Glossary
B
Board of Executive Officers
An organization for specific decision-making by the President and CEO (Representative Executive Officer) as well as other Executive Officers on execution of operations. It comprises all Executive Officers to whom authority is delegated by the Board of Directors. The Board of Executive Officers resolves important matters concerning the execution of the operations of the entire Isetan Mitsukoshi Group, etc. or deliberates them for the President and CEO (Representative Executive Officer) to decide and reports matters to be reported. In addition, matters resolved, deliberated, or reported by the Board of Executive Officers that are deemed to be important are also reported to the Board of Directors.
C
Company with a Nominating Committee, etc.
The Isetan Mitsukoshi Group transitioned to a company with a Nominating Committee, etc. in June 2020 for the purpose of advancing corporate governance. Through this transition in the Group’s organizational design, the roles of “execution” and “oversight” are clearly separated, and the role of the Board of Directors is focused on establishment of the Group’s general direction along with oversight/monitoring of business execution, thereby enhancing the oversight function of the Board of Directors.
Chief Officer System
One of the roles of the Executive Officers who execute operations for Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings is to serve as Chief Officers. The CEO leads and directs each Chief Officer as the chief executive who controls the overall management of the Group, while the other Chief Officers appropriately make reports to (or, if necessary, engage in discussions with) the CEO. The Chief Officers excluding the CEO are also assigned to each of the departments of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, leading and directing their respective departments and executing operations as department heads. Chief Officers are as follows (FY2021 structure).
E
Evergreen
An award system to recognize stylists, including sales representatives of working partners who play a key role in department-store business operations, for outstanding performance in day-to-day customer service. The system was started at Isetan Mitsukoshi and later expanded to all Group companies in fiscal 2012. In addition to employees of Group companies, partner staff dispatched by working partners such as external manufacturers are also eligible.
H
Hana-hiraku
The Mitsukoshi wrapping paper used since 2019. This is the first in-house wrapping paper in a department store in Japan. It was originally designed for Christmas presents, but from the following year, 1951, it was always used at all Mitsukoshi shops. A novel design featuring many rounded, soft abstract shapes was painted by painter Genichiro Inokuma.
M
MacMillan/Isetan
The “MacMillan Ancient” tartan used for Isetan shopping bags since 1958 was redesigned in 2013 as “MacMillan/Isetan.” It is officially registered in the Scottish Register of Tartans administered by the Scottish Government in order to manage all tartans around the world.
MI CARD
The credit card issued by the Isetan Mitsukoshi Group company MI CARD Co., Ltd. It has about 2.9 million members with refined tastes and purchasing power. The company is working to increase new membership and encourage the use of its cards by leveraging this excellent customer base to issue co-branded cards and expand business partners that accept MI Points, the Group’s point program.
Minori
The Mitsukoshi shopping bag used since 2014. It was conceived by Moriguchi Kunihiko, a master of the yuzen resist-dyeing technique and second-generation Preserver of an Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure), based on the design of a yuzen-dyed formal women’s kimono. The design of repeated topological transformations on a white ground, titled Minori (“Ripening”), uses geometric patterns to represent an apple tree loaded with fruit. The freedom of yuzen dyeing and the one-of-a-kind design embody Mitsukoshi’s approach of creating traditions by always recognizing diverse value, striving for the freedom to discover absolute meaning, and repeating innovation.
O
Our Philosophy
In 2018, on the 10th anniversary of the consolidation of the Isetan Mitsukoshi Group, the Group developed “Our Philosophy” as its meaning of existence and vision. “Our” refers to the Isetan Mitsukoshi Group itself and to everyone who works for it. “Our Philosophy” is the course of action to which we always return and represents how each individual must change.
P
Partner Staff
The Isetan Mitsukoshi Group refers to sales representatives of working partners as “partner staff.”
Purchasing Floor
In the retail industry, the area where goods are sold is generally referred to as the “sales floor.” However, the Isetan Mitsukoshi Group refers to the sales floor as the “purchasing floor” in order to enhance the quality of customer service by adopting the perspective of the purchasing customer rather than that of the seller.
R
radiance
The Isetan wrapping paper used since 2019. Hand-drawn lines in red, yellow and green connect endlessly and continuously on a ground of white paper, evoking radiating light or spreading warmth. The letters I, S, E, T, A and N are written inside the spaces enclosed by the lines. The three colors used are inspired by the Isetan tartan “MacMillan/Isetan.”
S
Stylists
In order to treasure the employees involved in “sales,” the most important of its business operations, and value them more than ever before, the Isetan Mitsukoshi Group revised the previous term “sales representatives” in fiscal 2012. All employees who come into contact with customers are now designated and addressed internally as “stylists.” The word “stylist” generally refers to professionals in the apparel industry, etc., but the duty of stylists for the Isetan Mitsukoshi Group is to “style affluence, appeal, quality, sensitivity, novelty and the future for customers” through customer touchpoints.
W
Working Partners
The Isetan Mitsukoshi Group refers to its business partners as “working partners.”