Author: Admin

Managing Human Resources in the Age of VUCA and Diversity — Advice from Levent Arabaci, Former CTRO at Hitachi

2022-04-13 posted by

Japan has created a council to consider a “new form of capitalism”, stating that it aims to lead in the areas of “sustainability and human capital”. At the same time, the corporate governance code states that “in light of the importance of human resource strategies …companies should present their policies for human resource development and the internal environment development to ensure diversity.” Abroad, foreign companies continue to compete globally based on constantly refining their systems for managing HR, attracting and developing talent, and drawing on diversity as a source of competitive advantage.

Here in Japan, Hitachi has been a leader in this area under the leadership of the late CEO Hiroaki Nakanishi and Levent Arabaci, who until recently served as Chief Transformation Officer (CTRO) for Global Operations, and previously was the EVP of Human Resources starting in 2012.

In this webinar, Mr. Arabaci will describe the range of modern HR practices that Hitachi has put in place during the past 10 years, spanning areas such as talent mapping, career planning and development, performance evaluations, practices for promotions, and increases in diversity. BDTI Representative Director Nicholas Benes will interview Mr. Arabaci to identify the biggest challenges Hitachi has faced, and to reveal his concrete advice as to how other Japanese companies can overcome similar challenges.

Next, we will be joined by Takeo Yamaguchi (ex-Hitachi) and Christiane Iwanoff of Olympus, two persons with extensive experience at HR management. The panel participants will share their experiences and perspectives, will consider additional issues that have arisen in recent years, such as the impact of WFH, addressing work-life balance, and building more diverse, innovative organizations.

Date:     　　　 June 1, 2022(Wed.)  12:00-14:30

Location:         Zoom Web Conference

Charge: 　　    Free

Read More

BDTI FY2021 Update to Supporters

2022-04-05 posted by

The 2021 fiscal year was very difficult for BDTI, but it was also very fruitful. Our activities not only increased in terms of frequency and numbers, but also breadth as our organization rose to the challenge!

Activities and Milestones

Training Activities

  •  BDTI trained 342 persons in director training programs, broken down as follows:
    ▸ 122 in our three programs to which anyone can apply (13 programs)
    ◦ 32 in our new “advanced” course, focusing on the role of outside directors
    ◦ 16 in a joint course that included a section on diversity management
    ▸ 169 were trained in programs that were customized for specific corporations
    ◦ 64 of these were in programs where executives at subsidiaries received training
    ▸ 32% of the participants in our non-corporate director training programs were women, more than four times the average % of female directors on Japanese boards. This figure will likely increase in FY2022 because of a generous sponsored program to fund “training scholarships” for women
  •  608 persons attended our seven BDTI webinars, in which leading experts focused on these topics:
    ▸ “Understanding D&O insurance”
    ▸ “Engagement by investors – recent techniques”
    ▸ “Collective engagement in Japan: issues and obstacles”
    ▸ “ESG management” and “ESG disclosure”
    ▸ “Effective dialogue with investors, and the use of analyses and letters”
    ▸“The market for corporate control, and takeover defenses”
    ▸ “Factors affecting the selection of the legal form of governance” (from among the three types)
  • Upcoming webinars include an update on the ISSB’s direction, and global HR management.
  • At least 3,000 persons either received (or had access to) BDTI’s four e-Learning modules, including two megabanks and multiple corporate groups using our “unrestricted use” package

“Missionary Work” – Updating Institutional Investors

  •  I gave 14 speeches to different groups, comprising both Japanese and foreign institutional investors groups, adding up to a total “audience” of approximately 1,620 persons

Consulting and Data Activities – Now Starting to Contribute to BDTI’ s Long-term Sustainability

  • BDTI conducted consulting assignments for, or sold data to, 29 counterparties
  • Sold GoToData Dashboard service (demo it here: https://gotodata.jp/demo/home.php )
  • Sold direct access to BDTI’s detailed database with unique data and text to major institutions
Read More

“Oasis Announces “Women’s Director Training Scholarship” Initiative for International Women’s Day in Cooperation with BDTI of Japan” (Press Release)

2022-03-07 posted by

(Text of the Press Release)

Investment firm Oasis to sponsor board director training courses through The Board Director Training Institute of Japan for all qualified women who enroll in March.

March 8, 2022, TOKYO – In honor of International Women’s Day, Oasis Management Company Ltd. (“Oasis”) and the Board Director Training Institute of Japan (“BDTI”) have announced a new month-long initiative to sponsor board director training courses for women.

Throughout the month of March 2022, Oasis will pay all costs for qualified women who enroll to take any of BDTI’s director training courses as described below. These Japanese and English-language training programs have been designed by leading experts in Japan to prepare candidates to serve as directors or executive officers in Japan.

The goal of the initiative is to equip highly qualified women leaders with the skills and training needed to succeed as board directors, and to proactively address the imbalance in board gender diversity in Japan by expanding the pipeline of board-ready women director candidates.

“Improving gender diversity on boards in Japan by adding qualified female directors is something we are focused on and believe will improve governance and competitiveness at Japanese companies,” Seth Fischer, the Founder & Chief Investment Officer of Oasis said. “We strongly encourage all women who are interested to take advantage of this opportunity to access BDTI’s excellent director education programs.”

“Capable, trained female directors bring significant benefits to Japanese boards and companies. We applaud Oasis’s leadership,” Nicholas Benes, BDTI Representative Director, said.

For further information, please contact BDTI at info@bdti.or.jp or 81-3-6432-2337.

Read More

BDTI Partner Fusion Systems: SDGs Through Mobility and Cycling

2022-03-05 posted by

BDTI’s partner Fusion Systems: “As part of their collection of SDG initiatives, Fusion sponsors a cycle road race team called ‘Palatium Tokyo Fusion Systems’….Fusion believes mobility is an essential element of development strategies that aim to achieve SDGs. Meeting the needs of people who cycle continues to be a critical part of the mobility solution […]

Read More

2/7 “Director Boot Camp” Held by Zoom! Next Courses: 4/18!

2022-02-08 posted by

On February 7th, BDTI held its English Director Boot Camp via teleconference. The day-long intensive course was attended by 10 highly-experienced and highly interactive participants. The participants heard lectures about corporate governance by Nicholas Benes along with a guest lecture by Andrew Silberman of AMT, and exchanged experiences and opinions. Even during a pandemic, training continued smoothly, with all participants chiming in with insightful comments and questions.

We are planning to hold the next course on April 18(Mon)2022. Sign up early! Please see a description of our director training course here or click the button below for further information.

Read More

11/18 “Director Boot Camp” Held by Zoom! Next Courses: 2022.2.7!

2021-11-25 posted by


 

On July 13th, still in the midst of the pandemic, BDTI held its English Director Boot Camp via teleconference. The day-long intensive course was attended by 6 highly-experienced and highly interactive participants. The participants heard lectures about corporate governance by Nicholas Benes along with a guest lecture by Andrew Silberman of AMT, and exchanged experiences and opinions. Even during a pandemic, training continued smoothly, with all participants chiming in with insightful comments and questions.

We are planning to hold the next course on February 7(Mon)2022. Sign up early! Please see a description of our director training course here or click the button below for further information.

Read More

Eiichi Shibusawa: The Spirit of Japanese Ethical Capitalism & Sustainability

2021-11-12 posted by

Ken Shibusawa and Christina Ahmadjian, and Joshua W Walker Thank you –that was an excellent, concise explanation/introduction about ” Eiichi Shibusawa: The Spirit of Japanese Ethical Capitalism & Sustainability”. Well done! To others: worth watching. I am always impressed by how deeply persons like Shibusawa thought about issues related to capitalism and its related social issues that need to be addressed, even at very early stages in its birth. When I have taught business ethics, I really appreciate reading the thoughts of Shibusawa, Adam Smith, Andrew Carnegie, and others. (webinar by the @JapanSociety_SF @japansociety )

Posted by Nicholas Benes

Read More

ICGN Excellence in Corporate Governance Programme 2021

2021-09-13 posted by

 

Seems like a good program. If you sign up, kindly please also tell us at info@bdti.or.jp so we can get credit for the introduction.

This 4-part course builds an awareness of how institutional investors with globally diversified portfolios analyse corporate governance practices and a company’s approach to generating long-term value. The curriculum focuses on recent changes to the Japan Corporate Governance Code and standards expected of JPX listed companies, particularly the new Prime Market segment. The ICGN Course provides:

  • Global Investor Lens with ICGN Member opinion responsible for AuM in excess of over $59 trillion, based in over 40 countries
  • Best Practices based on ICGN’s Global Governance Principles used by ICGN Members in voting polices and company engagement
  • Local Relevance applicable to national standards/regulations and clarity around any differences between local and global standards
  • Practical Experience featuring live case studies from international investors and pre-recorded keynote speeches

The ICGN Faculty is a prestigious group of professionals with practical experience from the corporate and investment field. Each 90-minute module will include insights and case studies presented by an international guest (with simultaneous interpretation) and teaching from the lead faculty member in Japanese language. Participants can also view a pre-recorded 15-minute keynote speech from an influential governance practitioner.

Read More

“Carbonwashing: A New Type of Carbon Data-related ESG Greenwashing” (Young and Schumacher)

2021-07-30 posted by

“ Despite the increased attention and capital incentives around corporate sustainability, the development of sustainability reporting standards and monitoring systems has been progressing at a slow pace. As a result, companies have misaligned incentives to deliberately or selectively communicate information not matched with actual environmental impacts or make largely unsubstantiated promises around future ambitions. These incidents are broadly called “greenwashing,” but there is no clear consensus on its definition and taxonomy. We pay particular attention to the threat of greenwashing concerning carbon emission reductions by coining a new term, “carbonwashing.” Since carbon mitigation is the universal goal, the corporate carbon performance data supply chain is relatively more advanced than that of the entire sustainability data landscape. Nonetheless, the threat of carbonwashing persists, even far more severe than general greenwashing due to the financial values attached to corporate carbon performance. This paper contextualizes sustainable finance-related carbonwashing via an outline of the communication as well as the measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) of carbon emission mitigation performance. Moreover, it proposes several actionable policy recommendations on how industry stakeholders and government regulators can reduce carbonwashing risks.”

Read More

7/13 “Director Boot Camp” Held by Zoom! Next Courses: 2021.09.07 & 11.18!

2021-07-14 posted by

On July 13th, still in the midst of the pandemic, BDTI held its English Director Boot Camp via teleconference. The day-long intensive course was attended by 10 highly-experienced and highly interactive participants. The participants heard lectures about corporate governance by Nicholas Benes along with a guest lecture by Andrew Silberman of AMT, and exchanged experiences and opinions. Even during a pandemic, training continued smoothly, with all participants chiming in with insightful comments and questions.

We are planning to hold the next course on September 7th(Tue) & November 18th (Thur) 2021. Sign up early! Please see a description of our director training course here or click the button below for further information.

Read More