Tag: Diversity

What Needs to be Added to the “Action Program for Accelerating Corporate Governance Reform: From Form to Substance”

2024-08-23 posted by

Nicholas Benes
Representative Director, The Board Director Training Institute of Japan (BDTI)
(The following is my personal opinion and not that of any organization. This is a translation of the original article.)

As sent to prospective candidates to be the next Prime Minister, in no particular order:
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ken Saito, Minister for Digital Transformation Taro Kono, Minister in Charge of Economic Security Sanae Takaichi, Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party Toshimitsu Motegi, House of Representatives Member Shigeru Ishiba, House of Representatives Member Shinjiro Koizumi, House of Representatives Member Takayuki Kobayashi, House of Representatives Member Seiko Noda, House of Representatives Member Katsunobu Kato.

CC: Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Deputy Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Political Research Committee Masahiko Shibayama, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare of the Liberal Democratic Party Akihisa Shiozaki, Deputy Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party Seiji Kihara, House of Representatives Member Kenji Nakanishi.

Japan’s Corporate Governance Code (CGC) and the investor Stewardship Code need to function as “two wheels” of a cart. I had advocated this since 2013, and when I had the opportunity to formally propose the establishment of the CGC to the Liberal Democratic Party in 2014[1], I insisted that the most important thing was to “promote the disclosure of information that enables one to verify governance structure and substance” at firms.

“Governance and oversight are more likely to function effectively on a board that has a majority of truly independent and qualified independent directors.” As of 2014, this dynamic had been recognized in many countries around the world. At the time, I thought that if companies disclosed their actual governance practices and stewardship by investors started functioning well, Japan, as a developed country, would naturally adopt a similar stance within the next five years or so.

Ten years later, however, there is still no serious discussion of these two issues in Japan. Now that global investors are paying more attention to the Japanese stock market, I believe it is time for us to confront these core issues and take the following steps to speed up Japan’s governance transformation.

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Allow Japanese Citizens to Sponsor Foreign Domestic Workers

2020-03-19 posted by 2 Comments

Prime Minister Abe’s requests to close schools nationwide, tele-work from home, and cancel sports events and public gatherings, have caused a great deal of strain on working mothers. More than ever before, now is the time when the Government of Japan (the GOJ) should be accelerating its stated policy to allow Japanese households to sponsor Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs).

Women are being encouraged by the government to enter the labor force, with the expectation that they will become executives and join Boards of Directors. If the government expects to reach its own goal for women to constitute 10 percent all corporate directors during this year (2020), it will need to rapidly increase the range of “options” that women have for childcare and elderly care.

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“What do the Japanese think of non-Japanese CEOs of Japanese companies?” – (One Answer)

2018-07-04 posted by 1 Comment
by Hide Izumi

I have had the honor of working directly with a few, and I think they bring something to the table that is badly lacking right now in this country.

It is a mean but common joke that “world’s strongest army would be run by American generals, German officers and Japanese soldiers.” For me, it really isn’t funny, because it points to a fundamental problem in this country that has been a constant – lack of competent high level leadership.

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BDTI Update to Supporters, June 2018

2018-06-17 posted by

Notes: (1) On this page (at top right), you can sign up to receive our English Newsletter; (2) Sign up to receive the (separate) Japanese Newsletter here; (3) Anyone can support the “SEO” of our web site simply by mentioning BDTI on any web page with a link to this page; (4) For details about the chart, see the overview materials.

” Dear Supporter:   I am writing to update you, and to respectfully ask you or your institution to make a donation of 300,000 Yen or more this year, either as a Sustaining Donor or as a Corporate Participating Member. (As explained below in section 5, the latter category now allows donors which are investing institutions to receive 40% discounts on all BDTI courses/seminars that are open to the public, and to share these discounts with companies in their portfolio.)

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Rudlin Consulting on Nidec’s Work Style Reforms

2018-04-27 posted by

There is an excellent article in Rudlin Consulting’s newsletter about Nidec’s “work – style” reforms, that will probably “hit the spot” for many in Japan. A juicy excerpt: “One area Nidec tackled was unnecessary meetings. In just 4 months at one of their subsidiaries, Tosok, the number of types of meetings was reduced from 156 […]

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Networking forum for non-Japanese executives at Japanese firms and their Japanese counterparts

2018-03-27 posted by

Recently, many major Japanese companies have been bringing non-Japanese executives to Japan to fill key roles in their global operations. Diversifying the ranks of senior executives is an important step forward for Japanese firms. But it also represents a significant change in terms of how communication and decision-making works at the highest levels of the organization.
Non-Japanese executives working in Japan have few chances to meet their peers at other Japanese firms. There are also few chances to have in-depth and meaningful conversations about the unique issues faced by Japanese companies in the process of becoming truly global entities.

Based on its long experience organizing forums for Japanese executives, the well-regarded Business Research Institute is establishing a new forum designed for non-Japanese executives in Japan and their Japanese counterparts to participate in together. This new forum will provide an important opportunity for networking and discussion. It will be held entirely in English, and will provide the opportunity for frank and in-depth exchange of opinions in a confidential setting.

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”Global and Regional Trends in Corporate Governance for 2017” by Russell Reynolds Associates

2017-02-12 posted by

”Russell Reynolds Associates recently interviewed numerous institutional and activist investors, pension fund managers, public company directors and other governance professionals about the trends and challenges that public company boards will face in 2017. Our conversations yielded a wide array of perspectives about the forces that are driving change in the corporate governance landscape.

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”OECD Survey of Corporate Governance Framework in Asia”

2017-02-06 posted by

”The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has recently released a report of a survey that was conducted based on the responses to a questionnaire on corporate governance frameworks that was disseminated to partner organisations in the 14 participating Asian jurisdictions in May 2016. These included Bangladesh, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The survey which is a useful document to all stakeholders that are working towards  corporate governance reforms in the region is a reflection of current status of practices and standards. Role of stakeholders, disclosure of related parties, shareholder rights, board and ownerships structures are some of the key areas highlighted.”

Read the  full report here.

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Glass Ceilings or Sticky Floors? An analysis of the gender wage gap across the wage distribution in Japan, by HARA Hiromi (Japan Women’s University)

2016-11-30 posted by

Abstract

This study examines the gender wage gap across the wage distribution in Japan using large sample data for 1990, 2000, and 2014. The results of the Firpo-Fortin-Lemieux decomposition show that the part of the observed gender gap that is not explained by gender differences in human capital is larger at the top and at the bottom of the wage distribution, indicating that both a glass ceiling and a sticky floor exist for women in the Japanese labor market…….

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