BDTI Update, Plans for Next Year, and Scholarships Initiative

As the pandemic wound down through 2022, BDTI returned to in-person training. During FY2023, fully 55% of the participants in our “open enrollment” programs were women, thanks in large part to a generously sponsored program that funded “training scholarships” for women. The year before, the equivalent figure was only 32% – and even that was a significant increase from the past. We would like to maintain this level of 50%+ female participation in order to spread knowledge of governance and directorship skills throughout Japanese society, which is BDTI’s core mission, and to promote the active inclusion of women in director and executive roles as part of that mission.

According to a METI survey, only 20% of listed companies are “taking action on director training”. In addition, while the CGC and related rules have enhanced disclosure, this new data is significantly underutilized. In FY2023, BDTI plans to furthe increase the quality and breadth of its programs, and to provide “big data” which facilitates effective stewardship and thereby improves the economy. To achieve our goals, we need to ask for your kind financial support.
Below, we are pleased to report on our activities through March 2023 and our planned activities for the fiscal year 2023. BDTI’s report on its 2022 activities and FY2023 plans is also available here in PDF format.

FY2022 Update

Plans for FY2023

BDTI’s “Director Training for Women Initiative 2023″

Purpose: By providing support for potential female board candidates and directors who wish to update their skills, this program will provide an opportunity for them to acquire knowledge of governance theory/practice, related laws, and finance at an early stage, or to deepen their current knowledge. By assisting in developing such knowledge and skills, institutional investors can help improve diversity, revitalize companies, and train some of their own staff. In addition, creating an opportunity for talented and motivated women to become acquainted will broaden their perspectives and personal networks, thereby increasing their potential to add value at corporations.

 

BDTI’s “Open Enrollment” Programs

In addition to the “Governance Juku” and the English-language “Director Boot Camp“, which have continued for more than 10 years, the “Shagaitori Juku“(“Outside Directors’ Advanced Course”), which was launched in 2021 to focus on the practical needs of outside directors, has now been attended by many people as a third “standard course” offered by BDTI. All of our courses are offered to small-number groups,  so as to enable maximum interactive discussion that deepens understanding.

In the “Governance Juku”, participants learn the the most important aspects of corporate governance theory and best practices, corporate and securities law, director duties, and how to read financial statements. There are many mini-cases, and three lengthy case studies are covered at the end of the day. In the “ShagaitoriJuku”, participants learn and discuss about the key issues and practical challenges that confront outside directors on Japanese boards (and methods for dealing with them), after having read extensive frank advice sourced from a diverse group of nine experienced outside directors and five subject-matter experts.

BDTI’s e-learning courses (Company Law, Securities Law, and Corporate Governance) are also popular, with more than 10,000 students having taken them, including from megabanks and trading firms. BDTI believes that it is most beneficial if managers and executives learn the basics an early stage, thereby allowing sufficient time for core knowledge and ” best practice” habits to permeate throughout the organization. For this reason, we offer e-learning at low-cost which can be purchased on either on (a) a per-person, per-course basis or (b) an “Unlimited e-Learning” basis,  available to be used by all employees at an entire company and its subsidiaries.

In addition to the above three training courses, we will launch a new “Role-play” Director Training Course (in Japanese) in FY2023. Designed by BDTI and inspired by real-life cases,  participants will conduct “role play” based on detailed case studies, and discuss the issues in “post-game” analysis.  If you are qualified, we invite you to join us on Monday, April 24, to test your own board skills and gain a better understandings of the board meeting. There are only a few spots left, so register as soon as possible.

BDTI has commenced development of a new course,  “Finance Training”, to be designed specifically for directors and executive officers who are not familiar with finance.  Pending funding, this will be an intensive six-week finance course, focusing on reading and analyzing financial statements, understanding financial analysis, shareholder expectations, and related topics. For instance, the course will teach participants to read BS, P&L, and CF statements, and about working capital, CCC, invested capital, cost of capital, and the various financial ratios. We will strive to deepen intuition about “what are the numbers telling us?” We will also what determines stock prices; capital policy trade-offs; how to evaluate corporate value, acquisition targets, and business units; how to think about adding new businesses and exits; and how to respond to approaches from activists, and other topics.  The course will deepen understanding of the three financial statements and stock valuation.  Analysis of the participants’ own company and its competitors, or other firms, will be conducted using real-life examples appropriate to each participant.

On January 19th, BDTI’s first reunion was held for past participants to exchange ideas via Zoom. We would like to provide more forums where we can stay in touch with past course participants, (and they can network with each other), and possibly introduce recruitment firms. If you have any suggestions for such events (topics), please contact us at BDTI.

For inquiries, please contact BDTI. 

TEL: 03-6432-2337    FAX: 03-6432-2338
Email: info@bdti.or.jp  Web: http://bdti.or.jp/