Suntory Beverage's first female CEO wants more women managers, global business

Recruit Holdings

19/12/2022 09:00

By Miho Uranaka and Rocky Swift
       TOKYO, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd's
 2587.T  incoming CEO Makiko Ono, one of only a handful of women
to lead a big Japanese company, wants to see more opportunities
for women in management and more business for her company in
overseas markets, where she defined her career.
    When Ono takes the helm early next year, Suntory Beverage,
Japan's biggest domestic soft drink maker, says it will become
the largest listed Japanese company by market value with a
female CEO.
    Ono acknowledged that her company still remains far from its
broader target, however, for 30% of managers to be women by
2030, compared with just 13% now.
    "There's still a gap in reaching that goal, but we just have
to keep fighting," Ono told Reuters.
    "Career opportunities are now becoming more fair, so I hope
that women will not give up and will seize whatever chances come
their way."
    Ono's rise through the ranks to a top corporate position is
rare for women in Japan, which lags its peers on numerous gender
equality measures.
    Out of 1,802 companies on the prime section of the Tokyo
Stock Exchange, fewer than 1% list a woman as their chief
executive, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
    Ono also saw potential overseas opportunities for the
company, a Japanese partner of PepsiCo Inc  PEP.O . It already
derives half of its revenue overseas, with Asia and Europe its
biggest foreign markets.
    "In our existing regions, there are categories we haven't
tested yet, in particular the growing popularity of energy,
coffee and tea drinks in Europe," said Ono, who once ran
Suntory's Orangina business in France. 
    "So we are looking to expand in those markets, as well as
countries where we don't have a presence yet." 
    Ono joined Suntory in 1982 and helped to arrange the
purchase of a French winery and of Britain's Lucozade brand.
    While Suntory Beverage is majority-owned by and closely
aligned with privately held Suntory Holdings, Japan's largest
whisky maker and owner of brands Jim Beam and Maker's Mark, it
is also listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which Ono said gives
it more flexibility in financing.    
    The conglomerate made a major push into European soft drinks
in the 2000s, buying the Orangina and Schweppes brands in 2009
and the Britain-based Lucozade and Ribena properties in 2013.
    Ono's appointment comes a decade after former Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe pushed a "womenomics" policy of raising female
participation in the labour force, and in recent years,
companies including Suntory and staffing agency Recruit Holdings
Co have announced numerical targets for women in management.
    Japan nevertheless ranked only 116th among 146 countries in
the World Economic Forum's gender gap report this year, and last
among the Group of Seven nations.
    "There are so few women in manager-level positions at major
manufacturers like Suntory," said Akiko Kojima at the Japan
Research Institute. 
    "So the fact that one has risen all the way to chief
executive, that could have a major impact on similar companies."
 (Reporting by Miho Uranaka and Rocky Swift; Editing by Edmund
Klamann)
 ((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com;))