The board of directors at Kawasaki Heavy Industries has voted to sack a triumvirate of top management.
Apart from dissenting votes from the three members involved, the rest of the board unanimously passed a resolution on 13 June to dismiss company president Satoshi Hasegawa, senior executive vice president Mitsutoshi Takao and senior vice president Masahiko Hirohata. They will formally resign their directorships at Kawasaki’s forthcoming annual general meeting.
An explanatory statement said: “This is due to arbitrary management actions of the above personnel in neglect of the view of the majority of the board of directors. The board had but to deem such actions questionable and unaligned with what the board considers as good corporate governance and compliance, and made appropriate decisions.”
Following this cull, Shigeru Murayama was elected as the new president. Murayama had previously headed up Kawasaki’s aerospace division and been a senior vice president on the main board. Motorcycle division supremo Hiroshi Takata was elevated to a senior executive vice president role, along with three other directors. Shigehiko Kiyama will take over as president of the motorcycle business.