Ricoh Group Integrated Report 2026 Message from the CSO

In fiscal 2026, Ricoh renewed its management structure and established the new CSO role under its CxO structure. As CSO, my role is to drive Ricoh’s sustainable growth and enhance corporate value by guiding strategic decision-making on the business portfolio and management resource allocation from a group-wide optimization perspective in a rapidly changing business environment.

Ricoh’s top priority is to improve its earning power. In Mid-Term Strategy ’26, we transitioned to a matrix management structure where both businesses and regions assume responsibilities, and we set our sights on becoming the leading global integrator of the customer’s workplace. The key point here is to assess future growth potential and capital efficiency while considering the perspectives of each business and region, thereby building an optimal business portfolio for the Group as a whole.

Corporate value is not determined solely by current earnings. Stakeholders also pay close attention to whether we can continue creating value into the future. For this very reason, we will strengthen our earning power today while sowing and nurturing the seeds of future growth. Those seeds will then generate the next phase of growth in the form of new technologies and businesses. I believe that building this cycle is one of my most important responsibilities as CSO.

Ricoh’s ambition goes beyond simply providing digital services. It is rooted in the concept of office automation, or OA, which we introduced in 1977 based on the belief that machines should handle routine tasks, enabling people to focus on more creative work.

As AI and digital technologies evolve and significantly change the way people work, I believe Ricoh’s mission is to reduce routine tasks and increase the time people can devote to creative work that only people can do. To achieve that, we use AI and document technologies to help customers transform information assets such as tacit knowledge and know-how into value. We want to work alongside customers as a partner that helps them think through and implement solutions to challenges such as passing on the expertise of experienced workers and addressing labor shortages.

Future-oriented investment is another essential element of our strategy. We are working in fields with significant growth potential, including perovskite solar cells that utilize Ricoh’s inkjet technology. As we look ahead to 2030 and beyond, we will continue to plant and nurture seeds of growth. Supporting these efforts will lead to the sustainable enhancement of corporate value.

The core of our strategy is to continuously review our business portfolio from the two angles of future growth potential and capital efficiency, and to drive the optimal allocation of management resources.

Achieving ROE above 10% will not be enough to define Mid-Term Strategy ’26 as a success. As a company, delivering profitability that exceeds the cost of capital is a fundamental responsibility. But our aspiration goes further: to become a company that customers and the market expect to help shape the future of work.

Each and every employee holds the key to realizing that and creating a future full of possibility. Since joining the company, I have seen a culture that encourages people to take initiative and embrace new challenges. Our long-term investments in AI and efforts in environmental management have been rooted in continually encouraging that culture.

Ricoh employees think for themselves, take on challenges, and create new value. Their autonomy is the source of Ricoh’s competitiveness, and management’s role is to create an environment that encourages employees to take on those challenges. New ideas emerge, employees learn from failures, and those experiences lead to new value creation. By continuing this cycle, I am confident that Ricoh can build on the strengths it has cultivated in printing and evolve into a company that uses technology to transform the way people work. As CSO, I will take responsibility for forward-looking decision-making while strengthening Ricoh’s current earning power, thereby achieving sustainable growth and enhancing corporate value.