Sustainable Corporate Value Enhancement Centered on Purpose

Reviewing Our Past 50 Years and Embodying Our Purpose for the Next 50 Years to Achieve Sustainable Growth

Since its founding in 1968, the Canon MJ Group has anticipated societal changes and proactively developed management strategies ahead of changes in customer needs and market conditions, expanding its business domains through three major phases. Under the Purpose announced in January 2024, we will continue to evolve by deepening co-creation and collaboration with our stakeholders, thereby broadening the scope of social issues we can help resolve.

The Canon MJ Group was established as a sales company for Canonʼs business machines. During its founding phase, the Group diversified and strengthened its sales channels by expanding its regional sales locations and forming partnerships with retailers, aiming to deliver Canonʼs sophisticated products to customers nationwide. Through these efforts, we were able to expand our customer base, nurture our marketing capabilities, and increase the power of the Canon brand throughout Japan. To provide even greater added value to customers, we led the way in the digitalization of various products. In 1978, we made Fuji System Development Inc. a subsidiary and launched our software business, marking the start of expanding our own business beyond Canon products.
In the 1980s, our second key phase, in order to meet diversifying customer needs, we expanded our business to include selling workstations, servers and the like from Apple Computer Inc. and other companies, reinforcing our trading company function. In the 1990s, with the popularization of the internet, we expanded our workforce of personnel who were versed in computers, servers and networks. We adopted technologies that would enable us to provide unique added value in line with the changing times, and we reinforced personnel and organizations involved in these technologies. As a result, in 1990, we were certified by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (currently Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) as a systems integrator.
In the 2000s, our third key phase, we expanded into the customer mission-critical operations field with the intent of shifting the focus of our business from hardware to software in order to forge closer bonds with customers. In 2003, we made Sumitomo Metal System Solutions Co., Ltd., which boasted strengths in systems integration for the manufacturing and distribution industries as well as security, a subsidiary; in 2007, we acquired Argo 21 Corporation, a company that was highly competitive in the financial and public sectors; and in 2008, we established Canon IT Solutions Inc. through the integration of these subsidiaries. As a result, we expanded our business domains to encompass mission-critical system development and the infrastructure business, and we established a structure that provided support for entire IT life cycles for customer IT systems, from planning and design to development, assembly, maintenance, and operation.
Notable examples of this include the opening of Nishi-Tokyo Data Center and the launch of service in Building No. 1 from 2012 and in Building No. 2 from 2020. In addition to advanced security and seismic performance, our owned data center boasted high levels of operational quality to expand our IT outsourcing and cloud service businesses.
As a result of these years of steady efforts, by 2024, the IT solutions business accounted for approximately half of our total sales.

Based on our customer-centric approach, we set out to strengthen our corporate structure to be able to efficiently provide the most optimal solutions with greater added value by fully understanding and identifying the specific issues and needs of each customer. Accordingly, in 2018 we reorganized our corporate structure from one based on product and sales channels to one based on markets and customers. Meanwhile, we endeavored to enhance profitability by withdrawing from businesses in certain fields where it was difficult for the Group to add value, focusing on areas and industries where we can demonstrate our strengths, and shifting to a strategy based on customer segments.
Ever since the Group was founded, we have demonstrated an enterprising nature, which is part of Canon’s corporate DNA, constantly responding to changes in our customers and markets, taking on new challenges, and expanding our business domains. Through this process, we have welcomed numerous companies into the Group that possess highly specialized personnel and expertise in their respective domains.
We will continue to make ongoing growth investments, welcoming an even more diverse range of partners to further expand our business operations. In January 2024, we announced our Purpose̶the significance of our presence in society̶as we stride toward the future along with our customers, all of the employees of the Group working together as one, bringing together their different backgrounds and workstyles.

In formulating our Purpose, our Sustainability Promotion Committee, chaired by the president & representative director and composed of business heads such as Directors of Business Units, while exploring the history of the Canon MJ Group, discussed the role we had played in society, our strengths, and our unique qualities̶in other words, “what the Canon MJ Group is.” Taking into account changes in the external environment and future forecast data, the Committee also repeatedly discussed the vision of what we aspire to be and “what kind of society we want to create.”
We carefully refined each word and the meaning behind them to ensure that all employees across the Group̶including those from diverse backgrounds and those newly joining us̶can unite as one and continue to take on new challenges with a forward-looking mindset. In creating this Purpose, during the latter half of the deliberations, Sustainability Promotion Committee meetings were held jointly with Brand Strategy Committee meetings, and participants discussed how to share this Purpose in and outside the Group and what initiatives to carry out to instill the Purpose. 

“Hopes and ideas” of our Purpose include hopes and ideas of our stakeholders in the midst of the growing complexity of social issues, along with the Canon MJ Groupʼs cherished self-motivated drive.
“Technologies” not only refer to the technologies we have developed through our imaging and IT efforts, but also include skills, such as creativity, proposal skills, listening skills, and communication skills, and knowledge and expertise, including experience, personal connections, and industry knowledge. These technologies are those not only of the Canon MJ Group but also of its diverse business partners.
“Create” was chosen to clearly express our desire to apply our pioneering spirit, through which we have continually opened up new markets.
The Purposeʼs symbol mark uses individual circles that differ in size and color, to represent diverse hopes, ideas and technologies. The infinite ring of these circles evokes the image of the endless circulation of the new future.

According to the 2024 Group Employee Engagement Survey, “Resonance with the Purpose” rose by approximately 20 points compared to the previous year, while the “Rewarding sense of social contribution through work” increased by around 10 points. However, relatively lower levels were observed in some areas—such as newly joined Group companies and departments with limited direct interaction with customers. Going forward, we will shift from the stage of merely instilling the Purpose to that of deepening the understanding of our overall sustainability initiatives including the Purpose, and the connection between the Purpose and each employee’s work in such context. Through these efforts, we aim to eliminate disparities and further increase the number of employees who embody the Purpose.

Coinciding with the announcement of our Purpose, we revamped the concept of internal communications to spread a ripple of empathy and motivation by conveying the passion of employees who embody our Purpose. As a result of renewals including new content, changes to communication channels, and the introduction of effectiveness measurement, a 2024 internal survey showed that half of our employees reported increased communication both inside and outside the company, and approximately 70% of employees felt a sense of “challenging the future.”
Moreover, since 2023, we have featured employees who embody our Purpose on our Groupʼs website under the titles “MIRAI Angle” and “Connecting Hopes and Ideas to the Future.” “MIRAI Angle” introduces employees who continue to take on challenges, empathetic to the hopes and ideas of valued customers and colleagues, working together to create a better future. “Connecting Hopes and Ideas to the Future” showcases initiatives that combine the hopes of stakeholders with Canon MJ Groupʼs business to pioneer new paths to the future.
While brand awareness of the Canon Group as a whole is high, awareness of the Canon MJ Group specifically remains relatively low. However, surveys indicate that the percentage of customers who have dealings with us and intend to continue consulting with us is high, at approximately 80%. Given the high likelihood of ongoing business once a relationship is established, we worked on corporate advertising campaigns in 2024 aimed at raising brand awareness.
The catch phrase “A Company that Brings an Ultra-Exciting Future Beyond Imagination” reflects our commitment as a MIRAI Marketing Company to resolve social issues with a future-oriented mindset and to create a society filled with hope and joy. Everything begins with hopes and ideas, and we cherish the desire to solve problems.
Going forward, the entire Group will work unitedly to continue earning and exceeding the expectations of our stakeholders, creating “futures beyond imagining.”

The Canon MJ Group has expanded its business domains through M&As and other means, while looking ahead to ensure we provide what our customers truly need. In todayʼs era of increasing societal uncertainty, where customer needs, market changes, and technological advancements accelerate, the Canon MJ Group will continue to evolve by embodying our Purpose and deepening co-creation and collaboration with all stakeholders, thereby broadening the range and scope of social issues we can help resolve.
There have been an increasing number of contacts to our executives and employees from stakeholders who have seen our communications including the “MIRAI Angle” series, triggering more frequent dialogues. We hope that all of our stakeholders will look forward to the future of the Canon MJ Group as we continue to boldly take on the challenges of creating new value, free of the restrictions of convention.