Mitsui has a global business portfolio spanning a wide range of industries. The strategic assignment of personnel is a key element in the human resources strategy under which we work to transform and optimize this portfolio.

In order to enable strong individuals with a deep knowledge of a wide range of business areas, products, fields, and regions to achieve growth together with the company through business initiatives spanning multiple industries, we prioritize the strategic assignment of personnel, including cross-organizational and cross-regional deployment, and multi-track career planning.

The identification of diverse people with a wide range of capabilities throughout Mitsui & Co. Group is a vital aspect of our approach to strategic deployment. Succession planning for key positions is based on the matching of talent with the skills, capabilities, and other qualities needed for each position.

Each year, the CEO, CHROs, GM of the Human Resources & General Affairs Division, business unit COOs, and GMs of corporate staff divisions hold HR Strategy Meetings to discuss succession plans for important positions. In addition, demonstration of the capabilities of human resources is monitored and training policies checked along the business and regional axes by HR officers in business units and corporate staff divisions, and by the CHROs of regional business units and regional blocs. We continually monitor the diverse talent that makes up our pool of potential successors to key positions with the aim of optimizing organizational performance through the strategic placement of the right people in the right positions.

We also ensure the continuity of organizational management by formulating business continuity plans as a precaution against unforeseen contingencies.

One of the systems that we have introduced to ensure that the right people are placed in the right positions, regardless of their personal attributes or the locations in which they were hired, is the Bloom global data platform, which supports independent career development by employees. By combining a talent data base with DX technology, Bloom has enhanced our global position matching capacity and will ensure that individuals are assigned to appropriate positions based on their knowledge, experience, capabilities, and career aspirations.

Bloom was developed as a support tool to enable individual employees to realize their aspirations by envisioning specific career paths within Mitsui & Co. Group. It has been operational in the Asia Pacific Business Unit, the East Asia Bloc, and Mitsui & Co. (Korea) Ltd. since October 2022. It was also introduced in the Americas Business Unit, the Europe Block, the Middle East and the Africa Block and the CIS Block in April 2024, and will become globally operational by the end of the fiscal year ending March 2025.

Click here for detailed information about this system.

Employees hired by Overseas offices are increasingly being transferred to other countries as part of global business development. We introduced the Global Mobility Program to provide uniform transfer rules on a global basis and ensure that transfers can be implemented efficiently and quickly. This program is based in the Asia Pacific Business Unit and facilitates the strategic placement of the personnel who lead business from a global perspective.

As part of our strategy to place the right people in the right positions, managers are encouraged to ascertain their subordinates’ ideas concerning their future careers through a review process that includes one-on-one meetings and assessment interviews. These meetings are opportunities to consider the future placement of personnel. At Mitsui, every year managers have interviews with their subordinates based on the human resources development surveys via which employees self-report their future aspirations and career progress. The optimal placement of personnel is pursued while taking into consideration employees’ personal qualities, specialist capabilities, work skills, and areas of expertise and experience and confirming their human resources development plans.

On July 1, 2024, Mitsui introduced a new personnel system that will allow employees to flexibly select their workstyles, including transfers, to reflect their personal career plans and changing life plans. For non-managerial employees, three professional groups will be established based on task characteristics, enabling them to engage in a wide range of business fields.

Click here for detailed information about the new personnel system.

In addition to the line management career path leading to leadership roles in organizations and teams, there is also a career path for people who want to contribute to their organizations by developing and exerting specialist skills in particular areas that match the business strategies of their organizations and their personal aspirations and aptitudes.

Employees of Mitsui possess strengths and specialist knowledge in multiple fields along the product, regional, and functional axes. The Expert Band is for employees who wish to take their specialist capabilities to a higher level and deepen their careers in specific fields. It was introduced as a flexible assessment and treatment structure that enables individuals with specialist skills to make optimal use of those skills.

This system enables motivated employees to take up work challenges that match their aspirations and allow them to make optimal use of their abilities, skills, and specialist knowledge. It allows employees to apply for positions without asking their line managers and functions as a platform that matches the company’s needs with employees’ wishes that go beyond organizational boundaries. The system contributes to company-wide optimization as a more flexible and highly effective way to place the right people in the right positions, while also empowering employees to take up challenges and make autonomous career choices.