseminated to a new generation of employees.

Recent activities and future plans

In addition to the initial activities in Japan, North America, Chile, South Africa and Australia, we have expanded these activities to include China, Southeast Asia, Europe, South America, Oman, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the forestry businesses. In the process, we have incorporated the above ideas into KOMATSU Way, which is a value that all KOMATSU Group employees should inherit permanently in the field and workplace, compiling the "KOMATSU Way of Brand Management."

In FY 2021, the competition was held online due to the COVID-19 situation, with more members from all over the world participating than in previous years.

Brand management activities that began with a focus on stakeholders by our marketing department have expanded to a cumulative total of more than 150 users in 18 regions, and have developed into company-wide activities that involve our production and development divisions. Owing to the positive strengthening effects it has on our various departments and human resource development circles, Komatsu will continue to promote brand management activities for the foreseeable future.