Corporate Governance

Basic Views

The Kawasaki Group’s basic stance on corporate governance is to raise enterprise value through effective and sound management while forming solid relationships with all stakeholders, including shareholders, customers, employees, and communities, through highly transparent management practices. Our Group is striving to further strengthen and enhance corporate governance systems as appropriate for its businesses and scale.

Overview of Corporate Governance Systems

Kawasaki is a company with an Audit & Supervisory Committee and has voluntarily established a Nomination Advisory Committee and a Compensation Advisory Committee as advisory bodies to the Board of Directors as a well as a Management Committee, an Executive Officers Committee, and other governance bodies. Our main deliberative bodies and their details are as follows.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors comprises 13 Directors (of whom five serve as Audit & Supervisory Committee Members), and seven of the 13 Directors are Outside Directors (of whom three serve as Audit & Supervisory Committee Members), comprising a majority of the Board. In addition, the Company’s first female Internal Director (Audit & Supervisory Committee Member) was appointed to the Board in June 2024. Currently, five of the Directors are women and two are foreign nationals, providing a balance of knowledge, experience, and skills, promoting diversity, and creating a system that enables more multifaceted decision making. By avoiding having Directors serve concurrently as officers responsible for specific businesses (the internal company presidents, etc.), the Company seeks to enhance the separation of management oversight and business execution and thereby further reinforce the Board of Director’s oversight functions. Chairman of the Board serves as presiding officer pursuant to a resolution of the Board. In addition to deliberating on individual proposals submitted in accordance with the decision-making rules, the Board of Directors also discusses topics set based on the results of evaluations of the effectiveness of the Board. In fiscal 2023, the Board discussed issues including promotion of management that focuses on strengthening group governance, reinforcing compliance, promoting the advancement of women, capital costs, and stock prices. We also created a system whereby the Board adopts resolutions on fundamental policies on key management issues, such as sustainability, compliance, risk management, and quality control, and can request reports on the status of these issues from the business execution side. In addition to the above, the Nomination Advisory Committee and the Compensation Advisory Committee have been established for the purpose of improving the transparency and objectivity of its deliberations. The presiding officers and a majority of members of each committee are Outside Directors. The Nomination Advisory Committee deliberates on the policies and standards regarding the appointment and dismissal of Directors and the appropriateness of such, and the Compensation Advisory Committee deliberates on the policies and systems regarding the compensation of Directors and the appropriateness of the individual compensation, and reports or advises the Board of Directors, respectively.

Audit & Supervisory Committee

The Audit & Supervisory Committee comprises five Directors, including three Outside Directors. To secure effective oversight, the two Internal Directors have been appointed as full-time Audit & Supervisory Committee Members. To ensure the reliability of financial reports, at least one person with sufficient knowledge of finance and accounting is appointed to the Committee.

Business Execution Framework

Kawasaki has adopted an executive officer system in order to facilitate response to rapid changes in the business environment. To accelerate decision making, a great deal of authority over business execution decisions is delegated to the executive officers, who are appointed by the Board of Directors. The Company established a Management Committee consisting of Representative Director, presidents of internal companies, and others as an advisory body to the President on overall Group management. The Committee deliberates on important matters related to business execution. The Company also established the Management Strategy Meeting and the Major Project Committee to engage in multifaceted discussions of strategies, action plans, and risk assessment and countermeasures for each business and project, thereby creating a system that enables more appropriate and efficient decision making and business execution. The Executive Officers Committee, chaired by the President and consisting of all executive officers, has been established. In addition to issuing business execution policies based on decisions made by the Board of Directors, the Committee also exchanges opinions on management issues in an effort to unify decision making in Group management.

Corporate Governance System Diagram (As of June 26, 2024)

Corporate Officers (As of June 26, 2024)

*1 Years of service figures in parentheses for Audit & Supervisory Committee Members include years of service as Audit & Supervisory Board Members when Kawasaki was a company with an Audit & Supervisory Board. Note that Kawasaki transitioned from a company with an Audit & Supervisory Board to a company with an Audit & Supervisory Committee on June 25, 2020.

*2 Data on the number of Board of Directors meetings attended and Audit & Supervisory Committee meetings attended is for fiscal 2023.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors serves as the presiding officer of the Board of Directors.

Corporate Governance Functions (Organizations, Committees, Etc.)

Director Appointment

Candidates for Director are nominated by the Board of Directors in accordance with its established “Qualifications Expected of Directors.” As the Company has various business segments with different business activities, the Board of Directors appoints Internal Directors with broad experience as managers of each business and head office function, and Outside Directors with rich experience in corporate management, legal affairs, and public administration, respectively. As a result, the Company has secured a diverse Board of Directors, taken on the whole, with the needed balance of knowledge, experience, and ability, as well as gender, race, nationality, and other attributes, as summarized in the following table. The items listed in the skills matrix are based on the definition of the areas of supervision necessary to realize Vision 2030 as “vision, strategic thinking, and governance to increase enterprise value,” “business structure transformation,” and “growth initiatives related to infrastructure development.” To realize Vision 2030, the following areas* designate expectation and experience required of each director.

* An area in which the Board of Directors is expected to use its knowledge and experience to lead discussions.

Qualifications Expected of Directors

1. Possess in-depth understanding and support for the Kawasaki Group’s management philosophy and vision.
2. Be able to make positive contributions towards sustainable growth and the enhancement of enterprise value over the medium and long term.
3. Maintain a Company-wide perspective and bring the wealth and breadth of experience, insight and expertise to do so.
4. Be able to supervise the management and execution of business operations from an independent and objective position as a member of the Board of Directors.
5. Be able to exercise one’s authority in an active and positive manner, and appropriately voice opinions at Board of Directors meetings or to management.

Note: To ensure the effectiveness of audits, Directors serving as Audit & Supervisory Committee Members must be familiar with the Company’s business or have deep insight and expertise in corporate management, legal affairs, finance and accounting, government and other fields. At least one Director serving as an Audit & Supervisory Committee Member must have sufficient knowledge of finance and accounting.

If none of the following items apply, the Company judges that an Outside Director is sufficiently independent.

1. In the event that a company (including an important subsidiary as defined by the Company) in which the Outside Director is currently employed or has been employed in the past 10 years as an executive director, executive officer, manager or other important employee (hereinafter referred to as the “originating company”) conducts business with the Kawasaki Group, the average transaction amount for the past five fiscal years exceeds 2% of the average net sales of the Group and the originating company for the past five fiscal years.
2. The average amount of compensation (excluding compensation as an officer of the Company) received by such Outside Directors directly from our Group as a legal, accounting or tax specialist or consultant (or a corporation if the Outside Director has legal personality) for the past five fiscal years exceeds ¥10 million.
3. The average amount of donations, etc. from the Group to the non-profit organization for which the Outside Director serves as executive officer for the past five fiscal years exceeds ¥10 million and exceeds 2% of the organization's total revenue or ordinary income/expenses.
4. The company from which the Outside Director hails is a major shareholder holding 10% or more of the Company’s total outstanding shares.
5. A relative within the second degree of kinship of the Outside Director is a person who meets the conditions set forth in the preceding four items or is an executive director, executive officer, manager, or other important employee of our Group.

The Effectiveness of the Board of Directors

The Board of Directors strives to ensure that its members, including independent Outside Directors, engage in free, vigorous discussion based on their insights and experience and reach appropriate management decisions. As part of these efforts, since fiscal 2015, the Board of Directors annually evaluates and analyzes the effectiveness of its operations.

The evaluation was conducted via anonymous questionnaire to all directors with the advice and assistance of external experts. The specific evaluation procedure is as follows.

1. Confirm the status of initiatives to address issues identified via the previous evaluation of the Board of Directors and determine evaluation methods to be used, key items to be surveyed and other matters pertaining to the upcoming evaluation
2. Conduct a survey of all of the members of the Board of Directors
3. Compile and analyze the survey results for discussion at Board of Directors meetings
4. Determine issues to be addressed at Board of Directors meetings and policies for countermeasures based on findings from analysis and results of the Board of Directors’ discussion

The survey questions (main items) are as follows, with a 5-point scale and free writing section. Also, these questions take into account the changes made in the revision of the Corporate Governance Code while maintaining continuity with previous surveys.

• Survey Question Items

1. (1)Optimal status of the Board of Directors
2. (2)Composition of the Board of Directors
3. (3)Operation of the Board of Directors
4. (4)Discussions of the Board of Directors
5. (5)Monitoring function of the Board of Directors
6. (6)Training
7. (7)Interactions with shareholders (investors)
8. (8)Actions by the respondent
9. (9)Audit & Supervisory Committee
10. (10)Summary

The analysis of survey results found that the Board of Directors’ operations were evaluated highly overall, as was the case in the previous year, and the additive average values for all questions (excluding the free writing section) were approximately the same as in the previous year. The item with the highest score was “Does the Board engage in free and constructive discussions and exchanges of opinions?” Many of the respondents highly evaluated the active and non-formal discussions conducted by the Board of Directors. Also, the item with the greatest score improvement was “Approaches and targets for ensuring diversity of core human resources such as promoting women, foreign nationals, and mid-career hires to managerial positions, human resource development policies, and internal environment development policies.” This result is recognition of the multiple discussions conducted during Board of Directors meetings and the actions taken based on the results of those discussions. In addition, among the items raised as issues for the Board in fiscal 2023, the score for “Securing diversity among core human resources” improved significantly, and this is believed to be the result of steady progress in discussions and action to address this issue. On the other hand, the item relating to “Overseeing the implementation of digital transformation” received the lowest score. As a result, it is desirable that the Board discuss management policies concerning the future and direction of the Company, including AI, recruiting human resources, and other issues. (For details of specific measures, refer to “Measures to Address Prior Issues.”) In light of these results, we will continue to make efforts for improvement.
Please refer to “Initiatives to Further Improve Effectiveness” for details. As a result of discussions at the Board of Directors meeting based on the results of the above analysis and other factors, the operations of the Board of Directors have been deemed effective.

The status of initiatives undertaken to address the items set as issues based on the results of last year’s survey is as follows.

1. Firmly establishing leadership succession plans
   We created various lists including short and long lists of candidates and defined the succession process. We evaluated shortlist candidates from the perspective of competencies and incorporated the evaluations into the job and human resource requirement statements for each executive position. We are also clarifying development issues in the process of evaluating candidates and allocating challenging assignments based on those points as appropriate.
2. Securing diversity among core human resources
   Within succession plans, we are investigating mechanisms that can select personnel from a pool of officer candidates through more diverse channels than ever before, and we are promoting the identification and promotion of diverse human resources on the executive level based on evaluation criteria (assessment of behavioral characteristics) with a focus on actions desired to achieve the Company’s vision. In addition, promoting the advancement of women is an important topic in terms of diversity, and the Board of Directors shared information on the current status and issues and discussed perspectives necessary for reinforcing promotion. Based on those discussions, we are investigating and have started implementing specific measures.
3. Enhancing the content of the Board of Directors’ discussion regarding medium- to long-term management policies
   In fiscal 2023, management that focuses on strengthening group governance, reinforcing compliance, active participation by diverse human resources (promoting the advancement of women), organization of corporate principles, capital costs, and stock prices was raised and discussed as a priority issue.
4. Strengthening group-wide internal control systems within quality control
   We promoted awareness among all employees by disseminating messages within the Company and conducting training through e-learning while taking action to identify issues at an early stage, such as conducting employee awareness surveys. In addition, we are promoting the application of total quality management (TQM) methods as a foundation for streamlining business processes so that we can effectively utilize TQM methods in business activities.

Based on the results of this evaluation and the discussions at the Board of Directors meeting, the main issues to be addressed are as follows. We will continue our efforts to further improve the effectiveness of the Board of Directors.

1. Firmly establishing leadership succession plans
   We will make improvements while ensuring stable operation of the structures for the human resource hiring process currently in use. We will also raise the effectiveness of training plans for future successor candidates (executive positions) through dialogue with company presidents. In addition, we will continue to take action to instill competencies (behavioral attributes) in all officers while employing job and human resource requirement statements and conducting evaluations.
2. Securing diversity among core human resources
   In fiscal 2024, we will continue our efforts to diversify the pool of officer candidates with a focus on a systematic developmental scheme for female line managers and on identifying and developing business exploration human resources. We will also deepen awareness of the importance of ensuring diversity in relation to achieving management goals including achieving our vision through the HR Management Committee and reflect this in companywide and division initiatives in the future.
3. Enhancing the content of the Board of Directors’ discussion regarding medium- to long-term management policies
   At its meetings, the Board will continue to select and discuss topics in line with important issues for achieving the Group Vision 2030, deploy the decided policies to the execution side, and further reinforce measures that will lead to specific action.
   (Priority Themes That We Plan to Investigate This Fiscal Year)
   Re-examination of business structures with an awareness of capital efficiency, active participation by diverse human resources, reinforcement of group governance, implementation of DX, intellectual property strategies, etc.
4. Reinforcing monitoring of initiatives to promote quality and compliance
   In fiscal 2023, we continued efforts to reinforce company-wide quality management by streamlining and standardizing business processes centered on Total Quality Management (TQM), identifying similar matters relating to compliance, and taking other actions. We are also creating systems to eliminate misconduct and errors by reviewing Group governance systems and internal control systems.

Audits

With regard to independent auditing, Kawasaki undergoes audits of its financial statements by the independent auditor KPMG AZSA LLC. The Audit & Supervisory Committee receives an outline of the audit plan and a report on important audit items from the independent auditor, and the Audit & Supervisory Committee explains its auditing plan to the independent auditor. The Audit & Supervisory Committee periodically receives reports on the results of audits by the independent auditor and, conversely, the independent auditor receives reports on the results of audits by Audit & Supervisory Committee, which strives to keep lines of communication open with the independent auditor by also exchanging information and opinions. When necessary, Audit & Supervisory Committee Members take part in the audits performed by the independent auditor, and may also receive reports from the independent auditor concerning audits when appropriate.

Director Compensation

The compensation system for Directors (excluding Audit & Supervisory Committee Members and Outside Directors) is based on the following basic policy with the aim of achieving the Group Vision 2030, “Trustworthy Solutions for the Future,” established in November 2020.

Placing stronger emphasis on contribution to the Company’s goals, the revised compensation system is designed to reward each recipient based on their responsibilities and accomplishments. To this end, it not only provides short-term incentives but also rewards Directors for their contributions to medium- to long-term improvement in corporate value. In this way, we aim to promote the sharing of value between Directors and stakeholders, including shareholders.

Compensation for Directors consists of basic compensation, short-term incentives, and long-term incentives. Basic compensation and short-term incentives are paid in cash. Long-term incentives are paid in the form of performance-based stock compensation to promote the sharing of benefits and risks between the Directors and shareholders in addition to more strongly incentivizing medium- to long-term contribution to corporate value. For long-term incentives, points granted may be revoked in whole or in part by resolution of the Board of Directors, in given circumstances such as when an eligible Director is dismissed or resigns due to damage caused to the Company. These three components of Director compensation account for approximately 50%, 30%, and 20%, respectively, of the total, assuming that the Group's consolidated operating results in the preceding fiscal year reached target levels and that each Director's degree of achievement of targets set for the preceding fiscal year is 100%.

Compensation levels are set appropriately, taking into consideration conditions at other companies and officer compensation survey data from an external specialized organization. Compensation levels for each position are generally as indicated below, with compensation for the Director, President, and Chief Executive set at 100.

Chairman of the Board: 87
Director, President, and Chief Executive: 100
Director, Senior Corporate Executive Officer: 65
Director, Managing Executive Officer: 44

* In the case where the Group’s consolidated operating performance in the preceding fiscal year reached target levels and each Director’s degree of achievement of targets set for the preceding fiscal year is 100%.

(i) Payment Ratio Based on Profit Attributable to Owners of Parent

* Considering that current WACC is in the 4% to 5% range, the targets for profit attributable to owners of parent have been set at ¥45 billion, the level that will enable the Group to achieve after-tax ROIC commensurate with the WACC, and \70 billion, the level that will result in after-tax ROIC that exceeds the WACC by approximately 3%.

(ii) Process for Determining Level of Achievement of Individual Performance Targets

Setting of Targets

Each Director sets their own targets in terms of addressing short-, medium- and long-term issues, including those associated with business units and operations under their supervision and Company-wide issues, with the degree to which these are achieved reflected in short-term and long-term incentives. These include targets pertaining to important financial indicators as well as targets associated with initiatives aimed at realizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), efforts to improve employee engagement, and other aspects of non-financial performance. Targets for the short- and medium-term issues are as described below, and actions and achievement levels for respective targets to be implemented by each Director toward their realization are established.

• Targets for short-term issues: Targets to be achieved by the end of the fiscal year
• Targets for medium- to long-term issues: Targets to be achieved in light of the Group Vision 2030

Methods for Assessing the Level of Target Achievement

The targets set by Directors are assessed at the end of each fiscal year, and the degree of achievement is reflected in compensation. The assessment of each Director is determined as described below.

• President: All Outside Directors who serve as members of the Compensation Advisory Committee conduct individual, face-to-face interviews with the President and make a determination through deliberations among those Outside Directors.
• Senior Corporate Executive Officers: Outside Directors who serve as members of the Compensation Advisory Committee conduct individual, face-to-face interviews with the Senior Corporate Executive Officers and make a determination through deliberations among those Outside Directors and the President.
• Other Directors: The President conducts individual, face-to-face interviews with the individual Directors jointly with the Senior Corporate Executive Officers, and formulates an assessment through deliberations with the Senior Corporate Executive Officers, before referring the matters to the Compensation Advisory Committee for a decision.

At a meeting held on May 9, 2024, the Board of Directors adopted a resolution to revise the compensation system for the Company’s Directors (excluding Audit & Supervisory Committee Members and Outside Directors) and executive officers as set forth below.

*1 A share index developed jointly by S&P Dow Jones Indices and RobecoSAM

To ensure their professional independence, compensation for these individuals consists only of fixed compensation and is not linked with performance.

The total maximum amount of compensation for Directors (excluding Audit & Compensation Committee Members) is set by a resolution passed at the General Meeting of Shareholders. Within this limit, the amount of compensation is determined by the resolution of the Board of Directors based on the deliberations of the Compensation Advisory Committee. The presiding officer and a majority of the members of the Compensation Advisory Committee are Outside Directors. The Board of Directors may also resolve to entrust the President with the responsibility of determining the amount of compensation for each Director. In such cases, however, the President is required to honor the conclusions reached via the deliberations of the Compensation Advisory Committee and comply with policies regarding the determination of the amounts of Director compensation and methods for calculating such compensation. Compensation for Audit & Supervisory Committee Members is determined by deliberations among Directors who serve as Audit & Supervisory Committee Members.