Corporate Governance: What Can Be Learned From Japan?
Simon Learmount
Abstract
This book explores current thinking on corporate governance by way of a detailed study of the governance practices of fourteen Japanese companies. The author of this book was granted extensive access to these Japanese companies, as well as to their partner companies, their shareholders, and their banks, and was therefore able to provide a detailed insight into the way that Japanese companies are actually governed on a day-to-day basis. The book suggests that current mainstream conceptualizations of corporate governance are inadequate, as they do not help to understand the way that these Japane ... More
This book explores current thinking on corporate governance by way of a detailed study of the governance practices of fourteen Japanese companies. The author of this book was granted extensive access to these Japanese companies, as well as to their partner companies, their shareholders, and their banks, and was therefore able to provide a detailed insight into the way that Japanese companies are actually governed on a day-to-day basis. The book suggests that current mainstream conceptualizations of corporate governance are inadequate, as they do not help to understand the way that these Japanese companies are directed and controlled in practice. In the majority of cases, governance operates through a system which draws on the reciprocal obligations, responsibilities, and trust generated in everyday interactions at the individual and organizational level. The conclusions of the research have important implications not only for our understanding of the Japanese system of corporate governance, but also for international corporate governance policy and research in general. In particular, the book commends greater recognition that alongside the currently dominant concern ‘controlling’ the behaviour of company managers, the governance of companies might equally be considered in terms of the responsibilities, reciprocal obligations, and trust inherent in everyday interactions.
Keywords:
Japanese companies,
Japanese economy,
reciprocal obligations,
individual interactions,
corporate governance policy,
corporate governance research,
company managers
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2004 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199269082 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2007 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199269082.001.0001 |
