How Secondments Build Frontline Skills and Business Creativity: The Healthcare SBU's Talent Development Cycle

Could you start by giving us an overview of the Healthcare SBU's current business and staffing?

Hasegawa In Japan, our operations include Tomod's drugstores, the Sumisho Pharmacies dispensing-pharmacy group, and investments in digital-health startups, along with our medical staffing business. Overseas, our portfolio ranges from managed-care and clinic operations in Malaysia and Vietnam to home-based services for patients with chronic illnesses in the U.S. We have more than 80 employees at the SBU headquarters. In addition to colleagues from across Sumitomo Corporation, we bring together people with backgrounds in finance, consulting and manufacturing. It would not be an overstatement to say that we are one of the most diverse organizations in the company.

What kind of career path do employees typically follow once assigned to the Healthcare SBU?

Hasegawa New employees start off by supporting operating companies from the shareholder side. They collaborate with management teams: Tomod's and dispensing pharmacies in Japan, alongside clinics overseas, learning how to optimize management resources. They are then seconded to an operating company, where they engage directly in customer service and operational improvement. By moving back and forth between the shareholder perspective and the on-site perspective, they repeatedly cycle through learning → practice → identifying issues → redesigning, ultimately developing into talent capable of designing and executing businesses on their own.

Why is the Healthcare SBU so committed to sending employees on secondment to operating companies?

Hasegawa Because you cannot create real value without knowing the field. It's not enough to understand the numbers, you need to experience the people, the operations, the struggles, the joys. You need to see not only the forest, but the trees. When you share challenges with colleagues on site, you cultivate the ability to deliver both economic and social value. We've seen many examples: know-how gained in Japanese dispensing pharmacies being applied to Malaysian clinic operations, or issues identified overseas inspiring the investment of a domestic medical-staffing business. Secondment experiences often spark new businesses.

Could you share some examples of employees who have made significant leaps in their careers through secondment?

Hasegawa Let me introduce two such cases. The first employee began in headquarters overseeing Tomod's operations. In his second year, he spent six months training in a store. Later, he joined a major domestic M&A project involving a large dispensing pharmacy group. After the acquisition, he led integration efforts, focusing on organizational design and governance. In his sixth year, he was seconded to an online medical care startup, working as a project manager with local governments and pharmaceutical companies. He rapidly executed initiatives to bring medical professionals and external stakeholders onto the startup's digital platform. Today, drawing on both domestic and startup experience, he supports the financing of clinic acquisitions by operating companies through fundraising and capital increase, alongside digitalization from the shareholder side within the Overseas Healthcare Unit.

The second employee worked in corporate departments – risk management and corporate planning – before transferring to the Overseas Healthcare Unit. There, he handled development of healthcare businesses and led Sumitomo Corporation's first acquisition of a Malaysian healthcare business. Afterward, he was seconded as CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), developing strategies grounded in on-site data and driving marketing and sales. He quadrupled total transaction value and doubled the customer base. He also led digital transformation, investing in several local startups. After returning to headquarters, he now leads the Overseas Healthcare Unit.

These cases embody our development cycle: people who deliver results on site become the ones who build the next businesses.

What roles or positions do secondees typically take on?

Hasegawa The range is broad, from CEO to CFO roles to frontline staff. But the first expectation is always the same: deliver results as a member of the frontline team. Once they transition to management roles, their ability to generate profit and assess returns on resources becomes crucial. How do you transform stores through digital strategy? What KPIs do you set and how do you improve them? Ultimately everything comes down to how well you deliver value to customers and earn their trust in return. After returning to headquarters, we expect secondees to use what they learned to drive new business creation. Approximately 40% of Healthcare SBU employees are currently on secondment domestically or abroad, with durations ranging from several months to several years. Many are involved in post-M&A integration, giving them firsthand experience with the responsibilities that come with stewarding management resources.

What kind of talent do you hope SBU members will grow into through these experiences?

Mr. Tada, you were seconded to Tomod's in July 2024. Could you tell us about your current position and responsibilities?

Tada As a team leader in the Sales Promotion Department, I work on planning and executing strategies related to marketing, promotions and store support. I also serve as project manager for two company-wide DX initiatives at Tomod's. My role has three main components. First, I am project manager on the Tomod's side for the integration of Tomod's and Summit's point programs. Second, I lead the "last mile" project, which aims to enhance digital channels like the online store and quick commerce services: for example, building systems that allow customers to pick up prescription medications from lockers. Third, I act as a bridge between Tomod's and other Sumitomo Corporation Group companies, including those in the dispensing pharmacy business, to contribute to Group-wide value enhancement from a Tomod's perspective.

What have you been learning through your secondment at Tomod's?

Tada The biggest lesson is gaining a deeply rooted "customer-centric perspective." Take the point-program integration, for example. We refine specifications through discussions with internal and external stakeholders, design store operations and communication flows, and then test them in actual stores. The feedback we receive lets us feel, firsthand, how customers think and behave. When analyzing behavioral data from stores and online channels, customer reactions appear in the numbers the very next day. This pace is something you can only experience on the frontlines.

I've also come to appreciate the essence of retail: balancing efficiency with a sense of fun. Cutting unnecessary tasks alone won't create a store that people want to come back to. We optimize chain operations while also ensuring that customers find what they need and enjoy the experience. That balance, I've learned, is vital to management.

By comparing what I see on site with previous roles at the headquarters of operating companies, I'm better able to weigh reporting and control work against efforts that truly enhance corporate value. Headquarters and operating companies have overlapping management functions. By closely coordinating and clarifying role divisions, I believe we can create an even stronger win-win relationship..

Has your mindset or working style changed since joining Tomod's?

Tada Yes. More than anything, I now approach my work with constant awareness of the customer. Seeing frontline teams respond swiftly to unexpected challenges has deepened my respect for essential workers, including those in retail. The customer-centric perspective I've gained is indispensable when designing business strategy. When I eventually return to headquarters, I want to help embed a culture across the SBU that starts with the customer's voice. Healthcare sits at the intersection of medicine, retail and digital, so people who carry on-site intuition will be the engine behind our next businesses.

How do you hope to apply your secondment experience to your future career?

What are the current challenges facing the Healthcare SBU, and what is your outlook for the future?

Hasegawa Since its founding in 1993, Tomod's has established an ideal cycle of secondment and return. Other businesses, however, joined the Healthcare SBU more recently, some only six years ago, and are still in the early stages of building that same development cycle. For our new domestic and overseas businesses as well, it will be increasingly important for employees to demonstrate both producer and director capabilities and to accumulate business development experience. For those joining us now, opportunities for challenge are expanding.

Healthcare is also deeply tied to social security systems, and government involvement is essential. Our mission is to work with public institutions in each country while leveraging market mechanisms to provide better services. We want to contribute both to improving people's quality of life and to building sustainable healthcare systems.

Finally, what would you like to say to young employees or those preparing for secondment?