— The Mitsubishi Motors Business Ethics Committee held its first meeting today. There are five members on the committee including myself and all members were present today along with Mitsubishi Motors Chairman Yoichiro Okazaki and Corporate Social Responsibility Promotion Office Corporate General Manager Koji Furukawa.
At today's meeting the representatives from Mitsubishi Motors informed the committee of how the company is dealing with problems at hand and updated us on the current status of efforts to deal with the recall issue. Following this, Mitsubishi Motors explained its action program for business ethics and corporate reform based on placing top priority on legal compliance, safety, and customers. This led to a lively discussion between the committee and Mitsubishi Motors representatives.
Comments from committee members:
- Business ethics exist on the factory floor. You need to bring in more appeal to you manufacturing.
- You need to revise your in-house terminology. "Product information reports" should be changed to "complaint report."
- You need to shorten the process for determining recalls and bring in external opinions.
- Even if you can ensure safety, people won't feel at ease until you restore trust in the company.
- You need to step away from the Mitsubishi name and look at things. You should consider taking "Mitsubishi" out of the company and car names.
- Make sure you follow up on the opinions you receive through the direct line from employees to the president and chairman. It's important that you don't let these opinions just fade away.
This is the last chance for Mitsubishi Motors to rebuild itself. The committee intends to take a strict stance in raising issues to help the company put everything into changing its corporate culture from the ground up.
Noboru Matsuda
Business Ethics Committee Chairman
