Bridgestone Group has been working on its corporate transformation for the past two years since the start of Third Foundation/Bridgestone 3.0 in 2020 focusing on “execution” and “delivering results” with an “aggressive approach” and “challenge” spirit which has brought us closer to becoming a “strong” Bridgestone.
In anticipation of a series of turbulent events such as the situation in Russia and Ukraine, Bridgestone is strengthening its global management structure to make the company more flexible and agile and oriented toward global optimization. In doing so, the company announced that its board of directors has appointed two joint global COOs under its Global CEO Shu Ishibashi effective May 1. The two executives that will add global COO to their duties are Paolo Ferrari, president and CEO of Bridgestone Americas and head of global solution strategy, and Masahiro Higashi, who is currently responsible for Bridgestone’s global mining and aircraft tire business, Japanese tire business and Japanese diversified products business.
Ishibashi says the two global COOs will focus on execution and delivering results with an aggressive approach and “challenge spirit.”
In this new role, Higashi will continue to lead Bridgestone’s global sustainability strategy and, effective May 1, expand his responsibilities to include the BSCAP business, which is expected to generate synergies in the Bridgestone home market – Japan and Asia, the company says.
Ferrari will continue to lead the global solutions business strategy and, as of May 1, expand his responsibilities to include the BSEMIA business, where the company says it expects synergies from the mature premium tire and solutions businesses in the Americas and Europe.
“Both of them have contributed to the CX (corporate transformation) and business performance over the past two years, and I am confident that they will support the Global CEO as No. 2 in this new and turbulent business stage and contribute to the enhancement of our corporate value,” Ishibashi says.
Through this strengthened executive structure, the Bridgestone Group is committed to the 8 Bridgestone-like values starting with the letter “E” (energy, ecology, efficiency, extension, economy, emotion, ease, and empowerment) in the “Bridgestone E8 Commitment.” The Group will commit to creating the value to realize a sustainable society.
