Pursuit of Operational Excellence Building an Optimal Production Framework Boosting Operational Efficiency through Use  of External Resources Improving Our Global Medical and  Development Functions Streamlining Assets and Consolidating  Domestic Business Locations Business Strategy We are working to optimize the allocation of management resources to achieve sustainable growth. At the same  time, we are building an organizational structure and systems that will enable us to respond resiliently to the  rapidly changing business environment, while working to enhance operational excellence even further. To maintain a reliable and efficient supply of high-  quality medicines, we continue to make progress in  optimizing our production framework, including succes- sion of business in one of our production subsidiary  plants in Japan. As part of efforts to boost operational efficiency by using  specialized external resources, we have outsourced some  administrative functions shared by the group in Japan to  an external specialist company. This will enable us to  optimize the allocation of resources to functions that can  demonstrate our competitive advantages.  The post of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) was created in  April 2013 to help reinforce Astellas’ medical and devel- opment functions globally. Furthermore, aimed to inte- grate oversight of the product compliance functions with  global development, several functions were unified under  the CMO including pharmacovigilance, medical affairs,  regulatory affairs and quality assurance. To increase our business process efficiency, we relocated  and consolidated functions such as clinical development  and QA in Japan to an office near the Tokyo Headquarters.  In addition to divesting properties owned by the parent  company and some Group companies in Japan, as part of  the reshaping of our research framework, we also signed  an agreement to transfer assets relating to fermentation  research to another company in conjunction with our  withdrawal from fermentation drug discovery research. Annual Report 2014 _  Astellas Pharma Inc.  29 Solutions pursued for Operational Excellence OpEraTiONal  ExCEllENCE Optimal reallocation  of management  resources Effective use of  external resources Professionalism Compliance with regulations and anticipated changes Reviews of organization  and functions