Professor Saito of Kyoto Sangyo University has producedextensiveanalysis and several papersshowing thatJapanese companies that appoint at least one outside director experience improvement in operating performance and more dependable projections.
Boards with and without Outside Directors: An Empirical Comparison
The Determinants of Board Composition when Managers Control Director Selection: Evidence from Japan
Presence of Outside Directors, Board Effectiveness and Firm Performance; Ecidence from Japan
Professor Saito's analysis is excellent, is based on a long-term time series data set, andincludes many other fascinating findings and observations. He has veryaccurately discernedthat Japan is a market where the question can evenone outside director make a difference? What sort of difference? – which makes it verydifferent frommany other markets, where the historical presence ofmany outside directors insertsstatic into the data makes things very difficult for traditional analyses that focusonquestion likedoes increasing the numberINEDs correlate with performance?
The Board Director Training Institute (BDTI) is a "public interest" nonprofit in Japan dedicated to training about directorship, corporate governance, and related management techniques. It is certified by the Japanese government to conduct these activities as a regulated nonprofit. Read a summary about BDTI here, and see a menu of its services for both corporations and investors here.