BBC (December 19)
“Once a poster boy for Japan’s dominance in electronics—known as Japan Inc—the company has delisted, ending a 74-year history with Tokyo’s stock exchange.” The reasons for “such a spectacular fall from grace” are numerous and the challenge for Japan Investment Corp (JIC), which led a group of investors in purchasing the remnants for $14 billion, is immense. While JIC has successfully revived other failing businesses, “Toshiba is a much bigger company and the stakes are high.”
Tags: $14 billion, Challenge, Delisted, Dominance, Electronics, Failing businesses, Fall, Japan Inc., JIC Investors, Revived, Stakes, Toshiba, TSE
Bloomberg (June 15)
“If Toshiba Corp. tried to bully hedge funds through the government, that’s a bad look all around. The only parties who come off well are the activists the company allegedly aimed to suppress…. In the end, it looks like activist hedge funds aren’t so big and bad after all. They’re doing what they’re supposed to do. Now it’s open season for Japan Inc.”
Tags: Activist, Activists, Bad look, Bully, Government, Hedge funds, Japan Inc., Suppress, Toshiba
Wall Street Journal (June 11)
A report on Toshiba “harked back to the days when Japan Inc. was a popular term to describe the perceived tight linkage between big business and government in blocking foreign influence in Japan.” The company-commissioned report found that Toshiba Corp. “worked closely with Japanese government officials to block foreign-based shareholders from exercising their rights, using inappropriate threats and language such as ‘beat them up.’”
Tags: Big business, Foreign, Government, Inappropriate, Influence, Japan Inc., Linkage, Report, Rights, Shareholders, Threats, Toshiba
South China Morning Post (November 25)
The unfolding truth “appears to be rather different” than “the narrative spun by Nissan and apparently condoned by Japanese authorities.” When the full story about Ghosn is revealed, “it threatens to do at least as much damage to the reputation of the government and industry alliance known as Japan Inc as to the man at the centre of the affair” for it increasingly appears “Nissan’s old guard struck back against their ‘gaijin’ savior.”
Tags: Alliance, Authorities, Damage, Ghosn, Government, Industry, Japan Inc., Nissan, Reputation, Truth, Unfolding
Bloomberg (April 3)
“Japan Inc. is on track to overtake China in overseas dealmaking for the first time in six years.” According to Bloomberg data, “Japanese companies have announced $26.9 billion of overseas acquisitions this year, compared with $16.5 billion by Chinese buyers.” The reversal is fueled by “a hunt for growth at Japanese firms…at a time when China’s most prolific acquirers have been hobbled by regulatory probes and new outbound investment rules.”
Tags: Acquirers, Acquisitions, China, Dealmaking, Growth, Japan Inc., Outbound investment, Overseas, Regulatory probes, Reversal
Nikkei Asian Review (March 15)
“Japan Inc. still clings to outdated norms like seniority-based promotion and pay. Women still generally face more ‘non-regular’ job offers than full-time ones. Tokyo’s governance upgrades are no match for opaque practices that fueled false-data scandals at Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Materials, Toray Industries and elsewhere.”
Tags: False-data, Governance, Japan Inc., Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Materials, Norms, Outdated, Pay, Promotion, Scandals, Seniority, Toray Industries, Women
Financial Times (September 8)
“Dealmakers salivate over Japan Inc succession survey,” reads the headline. A survey on corporate succession by Japan’s Ministry for Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is being conducted on all first and second section TSE listed companies. The survey “is primarily an attempt to establish just how seriously Japan’s chief executives are taking the country’s corporate governance code a year after it was laid down,” but it may also reveal firms that, lacking a suitable successor, are open to acquisition by foreign companies.
Tags: Acquisition, Dealmakers, Governance, Japan Inc., METI, Succession, Survey, TSE
Wall Street Journal (July 11)
Spurred by Japan’s corporate governance reforms, Nintendo finally relented and committed to broadening its reach to mobile devices. Pokémon Go, one result of this decision, has boosted “the struggling Japanese firm’s market value by $7.5 billion—a turn of corporate fortune with lessons for Japan Inc. …. The fitness-conscious should like a video game that requires players to be active, and Nintendo’s long-suffering shareholders are glad that one of their products is breaking the internet. Here’s hoping other notoriously risk-averse Japanese corporations take the hint.”
Tags: Corporate governance, Japan, Japan Inc., Market value, Mobile, Nintendo, Pokémon Go, Risk-averse, Shareholders, Video game
Financial Times (March 16)
“Some look at surging domestic mergers and a record Y10tn of outbound deals in 2015 and are convinced that the ministry, now known as Meti (the ministry of economy, trade and industry), has indeed recaptured some of its old magic. To them, recent talks to merge the PC units of Fujitsu and Toshiba, and Osaka Steel’s takeover of rival Tokyo Kohtetsu, show the ministry is running Japan Inc once again.”
Tags: Domestic mergers, Fujitsu, Japan Inc., METI, Osaka Steel, Outbound deals, Surging, Tokyo Kohtetsu, Toshiba
Bloomberg (July 26)
“Everyone from officials at the U.S. Treasury to punters in London trading pits to salarymen in Osaka are so ecstatic to see a Japanese leader acting boldly that they’ve forgotten to study his strategy. It’s great that Abe wants to shake Japan Inc. out of two decades of complacency. It’s equally important, though, that his fixes are the right ones and are implemented carefully.”
Tags: Abe, Bold, Japan, Japan Inc., Leader, London, Osaka, Salarymen, Strategy, Trading, Treasury, U.S.
