The newly appointed president and chief executive officer of Kobe Steel Ltd. vowed Friday to restore damaged trust caused by a data-falsification scandal at the firm, saying it is essential to rebuild corporate governance and culture.
"Carrying out a drastic reform on governance and corporate culture is my duty and a critical process for our company to regain trust. I am taking this very seriously," said Mitsugu Yamaguchi, currently an executive vice president at Japan's third-largest steel-maker, who will assume his new position on April 1.
An investigation conducted by a third party on the scandal, disclosed earlier this month, said employees had engaged in misconduct on a series of occasions due to weak corporate governance and pressure from headquarters over profitability. This has led to "a culture that prioritized winning purchase orders and meeting delivery deadlines over ensuring quality," the report said.