Tokyo (October 18, 2012) - Bridgestone Corporation announced today the formulation of its Mid-Term Management Plan for 2012 (MTP2012).

The Bridgestone Group's ultimate goal is to become the "undisputed world No. 1 tire and rubber company in both name and reality". Consistent with the company's prior approach, the Group and new executive management team continue to view mid-term management plans as fundamental and key to management. MTP2012 therefore, incorporates the articulated vision of the new executive team to accelerate management reforms.

The Bridgestone Group aims to be a truly global corporate group. To this end, it has reformed its organizational structure, formulated mid-term management plans, and refined its corporate philosophy. Moreover, it is making strong progress toward accomplishing its immediate management goal of achieving return on assets (ROA) of 6% in 2012.

The operating environment faced by the Bridgestone Group is growing increasingly unstable and uncertain. In the course of developing MTP2012, the Group therefore identified the current operating environment as critical time to advance further management reforms. Following the initial reforms to the Group's governance and operations which were begun in 2006, management reforms to be implemented going forward are defined as "second phase" transformational reforms. In order to effectively address the challenges of the current environment, and the challenges that will be faced in the future, the Group will implement reforms centered on the principles of flexibly responding to economic fluctuations and creating new value for customers. Through these efforts, our goal is to become the absolute and clear leader-in Japanese, "Dan-Totsu" - in all our industries. One particular area of focus will be leveraging the benefits to be realized through vertical and horizontal expansion. We will add further depth to the initiatives implemented last year, and accelerate our progress in these areas through a commitment to technology and business model innovation.