On June 14th, BDTI held its English Director Boot Camp , attended by a number of highly experienced participants. Participants from various companies heard lectures about corporate governance by Nicholas Benes and Andrew Silberman of AMT, and exchanged experiences and opinions at a spacious, comfortable room kindly donated for our use by Cosmo Public Relations, a leading communications and PR firm in Tokyo.
Discussion Forum
METRICAL: CG Top 20 stocks slightly underperformed in May… and a focus on board chairs
Chair of the Board of Directors
We would like to highlight the function of the chair of the board. Of about 1,800 companies, only 27 companies are chaired by an outside director. This indicates just how resistant inside directors are in entrusting the position of chair of the board to an outside director. The table below shows the 27 companies.
Corporate Governance in Japan: What Has Changed in the Past Three Years?
I recently gave a presentation in which I tried to answer this question. Here are the top-line conclusions:
- Investors are finding their voting voices
- Now they need to find to find their asking voices
- There is a way to tear down the “allegiant shareholder ” wall
- Factors that correlate with superior performance include: >= independent directors, low “allegiant” holdings, >15% female directors, and age of firm <45 years
- Activism is becoming more effective
These conclusions are based on a huge amount of time-series data we have collected. We are now building a comprehensive time-series database that includes not only financial data, but all text and numerical data from financial reports and CG Reports, as well as tabulated AGM voting results for each resolution. The data will be organized so that one can zero in on exactly the data one needs. Here is a simple example showing board practices parameters, historical AGM participation and CEO approval rates, and the trend of ownership of “allegiant shareholdings”:
Konosuke Matsushita’s View of Corporations, Executives, and Shareholders
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At BDTI we liked these pieces written by Konsuke Matsushita so much that we (BDTI) jointly translated them and got permission from PHP Institute to re-publish.
It turns out that “the God of Japanese management” (and the founder of Panasonic) was leery of cross-shareholdings… and was rather modern in his thinking.
Japan’s Corporate Governance Conundrum, and How Investors Can Solve it
Out of more than 700 defined-benefit corporate pension plans in Japan, only five non-financial corporate pension plans have signed the SC. Second, a major portion of Japan’s asset owners are the companies themselves, in the form of direct “policy holdings” of the shares issued by other companies. Japan’s dual walls of “conflicted pension governance” and “allegiant shareholders” need to be torn down. Here is how it can be done.
METRICAL: CG Top 20 stocks expanded outperformance amid the recovery market in April.
CG Top 20 stocks expanded outperformance amid the recovery market in April.
April stock prices continued relatively firm supported by US market. The quality CG stocks expanded outperformance toward the end of April.
You can download our full report for April here.
April 18th “Director Boot Camp” – Another Successful Program! Next Course: June 14th, 2019!
On April 18th, BDTI held its English Director Boot Camp , attended by a number of highly experienced participants. Participants from various companies heard lectures about corporate governance by Nicholas Benes and Andrew Silberman of AMT, and exchanged experiences and opinions at a spacious, comfortable room kindly donated for our use by Cosmo Public Relations, a leading communications and PR firm in Tokyo.
METRICAL:“Corporate Governance Rating of Japan’s 1,800 companies (March 2019)”
March stock prices recovered after sharp drop in January. The quality CG stocks expanded outperformance during the continuing uncertain market environment toward the end of March. This month, we highlight capital allocation.
Governance Progress in Japan, – Pension Governance – Next, Rules for Listed Subsidiaries?
Nice to see that my personal push that resulted in the CG Code revision re pension fund governance mentioned in the article below, has now led to 14 pensions of non-financial corporates that signed the Stewardship Code…. up from one two years ago. https://www.al-in.jp/investmentjapan/2922/ But as to independent directors on boards, keep in mind that […]
February 12th “Director Boot Camp” – Lots of Great Discussion! Next Course: April 18th, 2019!
On February 12th, BDTI held its English Director Boot Camp , attended by a number of highly experienced participants. Participants from various companies heard lectures about corporate governance by Nicholas Benes and Andrew Silberman of AMT, and exchanged experiences and opinions at a spacious, comfortable room kindly donated for our use by Cosmo Public Relations, a leading communications and PR firm in Tokyo.