A certified "public interest" nonprofit
Make a new forum entry
According to some academics, there is goodstatistical evidence of a correlation between the presence of parent companies and PE funds and superior firm performance, but the evidence is weak that the presence of independent directors improves firm performance.
BDTI hasreceived a new comment on METI'sproposed Joint Audit Committee Company. Please see below. (Admin.)
CLSA and the Asian Corporate Governance Association have published their 2010 version of CG Watch Asia. Japan's score moved up a to 57%, a level that however is still 23 percentage points below what ACGA considers to be the global best-practice score of 80%.The Japan section of the report is available on BDTI' data library. The full report can be purchased from ACGA.
What is the general reaction to METI's proposal to amend the Company Law toenable formation ofa thirdtypeof company, a joint audit committee-style company? It isdescribedon pages 36-38 of this document: http://bdti.mastertree.jp/f/os68ejbz
NOTE: the summary translation file that was attached to the comment that was subsequently submitted in response (below) is available at: http://bdti.mastertree.jp/f/p5k7vzjg
(Reply to comment made yesterday.) Your idea* is a good one, but I believe that a much bolder reform of the corporategovernance framework is needed for Japan's markets.
The harsh reality is thatthe quality of corporate governance in Japan has lost much credibility and itslaws and rulesnow lag most other countries in Asia.
Unlike US courts, Japanese courts almost never cite, describe, distinguish, etc. other cases.
As noted in a separate entry below, the Legal System Advisory Council will soon discuss (if not largely decide) some ofthe most important issues affecting corporate governance in Japan. BDTIencourages parties with opinions on these topics to submit them to BDTIas soon as possible. –>
The Company Law Committee of the MOJ's Legal System Advisory Council has announced its schedule and agenda for meetings over the next few months. (http://bdti.mastertree.jp/f/ubqlzgph) Read more–>
I have a question for anyone experienced who has ever sat on a Japanese board. What specific practices, which are not included in those required by law, have you found to be most helpful in dealing with difficult situations or making sure that key issues, risks or possible problems were not missed?
News Item: Shareholder-friendlyJapan does not need to adoptproxy access. Why not? Because it already haspermitted it, much more liberally than the U.S., for decades. One wonders whether all the doomsayersnow predicting chaos in the U.S. are aware of this fact.