TOKYO--Toshiba Corporation today announced a new organization for its board of directors and senior management that will enhance corporate governance and reinforce the agile decision-making that is a prerequisite for a truly global enterprise competing in a rapidly changing business environment. The reorganization, along with the personnel changes in the membership of the current board of directors, will become effective from the annual meeting of the company's shareholders, to be held on June 26, 1998.

The reorganization has the twin objectives of providing a sharper focus for the board in its decision-making, while giving greater autonomy and responsiveness to individual business units. The new system will introduce the following changes:

• The current 33-person board will be streamlined to become a 12-person organization responsible for decision making on top management issues, corporate governance and statutory supervisory functions.

• Thirty executive officers will be appointed from the current board members and senior representatives of the business units and corporate staff. The titles of these executive officers will be President and CEO, Senior Executive Vice President, Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Vice President. Ten of them, including the President and CEO, will also be appointed to the board.

• The new board will comprise the Chairman, the President and CEO, nine executive officers and an outside director. The combined total of board members and executive officers will be 32.

The redefined board is part of Toshiba's promotion of structural changes that will assure its responsiveness in the globalized business environment of the 21st century. Further organizational innovations will include a greater decentralization of operations, aimed at enhancing the autonomy and competitiveness of individual businesses.