Nippon Paint Holdings
Global holding company now united behind purpose and business principles.
Expertise Areas
- Brand Research & Diagnostics
- Corporate Purpose & Purpose Led Transformation
- Brand Architecture Management
- Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Strategy & Advice
- Putting Purpose into Practice (PPiP)®
When you think of organisations that are actively confronting and solving global issues you don’t instantly think of a global holding company. But as one of the world’s leading paint and coatings groups, Nippon Paint Holdings (NPH) develop and supply innovative products that respond to changes in society and the environment. With aggressive global growth aspirations and renewed leadership, it was the prime opportunity to develop the global purpose and business principles.
Painting the picture
With humble beginnings in Japan over 140 years ago, NPH is now a key global player in the paint and coating industry. With 30,000+ employees, operations in Asia, North America, Europe, South America, and Oceania, and valued at over US$35B, it’s an impressive group.
NPH has a corporate tradition of confronting and solving social issues by developing innovative paint and coating technologies, such as paints that keep buildings cool, coatings that reduce carbon emissions, paints that mix in nano technology, and coatings that can reduce the spread of disease.
As they expand and purchase more impressive companies around the globe, NPH’s brand and stakeholder engagement has become more important than ever — and we were on hand to develop and align the group behind a global purpose and business principles.

Embracing cultural differences to inspire growth
Utilising our proprietary diagnostic research tools and purpose workshops, alongside extensive collaboration and engagement with the global leadership teams, we were able to craft a brand philosophy that reflected NPH’s rich legacy.
The approach, and subsequent strategy, reflected and respected a range of cultures, roles, languages, and backgrounds, with the Japanese and Chinese translations carefully composed to stay ‘true’ to their intent.
The Business Principles engage, align, and empower the global business leaders to grow their own companies in the right way, whilst respecting their own unique cultures and business approach.

Enriching our living world
NPH’s new global purpose, “Enriching our living world through the power of Science + Imagination”, unites and inspires growth across the diverse businesses and cultures, whilst the Business Principles ‘Prosper Together’, ‘ Powerful Partnerships’, and ‘Science + Imagination’ bring clarity, collaboration, and a growth focus to the partner companies.
The purpose and Business Philosophy proudly underlines NPH’s commitment to making the world better and more sustainable by using technological strengths to tackle social challenges and to contribute to increasing wealth in society, whilst also delivering to the key objective of MSV.
“This global understanding of who we are as a group will allow us to become a truly exceptional company, committed to contributing value to society beyond achieving revenue and sales targets.”
Masaaki Tanaka | Chairman, President & CEO NPH