Main Q&As at Strategy Conference
(Corporate Governance and Human Capital and Sustainability)

A.Our ultimate goal is not to create a uniform global system, but to balance the forming of common underlying global standards with optimal elements tailored and operated to suit individual regional environments. For example, our global Long-term Incentive Plan encourages the development of standardized compensation frameworks centered around a medium- to long-term share-based compensation plan, but, at this stage, base salaries and short-term incentives are determined in accordance with local practice. In Japan, we have introduced a common personnel system for management employees, and we are also working on implementing a global mobility policy and developing common frameworks to eliminate any significant differences in the way relocating or reassigned staff are treated.

A.Our basic framework ensures that any seeds of growth generated at local R&D, production, or sales sites are raised to the CxO¹ level, where they are considered and then promoted in order of priority. In addition, our Executive Committee discusses areas for potential global focus from a One Asahi perspective and determines the direction of groupwide initiatives. The most important thing is to concentrate our Group power based on a common understanding of where we can best demonstrate our Group strengths and what value we can provide. This will also help our customers gain a strong sense of One Asahi value. The concept of Growth by Design provides a relevant precedent here, and is one that we are promoting across all functions and regions as part of our global organizational capability enhancement program. That program embodies the One Asahi approach by striving to jointly identify points of value for our company on a global scale and turn that value into future growth opportunities.

• CxO is a generic term for people in charge of overseeing specific management execution functions (x)

A.When building our governance frameworks and systems, we consider how to best leverage and advance our own unique strengths. We also study other companies’ systems and ensure our systems conform with social norms and demands. For instance, in terms of human capital disclosure, we place great store on universality and comparability. That is why we introduced an ISO-compliant Human Capital ROI indicator, along with our own Growth Potential Index to help express our future efforts and capabilities. We believe this will make it easier for people outside the company to understand our strategies and to develop systems that clearly illustrate the Group’s aims and direction.

A.We want to gradually collect and compile the necessary data for our human resources strategy over a period of three years. We have already started collecting basic data on personnel and labor costs. Next, we intend to integrate safety-related data from each region along with other data streams in order to create a platform that we can use to analyze various indicators such as Human Capital ROI. By 2028, our aim is to have fully established all the necessary data categories for the entire Group, so we can effectively measure the link between increasingly sophisticated human capital and corporate value, and have a meaningful base for determining appropriate people strategies.

A.BAC has been positioned as a key future growth area in our management strategy. We are expanding our product portfolio with a focus on RTD, which have expanded considerably in recent years, as well as non-alcohol and low-alcohol beverages, which are enjoying increasing demand as consumer trends evolve. BAC also include categories with alcohol contents above 3.5%, so there is plenty of potential growth areas to pursue. Having said that, in order to promote responsible drinking from a sustainability perspective, Asahi Group Holdings has been increasing its range of non-alcohol and low-alcohol beverages, while also providing many different drink choices and suggesting appropriate drinking options for consumers who want to drink in ways that suit the occasion and their own needs. Our management strategy of positioning BAC as a growth area is closely linked with our promotion of responsible drinking through the expansion of non-alcohol and low-alcohol beverages, which play an important role in this overall strategy. Our sales, marketing, R&D, sustainability, and other departments work together to promote appropriate initiatives.

A.We are building a platform that will enable us to collect all kinds of sustainability-related data on a global scale. We are currently getting the platform up and running, but we hope that, within three years, we will have compiled the necessary data to ensure compliance with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and other international disclosure standards and to visualize the impact of our business. We also plan to use this platform to enhance management decision-making going forward. The platform with help us to understand our current position and how far we have to go to achieve our goals, and to identify risks and growth opportunities. It will also enable us to share dashboards with each region to promote strategic planning and execution across each business segment.