A Vision for the Future to Realize Transformation: Interview with Ajinomoto President Nishii (Dentsu Inc. BDS, Yamahara)

This series delves into the essence of corporate transformation by interviewing top executives who are dismantling all biases and personally executing business transformation as architects.

Following the previous installment, Dentsu Inc. Business Design Square (BDS) Shinsuke Yamahara spoke with Ajinomoto President Takaaki Nishii about the company's new business model and its vision for the future.

Part 1: Interview with Ajinomoto President Nishii: 5 Key Points for Achieving Transformation (Dentsu Inc. BDS Yamahara)

Ajinomoto President Takaaki Nishii (right) and Dentsu Inc. Business Design Square's Shingo Yamahara

Aiming to Extend Healthy Lifespans for 1 Billion People Through a Personalized Approach

Yamahara: Within your corporate vision, you've set a large, concrete goal: "Extending the healthy lifespan of one billion people by 2030." Could you tell us why you focused on healthy lifespan?

Nishii: We believe what we can do is bring healthy life expectancy closer to average life expectancy. To extend healthy life expectancy, it is crucial to address issues like unbalanced eating habits and lack of exercise starting from when people are healthy.

Research conducted by the Hirosaki University COI (Center of Innovation) Research Promotion Organization, which Ajinomoto has participated in since 2020, shows that even for the same disease, the causes vary from person to person.

This study involved health and lifestyle surveys of approximately 1,000 people over 15 years. For example, when we traced back about 15 years for several individuals who developed hypertension at age 65, we found the causes varied significantly. Some were influenced by genetics, others by dietary habits, and still others by a combination of factors like lack of exercise or insufficient sleep. This convinced us that even when providing solutions like appropriate diets and lifestyle habits, different approaches will be required for each type.

We are actively refining our solutions by thoroughly advancing research on this evidence. This includes leveraging amino acid insights to reduce salt concentrations in foods, developing low-sodium products, and enabling the quantification of nutritional values in menus.

Yamahara: So we're entering an era where solutions can be provided for each case made visible by research data. Your company is aiming to create a platform for extending healthy life expectancy tailored to each individual, isn't it?

Nishii: That's correct. We believe that by connecting research findings with the solutions we've refined, we can take an approach to extend the healthy lifespan of one billion people in a highly personalized manner.

Furthermore, research from Hirosaki University's COI indicates that the root causes of future lifestyle-related diseases are already established during childhood. While genetics play a role, acquired factors are strongly linked to lifestyle habits formed from early childhood through elementary school. We are committed to tackling this seriously for the sake of children's futures.

Yamahara: Your company's major strength is being able to specifically address these identified factors. I envision a future where children grow up consuming Ajinomoto products, unknowingly reducing their salt intake and lowering their health risks without realizing it.

Nishii: After all, eating while being told complicated things like "Protein is good for your health..." isn't exactly fun (laughs). We want them to eat delicious food and naturally grow into healthy bodies.

Creating New Value by Challenging Together with Innovators Inside and Outside the Company

Yamahara: The "Business Model Transformation Task Force" led by Ajinomoto is proposing various initiatives, with the President himself communicating a strong commitment to "transformation." Could you share the key transformation themes President Nishii particularly emphasizes?

Nishii: To transform ourselves into a company solving food and health challenges and to contribute to the wellness of one billion people, there are two crucial themes requiring company-wide commitment.

First is our "Commitment to Personalized Nutrition." As mentioned earlier, to address individual health challenges in the coming era, we must provide solutions tailored to each consumer's lifestyle.

The second is "Food Resources." It is critically important to consider food resources, as existing protein sources may become unavailable, and water scarcity could make food production itself impossible. At the same time, we currently face the reality of food resources being wasted. Halving food loss is another essential challenge we must not overlook to achieve a sustainable society.

However, we believed that our knowledge alone would not generate solutions for these transformations.

Yamahara: I often hear President Nishii mention the word "venture" – whether it's establishing an internal venture system or promoting collaboration with startups and venture capital. Does this mean that to achieve transformation, we need to actively incorporate the technology and spirit of ventures through collaboration?

Nishii: Yes. "Venture" is a crucial keyword in this transformation. I feel it embodies an indispensable mindset for creating new businesses and value without being constrained by existing operations. Furthermore, delivering new value to society and consumers today is impossible without digital communication. To achieve the major goal of changing the architecture (overall design), a venture-like mindset and collaboration with venture companies are vital.

For example, take our aforementioned initiative in personalized nutrition. While we possess superior solutions in the fields of food and amino acids, that alone won't generate new value. We need to partner with external companies – those working to "visualize" people's health challenges, or those who, once they see those challenges, have ideas like "We could create this kind of solution!" – to drive innovation.

Yamahara: When people or companies with unique ideas in fields completely different from Ajinomoto's come together, new value emerges. Once that starts happening, it could become a step toward realizing our business vision.

Nishii: For instance, if innovation occurs in cooking methods and AI starts devising both recipes and menus, we humans will need to consider what our role should be. Similarly, if innovation happens in the mechanisms for delivering goods to customers, we must develop products that are easier to transport and deliver in line with that innovation. I believe that if we can quickly collaborate with people creating new value in other fields, it could lead to significant business opportunities.

When creating new businesses or business models, it's crucial to always think ten years ahead and backcast. For instance, alternative proteins and cultured meat—areas I'm currently interested in—might already be handled differently by new foods ten years from now. In other words, when considering innovation, we must paint a "Picture of the Future" and move forward with it.

Yamahara: Exactly. The Picture of the Future we're advancing in the Business Model Transformation Task Force is key. While expanding that future vision, it's crucial to select and concentrate investments in areas with greater potential.

Nishii: As the vision of the future expands, I believe we will be forced to make choices about which businesses to pursue and which to abandon. While it would be ideal to be prepared for about 10% of sales to be constantly replaced by new businesses, as a manager, I want to choose businesses that not only create economic value but also bring happiness to more people.

Ajinomoto's CEO on Changes Brought by the Pandemic and the Future of Food

Yamahara: I feel 2020 saw significant shifts in values surrounding food and the very nature of society, partly due to the coronavirus. How does President Nishii view these global changes?

Nishii: It was a year of rapid advancement in information systems, with remote work and online meetings becoming the norm. I believe this change is irreversible. What we must closely monitor is the extent to which the real economy's infrastructure has been damaged.

For example, regarding food, we don't know how exhausted agricultural workers have become. If the agricultural sector is so depleted it cannot recover, we may need to rethink the very model of mass consumption we've relied on. I believe the reality surrounding our food will continue to change significantly.

As a leader of a company involved in the food business, I want to be sensitive to the new challenges emerging in the post-COVID era. Agriculture, in particular, is a core industry supporting the nation. I believe it is absolutely essential to protect it for the happiness of the people and to extend their healthy life expectancy.

Yamahara: Listening to you today, I sensed that "information" is beginning to hold unprecedented value. Consumers now routinely buy online without seeing the actual product, choosing based on "information" about who made it and their particular dedication. Converting information into value is crucial for agriculture too, right?

Nishii: I think the core challenge in agriculture is low unit prices. While we've improved productivity, we haven't successfully increased value. Vegetables and fruits have their peak seasons; the period when they're harvested in the greatest quantity is also when they're most delicious and nutritious. Yet, the fact that prices drop simply because they can be produced in large volumes suggests we're failing to properly communicate the inherent value of these produce.

Even though nutritional value, sugar content, and other qualities vary by producer, consumers aren't exposed to that information. I think there's still a lot of opportunity there.

Yamahara: So, by optimally linking customer information about food and health with product information, the total value increases, right?

Extending healthy life expectancy requires both "food" and the "data" surrounding it as essential elements. Utilizing cutting-edge digital technology to support this becomes increasingly vital.

We hope to continue contributing to transformation in various ways, aiming for a bright future in the food and health sector. Thank you for today.