Kyocera Corporation, the headquarters and parent company of the global Kyocera group, was founded in 1959 in Kyoto, Japan as a start-up venture by Dr. Kazuo Inamori and seven colleagues. Kyocera's founders shared a vision of creating a company dedicated to the successful manufacture and sale of innovative, high-quality products based on advanced materials and components. Over the past six decades, this vision has resulted in a highly successful and widely diversified global enterprise.
Kyocera's North American operations have contributed strongly to the company's overall success. We established our first North American sales company in 1969, a two-person operation serving Silicon Valley's burgeoning semiconductor industry and other high-tech markets throughout the United States. Since then, our North American operations have expanded to more than 4,000 employees engaged in the manufacture and sale of a broad range of state-of-the-art, high-technology products for consumers and businesses alike.
Today, the whole world is undergoing a period of change. Globalization requires greater international understanding and cooperation. The world is also facing serious environmental problems, such as global warming and acid rain. These problems are a touchstone of our ability to act in harmony, especially when the world's fragile ecosystem is at stake.
These changes and challenges have led to the development of new managerial attitudes in many companies throughout the world. More emphasis is being placed on improving the quality of community life, in addition to maintaining growth. It has become increasingly important to operate in a way that is appropriate for each business location -- paying special attention to environmental protection and contributing to the improvement of human life.
Modern society gives top priority to things that are functional, economical, and rational. However, Kyocera believes that this sense of value can be contradictory, and that the key to creating a brighter future lies in the concept of "harmonious coexistence" -- in other words, establishing good relationships throughout the world community and making environmental protection an unceasing concern.
With this concept in mind, we will strive to be a global corporation that contributes to the world's prosperity and is well accepted by the community, both through our business and cultural contributions, and through our active steps to preserve planet Earth. In order to help create a better tomorrow, we must pursue harmonious coexistence today.