Business Foundations
Reinforcing and Expanding Our Ability to Increase Corporate Value
Growth in nonfinancial capital is essential for achieving ongoing increases in corporate value. The Company Group, therefore, is constantly working to strengthen its support for franchisees, develop human resources, practice environmentally friendly management, and contribute to society.
Supporting FranchiseesHelping Partners Grow
Key Initiatives
- Support for Strengthening Individual Stores
- Franchisee Human Resource Development Support
The Company, as the franchise headquarters, supports the establishment and implementation of annual plans based on directions set by the headquarters. We do this by deploying counselors, from two sales headquarters – one for the eastern half of the country and another for the western half - to sales divisions in 12 areas across Japan. To help strengthen their operations, counselors visit individual stores once or twice a week to provide guidance on managing sales floors and operating stores in ways that suit local characteristics. Counselors also examine successful initiatives and turn these into best practices. The Company holds regular meetings to strengthen ties with franchise executives and store managers. And Chain Growth Co., Ltd., established in March 2017, provides franchisees with assistance in hiring and human resource development. More specifically, Chain Growth conducts training for store managers and staff, trains automobile mechanics at its training facilities, deploys automobile mechanics to AUTOBACS chain stores, and performs human resource consulting for franchisees.
Counselors (SV)
As of March 31,
2017
Franchisee Store Manager Training Participants
Fiscal year ended
March 31, 2017
Franchisee Store Manager Training
- Seminars on Strengthening Store Strategy Management Capabilities
- Store Management Cycle Training
- Operation Seminars
Committees for Franchise Affairs
Committee | Purpose | Meeting Frequency | Meeting Location |
FC Managers’
Committee |
Reinforcement of chain policy understanding, discussion of key issues for the business period, etc. | 2 times a year | Tokyo |
Business Direction
Committee |
Sharing of sales policies, reinforcement of merchandise and sales promotion policy understanding, etc. | 2 times a year | 1 in East Japan, 1 in West Japan |
Meetings for Reinforcing Understanding of Merchandise Policies | Sharing of sales management direction, detailed discussion of issues and responses for the fiscal year or for sales campaigns | 2 times a year | 6 locations across Japan |
Area Committee | Sharing of opinions and information between the area representative and franchisee managers | 3 times a year | 1 in East Japan, 1 in West Japan |
Human Resource DevelopmentDeveloping Car Professionals
Key Initiatives
- Education and Training for Store Staff
- Creating Friendly Work Environments
- Career Development Support
- Advancing the Careers of Women
The Company has created e-learning and a multilayered stratified education and training system mainly for store staff. In addition, we tie performance evaluations to Group internal qualifications and automobile mechanic and other publicly recognized qualifications to enhance knowledge and skills, boost employee motivation, and increase store service quality. To help Company Group employees shape their own careers, we have created an environment that includes elements such as periodic (every few years) job rotations and career-based stratified training to help individual employees understand their desires and aptitudes.
In our efforts to create comfortable work environments, the Health Promotion Council, led by the representative director and chief executive officer, and the Health Management Office, as the implementing organ, lead employee health improvement initiatives, which have been praised by outside parties. And to create better working environments for women, we are moving to expand childcare support and regularly conduct workshops to gain feedback directly from female employees.
Number of Group Training Sessions Conducted
Fiscal year ended
March 31, 2017
Employees with Car Life Advisor qualifications
As of March 31,
2017
Automobile Mechanics
As of March 31,
2017
Automobile Inspectors
As of March 31,
2017
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Assigned the highest DBJ Employees’ Health Management Rating for two consecutive years. This rating system is one of the criteria used by the Development Bank of Japan to determine funding conditions.
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Certified as a White 500 company under the Health and Productivity Management Organization Recognition Program sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Nippon Kenko Kaigi.
Environmentally Friendly ManagementTo Create a Society in which People and Cars are in Harmony with the Environment
Key Initiatives
- Promoting Energy Saving and Cutting Greenhouse Gases
- Resource–Saving Initiatives
The Company has established its policy on the environment and created an environmental management system. To lower the environmental impact of our business activities, we formulate specific plans and targets, and assess our progress in achieving these to gain the improvement we seek. To save energy, the Company Group employs various measures, such as no-overtime days made possible by operational and efficiency improvements. And in our stores, we have taken steps, such as adopting LED lighting and using a heat-reflecting coating on roofs, that achieve environmental benefits cost-effectively. Our efforts to use resources more efficiently have included measures such as reducing the use of shopping bags and redesigning the packaging for our private-brand merchandise to reduce our use of packaging materials. And for our service pits, we have engaged a legally compliant industrial waste company to properly dispose of or recycle tires, oil, and other waste materials, and we use our own methods to confirm that this work is performed as promised.
CO2 Emissions Reduction*
Fiscal year
ended March
31, 2017
*Total for AUTOBACS SEVEN headquarters, offices, directly managed stores, and logistics centers
Container and Packaging Usage*
Fiscal year
ended March
31, 2017
*AUTOBACS chain and headquarters
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Example of a store using LED lighting and solar panels (AUTOBACS Yamato Koriyama)
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At our Western Japan logistics Center (Miki City, Hyogo Prefecture), we are operating a mega solar project with solar panels on a portion of open land and on some of the roof space of the center itself.
Social ContributionsAs a Group Moving Forward Together with Local Communities
Key Initiatives
- Contributing to Local Communities
- Contributing to Car Culture
- Other Social Contribution Activities
To have stores function as necessary infrastructure for local residents, we devote significant attention to contributing to local communities. We are, for example, installing electric vehicle (EV) charging stands at our stores, and working with local governments to develop ways for our stores to assist people who become stranded during a disaster. We engage in activities such as cleanups in areas around our stores to be better local citizens. To contribute to car culture, we have created experiential attractions at the KidZania Tokyo and KidZania Koshien occupational theme parks for children. We also support motorsports and other activities. Since establishing the ARTA Project (AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI) in 1998, we have endeavored to develop globally competitive Japanese race drivers, participated in racing events in Japan and abroad, and worked from other angles as well to communicate the thrill of racing and create more motorsports fans.
Number of Stores with EV Charging Stands
As of June 30,
2017
Stores that Have Agreed to be Aid Stations*
During Times of Disaster
As of June 30,
2017
* These stores have entered into agreements with local governments to provide access to tap water and toilets, and road and other information, to people stranded in a disaster.
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Charging stand for EVs
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Cleanup activity near a store
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At AUTOBACS’ Car Life Support Center pavilions at KidZania Tokyo and KidZania Koshien, kids can get a feel for the work of an automobile mechanic, changing tires and experiencing other activities in a service pit created for children.
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2017 marks 20 years of ARTA(AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI)racing activities.
Corporate Governance(PDF)
- Full Report (885KB)
- Individual Sections
- Concepts and Key points (506KB)
- Corporate Governance System (507KB)
- Nomination of Inside Directors/ Outside Directors and Outside Audit and Supervisory Board Members/ Remuneration for Members of the Board of Directors, and Audit and Supervisory Board Members (547KB)
- Facilitating the Exercise of Voting Rights/ Dialogue with Investors/ Compliance/ Risk Management (498KB)