Shiseido & Harvard: A New Cosmetic Era

On July 1, 2015, Shiseido Co., Ltd. entered into a new collaboration agreement with the dermatology research center at Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States known as the MGH-Harvard Cutaneous Biology Research Center. Built on a relationship that began in 1989, this new agreement calls for an expansion of collaborative research into skin biology as well as efforts to communicate important information about skin protection and skin health to the public.

A governing body of the newly formed collaboration, the Executive Leadership Committee, held its inaugural meeting Thursday, July 9 to review and agree upon joint research themes. To date, the collaboration between Shiseido and CBRC has focused mainly on research and development.

The new alliance agreement expands the collaborative research projects and establishes the ELC to serve as the decision-making body overseeing the relationship. A provision in the agreement calls for the two organizations to engage in collaborative efforts to raise public awareness of general skin health and ways to protect the skin from sun exposure, environmental factors and the effects of aging.

“As our understanding of skin biology expands, the ability to develop innovative therapies and products that can preserve and enhance skin health also increases,”says David E. Fisher, MD, PhD, chief of Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a member of the new ELC. “The collaborative studies that will be made possible through this exciting new alliance with Shiseido seek to build on this growing body of knowledge in novel ways that will ultimately benefit the public.”

In December 2014, Shiseido announced its medium-to-long-term strategy called “VISION 2020”, with the aim of establishing the company as one that continues to meet consumer expectations that are constantly rising. “VISION 2020” sets out the goal of reforming the way the company operates in various ways, including increasing its marketing and R&D investments to achieve top-line growth and profit increase.

With regard to brand strengthening, which will become Shiseido’s growth engine, talented people and organizations with high performance capabilities will develop comprehensive brand marketing from research and production to customer services.

As for R&D, the sales to R&D expense ratio will be increased from the current 1.8% to 2.5% by 2020, and as a new research base, the company will launch the «Global Innovation Center» (tentative name)  by the year 2018. As such, efforts will be made to promote innovative product development based on advanced basic science technologies, coupled and integrated with equally innovative marketing.

Using the concept of «Fusion & Innovation», R&D will work towards transformative research in the pursuit of innovations that support the following three ideas:

• To create innovations that resonate with consumers.
• To bolster Shiseido’s scientific foundation, infrastructure and research in new areas and create a fusion of a wide range of knowledge, and to form a global R&D network.

Disclosure: The author is not responsible for the views expressed in the article. The text was written freely expressing ideas, without receiving any compensation. The author has no business relationship with any of the companies whose shares are listed in this article.