Thanks to the sponsorship of Advisory Research (Drew Edwards) and Econvue (Lyric Hale), Nicholas Benes of BDTI gave a seminar/course on the topic of “The Vital Role of Director Training in Japan’s Corporate Governance Reforms”, in Chicago on September 26, 2016.
Theme of the Seminar: The Board Director Training Institute of Japan (BDTI) is a government-certified nonprofit providing one-day “director training” courses in English and Japanese, and governance-related seminars and e-learning courses. These programs teach participants key knowledge needed to serve on, report to, or analyze boards in Japan. What topics are covered by such programs, and why? What issues surround the introduction of director training, or governance training, in the case of Japan? Why is training believed to be utterly essential to the success of Japan’s corporate governance reforms? What is the best approach – who needs to be trained, and how? Why is the potential upside for Japan’s economy big?
In the latter half of the seminar, the lecturer led interactive discussion about what the reforms mean from an investor’s perspective, what sort of debates are taking place “behind the scenes” in Japanese companies now, and what sort of tactics for investment and engagement with Japanese companies are likely to be most effective.
Discussion was active and appears to have given investors and participants a much clearer idea of the changes that are now underway in Japan, and the dynamics behind them.