We are not a manufacturer - we are a trading company. We connect buyers of products with sellers of products by providing not just transactions but "OYAKUDACHI (Valuable and useful service)" to delight both buyers and sellers. That's our vision and mission.
Delivering the desired goods to the buyer in a timely manner is just the beginning – we must also be of service to the seller. If Ajinomoto Trading adds no value to the transaction, then sellers and buyers could – and should – do business directly.
A trading company exists, of course, to connect buyers and sellers. If that is all that we did, however, it would be easy for other companies to become an alternative – and that's no way to run a sustainable business.
Our mission then is to constantly innovate and propose new "OYAKUDACHI (Valuable and useful service)" to both sellers and buyers, transforming unmet needs into tangible solutions by leveraging both our experience and expertise.
The first pillar is Ajinomoto Group Business, leveraging our strength as the trading company for the Ajinomoto Group. The second pillar is business we've developed on our own: innovating new products (medical and ophthalmic instruments, release paper, chemicals, food) and selling them to customers. By growing these two pillars, we expect to achieve healthy growth and business stability that can withstand constant change in economic conditions and foreign exchange rates.
Our company's roots lie in the exportation of Japanese products to overseas customers. The flow of trade began in Japan and expanded outwards.
The other day there was a medical/ophthalmic instruments trade show in Milan, which was attended by our sales agents from across Europe. Similarly, an extremely large number of our sales agents from across Asia gathered for a trade show in Hong Kong.
We have this kind of sales network across 80 countries around the world, relationships that we've carefully built over the years. Our job is moving goods across national borders, and we believe that it is our continued focus doing this job—the key to providing services to customers—that no other company can match.
Today our business is centered on trade into and out of Japan but we are also expanding our focus to intra-global trade. We plan to continue growing our sales network to enable, for example, trade originating in China and flowing from Brazil to France.
By locating our people and building our organizations in major regions of the world, this "intra-global" trade will continue to account for an increasing share of our total business, in addition to our Japan-centric trade. In this way, we will continue to not only support the activities of the Ajinomoto Group as its trading company but also continue to grow our own business.
Our mission is to proactively identify the needs of our customers and propose "OYAKUDACHI (Valuable and useful service)" The best "OYAKUDACHI (Valuable and useful service)" are those created by people who enjoy their jobs. Thus, we believe it is important to have the attitude of driving the work, not being driven by the work.
That's because there is a special joy in actively engaging, having your ideas implemented, and achieving success. We must not be "reactive" but "proactive" in our work, for by doing so, we can continuously increase personal motivation and improve service to our customers.
