Reexamining the "Core" of Development and Research: FANCL Research Institute's Vision Formulation for "The Future We Want to Create"

The " Future Craft Process" provided by Dentsu Inc. Future Business Research is an approach that creates future corporate value from two perspectives: "future societal realities" and "future consumer insights."

FANCL, which offers a wide range of services in the beauty and health sectors and maintains a strong presence both domestically and internationally, used this approach to formulate its vision last year at its Comprehensive Research Institute.

In the previous article, we spoke with Kentaro Yoshida of the Future Business Creation Research Institute, who led the project, and Kazumasa Wakayama, Director of FANCL's Comprehensive Research Institute, about how to maintain a future-oriented perspective and the significance of broadening the future perspective for those involved in R&D.

This time, Akane Yamada of the Future Business Creation Research Institute interviewed Tomomi Akiyama from the Research Strategy Promotion Office, Yoichi Kurata from the Fundamental Technology Research Center, and Miho Onodera from the Functional Foods Research Institute—all of whom participated in the workshop. They discussed the project's focus and the insights and personal changes gained through the workshop.

Part 1: Becoming a Hub for Creating the Company's Future. FANCL Research Institute's Future Perspective

(From left) Dentsu Inc. (Akane Yamada); FANCL Research Institute: Tomomi Akiyama, Miho Onodera, Yoichi Kurata

<Table of Contents>
▼This project is a "turning point for the future of research institutes"

▼Honest conversations about "the future we truly want to create," free from institutional constraints

▼Connecting personal convictions and aspirations to "the future we want to create"

▼Renewing the belief that "the future is what we make it," and considering what we can achieve

This project is a "turning point for the future of the Institute . "

Yamada: About a year ago, we conducted a project with FANCL Research Institute, including a three-day workshop at the Future Business Creation Lab. This project aimed to establish a vision, aligning with Director Wakayama's goal of "becoming a base for creating FANCL's future" and the Future Business Creation Lab's philosophy. First, please share your honest reaction when you heard that Dentsu Inc. was starting this initiative and what motivated you to apply.

Akiyama: When I first heard about the project, I felt it was a turning point for the institute's future. I've been with the company for about 25 years, and during that time, we had never held a workshop at the institute. Formulating a vision itself, and the approach of involving all staff members to drive it forward, were also unprecedented. I felt that simply seeing the final vision statement without participating in the process would make it difficult to understand the underlying thoughts and context that led to it. Therefore, I volunteered because I wanted to be actively involved from the start and experience the process itself.

Kurata: Like Akiyama, I also felt "now is the time for change." The research institute is fundamentally where FANCL's "future" is created. While we researchers have always considered bringing joy to customers through the productization of individual research themes, this workshop felt like the first opportunity for the entire institute to consider what benefits the company, our customers, and society.

I also looked forward to interacting with Dentsu Inc., a company with a different culture, through this initiative. I applied because I believed it would not only help shape our company's future but also broaden my own horizons.

Onodera: I've been working at the research institute for over 20 years. Facing this major event, I felt that precisely because of my long tenure, I could offer valuable perspectives. I applied with enthusiasm, eager to participate in shaping a new form of FANCL. The collaboration with Dentsu Inc. was also very appealing; I wanted to observe their facilitation methods and directly absorb professional techniques.

Yamada: So everyone viewed this as a major event for the research institute and responded very positively. For the project, we first held an online study session for all staff members, providing input on future societal challenges, what kind of world we might be facing, and future consumers. How did you find this study session?

Kurata: While topics like the SDGs are something we hear about daily through the news, this was a valuable opportunity to understand how Dentsu Inc. perceives them from their perspective. It also provided a chance to consider each theme within a "future-oriented" timeframe, allowing me to compare Dentsu Inc.'s framework with the one I typically use. I gained many new insights and learned a great deal.

Yamada: Thank you. This study session was positioned to help you gain hints for the workshop. It served as a catalyst to broaden your perspective and stimulate ideation by providing future-related information that helps you concretely visualize the future you want to proactively create.

The themes themselves were selected from an initial pool of 100 by Director Wakayama and the entire operations team. While grounded in FANCL's core business areas of "beauty" and "health," many themes resonated strongly with participants. Following internal voting within your institute, we ended up discussing more topics than originally planned.

Onodera: The sheer volume of information was truly overwhelming. Learning about technological advancements in other fields and seeing how they're already moving toward the future made me feel a sense of urgency. For example, in agricultural automation, robots manage pesticides with minimal human involvement. Seeing this in demo videos and images, , really reinforced the feeling that we need to act quickly toward the future.

Honest conversations about the "future we truly want to create," shared without regard to position

Yamada: After that, we held a three-day workshop where we set up teams based on life stages. Each team discussed the future they wanted to create and visualized it as a "Life Piece" (*).

*Life Piece = A visualization that captures scenes of future people's "lives," extracting keywords representing their "actions and values."

One striking feature of this project was the surprisingly large number of participants. Beyond the 5 members per team across 8 workshop teams, we had sub-members and members handling only homework assignments. Approximately 70 people were involved, ranging from executives to younger staff. Seeing the younger members speak up without hesitation really highlighted the open communication culture and the character of everyone involved. Did participants have any particular impressions regarding the workshop atmosphere or facilitation?

Kurata: What felt fresh was that every team included members from a wide range of job roles, and everyone exchanged opinions and debated freely without worrying about their position. My team focused on the "child" life stage, so we combined many perspectives—from those with actual children to those envisioning life with children in the future—to form a unified idea. I felt that the greater the variety in age, gender, and position, the more interesting the outcome became.

Akiyama: The whole atmosphere was very friendly and relaxed. Honestly, I was a bit worried about how we'd wrap things up because the members were being so frank (laughs). It was also a great learning experience to observe how the Dentsu Inc. facilitator, who was also a team member, managed the discussions.

Onodera: Personally, I was very nervous at first. With experts from every department gathered, I wondered how serious the discussions would be. But once we started talking, even though it was work, it felt like a club meeting. We had a frank exchange of opinions where we could see the differences in our values. It was an experience that made me feel the future of this company could open up even further.

Yamada: Since we were talking about the future we truly wanted to create as individuals, not just as company employees, people were opening up about themselves, including their hobbies and favorite things. It was important to talk about the essential things – like the excitement of having things you love in your daily life, or why you love them. I was also impressed by how everyone spoke freely, regardless of seniority or position.

This initiative involved significant customization from Future Business Research Institute's original service. We created a three-tiered engagement structure, including the sub-members mentioned earlier and members who only did homework assignments. It was our company's first time implementing this kind of system, and we thought carefully about how to involve everyone with such passion.

While cross-departmental workshop participation exists elsewhere, this being the Research Institute brought together people not only from different roles and positions but also from distinct thematic areas like "food," "supplements," and "cosmetics." To ensure no team had members overlapping in all these dimensions, Dentsu Inc. actively contributed suggestions during team formation. We were delighted to see every team engage in lively discussions.

Your true feelings and aspirations connect to the "future you want to create"

Yamada: As we work toward defining our vision, please share your thoughts on what you considered during the workshop about future lifestyles and the ideal state you wish to achieve there.

Akiyama: I was on the team focusing on "family households." During our discussion, someone said, "To truly value our families, we must first value ourselves." This opinion gained agreement and solidified our direction. The discovery was that these "true feelings" emerged.

As more women enter the workforce, I believe opportunities to consider "what I want to become" are increasing. If this becomes commonplace, won't everyone start to consistently value their own desired future? I felt the same way, and ultimately realized that "what I want to do" directly connects to the broader "future we want to create."

Kurata: I think it was good that the "future we want to create" we considered this time wasn't just a few years away, but a slightly distant future of 10 years. The "children" who were our team's theme are precisely the protagonists of that future 10 years from now. While they possess a freedom adults lack, they also have aspects where they feel constrained and develop complexes more than adults do. This became an opportunity to think about how we can resolve that, and how we, as people living in the "now," can help support them towards that future.

Onodera: Our team focused on the "middle school, high school, and university student" life stage. Ten years from now, the societal backdrop and daily habits will likely change. For instance, schools might operate primarily with online classes. Imagining that scenario raises concerns: opportunities for face-to-face communication could diminish, potentially leading to a lack of crucial experiences during their formative years. It was really challenging to think about what would worry us or what we would need in that future situation, not from a parent's perspective, but assuming "I am living that life."

Yamada: After the discussion you just described, we developed 24 life pieces. Could each of you share one that holds particular meaning for you?

Onodera: Mine is the "Generation Alpha Way Way Project."

※Part of the image has been edited.

Onodera: "Wai Wai" is apparently a phrase young people use when they're hyped up with friends or feeling super excited. A member with middle or high school kids taught me that. In daily life, there aren't many chances to get support for your feelings, and it's tough to always hype yourself up. If we can make this Life Piece a reality, I'm sure we can live life joyfully "Wai Wai." I want to champion this theme because it means building a future where we can always keep our spirits high and move forward positively.

Akiyama: Mine is "Spending time resetting mind and body to be the self I love."

※Part of the image has been edited.

Akiyama: I feel that perspective—that if you can't maintain your own emotional balance, you can't consider others—was significant. Time to reset and recharge yourself is crucial. We designed it with a focus on ensuring that, even while sharing the same space as a family, each person can do what they need for themselves.

Kurata: For me, it's either "Smart Parenting to Expand Your Child's Potential" or "Achieve Your Ideal Self (Appearance) Without Giving Up!"

※Part of the image has been edited.

※Part of the image has been edited.

Kurata: While the situation has changed significantly compared to the past, there's still an inevitable uniformity to child-rearing. We discussed how we need to support each child's talents according to their individual characteristics to better nurture their potential, and how wonderful it would be to create such a future. The underlying purpose was the same for both; it was whether that path led to "beauty" or "health" that divided Life Piece.

With renewed conviction that "the future is something we create ourselves," I want to consider what we can do.

Yamada: It's been about a year since the workshop. After participating, have you noticed any changes within yourself or in your work?

Akiyama: Actually, there was a significant change in my work. I participated as a member of the cosmetics research department at the time, but later transferred to the department that planned and operated the workshop. I'm now in a position leading reforms following the vision formulation process. Last year, as part of a major initiative, we built the framework for execution—creating strategies to realize the vision based on Life Peace, setting specific research themes, and establishing concrete implementation mechanisms.

This time, the vision for our institute became "Expanding the future possibilities and happiness of each and every customer." Knowing the background behind this phrase versus not knowing it makes a big difference in how you perceive it. I don't know if participating in the workshop directly led to my transfer, but it was definitely the starting point for the reforms. If I hadn't participated, I think it would have been much harder to drive my current responsibilities forward.

One ongoing challenge is ensuring the vision permeates among staff members who did not participate in the workshop. While we've only just reached the starting point, I strongly feel the significance of this work, including my own involvement in the project. I aim to lead everyone forward with passion and enthusiasm.

Yamada: Thank you. I think it's incredibly significant that the staff member who participated in the workshop as a researcher has now transferred to the "main stronghold" where they will actually build the future envisioned after the vision was established. How about you, Mr. Kurata?

Kurata: While the specifics of my job haven't changed, I now have a much clearer understanding of the core aspects—what I want to achieve through my work and how I want to give back to our customers. These crucial, fundamental parts are things you think you understand, but surprisingly, you often don't. Participating in the workshop allowed me to take a broader view and think more proactively about what FANCL and the research institute can accomplish.

At the same time, it renewed my conviction that "the future is something we create ourselves." While that should always be the essence of research work, if we don't periodically reaffirm it, we can drift away from that vision. This experience reset that mindset, reminding me anew that we are the ones who shape the future.

Onodera: After the workshop, we actually held a similar event within our department. A major change was adopting the approach of first setting the goal and then working backward to trace the path toward it. While we had researched the state of the world before, we hadn't used the method of changing the "time axis" to think about things from the perspective of our desired future state.

Also, conversations with lab members outside of work increased. I think it was huge that the workshop helped me clarify what I truly wanted to do and enabled me to express that to others.

Yamada: The "backcasting" approach of "first defining the goal" aligns with the philosophy of the Future Business Creation Research Institute. I'm very pleased to hear you're applying it in your daily work. Thank you for sharing so much with us today.

*Download an overview of the "Future Craft Process" conducted this time here
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