West Caldwell, NJ, November 3, 2005 – Ricoh Corporation today was inducted into the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for Executing Strategy™. Ricoh received this honor for achieving breakthrough performance results using the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) based on the Kaplan/Norton methodology. The award was presented at the Balanced Scorecard North American Summit in San Francisco, CA.

The Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame is sponsored by the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, a Palladium Group, Inc. company that is dedicated to the worldwide awareness, use, enhancement, and integrity of the Balanced Scorecard, a system that enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action, as a value-added management process.



The BSC Hall of Fame was created in order to publicly recognize organizations around the world that use the Balanced Scorecard in an exemplary manner to become strategy-focused, successfully execute their plan of action and achieve breakthrough performance results. Ricoh was chosen as a recipient of the award for its ability to successfully implement the Balanced Scorecard at the top of the organization and cascade it throughout the Ricoh Family Group of companies to achieve financial growth and attain greater market share.



“At Ricoh Corporation, we are faced with the challenge to grow our business while rising above the competition; therefore, Ricoh’s leadership team implemented the Balanced Scorecard to measure the success of our strategies and operation plans to achieve these goals,” said Sam Ichioka, chairman & CEO of Ricoh Corporation. “As a result, we have experienced continuous growth in business and continuous improvement in our operations, as well as increased customer satisfaction overall.”



To ensure the success of the Balanced Scorecard, Ricoh Corporation proactively designed a strategy map that lays out the objectives for every business unit over a three-year time period. In addition to creating this tool to organize its strategic business plans, Ricoh uses it to provide employees, from the most senior executives to the front-line employees, a clear view of the goals and targets across the organization to help them understand the significance of their individual and team contributions. The strategy map and Balanced Scorecards are then reviewed on both a monthly and quarterly basis to gauge whether or not the organization is on track, as well as to allow Ricoh to develop counter measures as needed.



Utilizing the Balanced Scorecards and strategy map together, Ricoh successfully mobilized change through executive leadership, operational strategy and staff motivation. As a result, since implementing these business practices in 2001, Ricoh has seen consistent growth over the last four years and has held the top spot in the black and white and color product marketplaces for the last several years.



Organizations inducted into the BSC Hall of Fame will be profiled in the annual Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame Report and the bimonthly Balanced Scorecard Report, distributed by Harvard Business School Publishing.





About Ricoh Corporation


Ricoh Corporation, headquartered in West Caldwell, N.J., is a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., the 69-year-old leading supplier of office automation equipment and electronics, with fiscal year 2004 sales in excess of $17 billion, a 1.9 percent increase over the previous year.



Ricoh Corporation is a leading provider of document solutions. Ricoh’s fully integrated hardware and software products help businesses share information efficiently and effectively by enabling customers to control the input, management and output of documents. Ricoh’s line of document management devices include, color and black & white digital imaging systems, facsimile products, printers, scanners, digital duplicators and wide format engineering systems. Additionally, Ricoh offers a wide variety of document and printing solutions directly and through strategic alliances enhancing office productivity and document workflow. Ricoh’s document management software enhances workgroup collaboration and offers secure storage, retrieval and sharing of critical information.



Ricoh Corporation directly or through its subsidiaries markets and distributes products in North, Central and South America. For fiscal year 2004, Ricoh Corporation sales exceeded $2.9 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent over the previous year.



Information about Ricoh's complete range of products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at www.ricoh-usa.com.