METI-RIETI Symposium

Corporate Governance Reform in Japan: Lessons from the United Kingdom

Announcement

The debate on the future of corporate governance in Japan is growing. First, strengthening and improving corporate governance will improve the financial policy of firms and enhance their efficiency. Second, through the expansion of foreign direct investment (FDI), a virtuous cycle including the invigoration of the market, facilitation of funding, and the acceleration of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are expected. Japan has passed a revised Companies Act that encourages businesses to appoint independent outside directors, and has also started using its own version of the UK Stewardship Code which calls on institutional investors to seek out engagement actively with the companies in which they invest. Furthermore, compilation of the Japan's corporate governance code and restrictive measures on cross-shareholding are under progress.

In this symposium, Professor Colin Mayer of the University of Oxford will present the experiences of the United Kingdom based on his unique theory of corporate governance, and will then provide recommendations for the Japanese corporate governance reform. Professor Mayer is a leading researcher on corporate finance and governance in Europe, and has recently published his book Firm Commitment: Why the corporation is failing us and how to restore trust in it.

After the keynote speech, there will be a panel discussion in which the following topics will be discussed extensively:

  • Relation between business growth and corporate governance
  • International characteristics of corporate governance in Japan
  • Desired board composition and corporate governance of listed companies
  • Issues in exercising the stewardship code
  • Challenges in establishing the corporate governance code

Information

  • Time and Date: 14:00-16:30, Thursday, October 16, 2014
  • RIETI's seminar room #1121 (METI Annex 11th Floor)
  • Languages: English / Japanese (with simultaneous interpretation)
  • Admission: Free
  • Hosts: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) / Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)
  • Seating Capacity: 150
  • Contact: RIETI (Mr.) HASHIMOTO (E-mail)
    Tel: 03-3501-8398 Fax: 03-3501-8416

Program

14:00-14:10 Opening Remarks

MIYAJIMA Hideaki's photo

MIYAJIMA Hideaki (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University / Director, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study)

Bio

Hideaki Miyajima is Professor at Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University and Director of Waseda Insitute for Advanced Study (WIAS). After serving as Research Associate at the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, Professor Miyajima joined Waseda University's School of Commerce in 1987. He is also a Faculty Fellow at RIETI (2002-present), Special Research Fellow at the Policy Research Institute of Japan's Ministry of Finance (2001-present), Adjunct Professor at Chung-Ang University (2001-present), Affiliated Researcher of Fondation France-Japon de l'EHESS (2010-present), and he has served at the Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies, Harvard University, as a Visiting Researcher (1992-94 and 2004-2005). His research focuses on the Japanese economy, economic history of Japan, corporate finance, and corporate governance. He holds a Ph.D. in Commerce from Waseda University.

Major publications: Corporate Governance in Japan: Institutional Change and Organizational Diversity (with Masahiko Aoki and Gregory Jackson), Oxford University Press, 2007; Changes and Continuity in Japan (with S. Maswood and D. Graham), Routledge Curzon Press, 2002.
Profile

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14:10-15:00 Keynote Speech: "Corporate Governance Reform in Japan: Lessons from the UK and Elsewhere"

Colin MAYER's photo

Colin MAYER (Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford)

Bio

Colin Mayer is the Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. He is a Professorial Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford and an Honorary Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford and St Anne's College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the European Corporate Governance Institute, and the Royal Society of Arts. He is a member of the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal and the UK government Natural Capital Committee.

Professor Mayer was the first professor at the Saïd Business School in 1994, the Peter Moores Dean of the Business School between 2006 and 2011, and the first Director of the Oxford Financial Research Centre between 1998 and 2005. He was a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University, a Houblon-Norman Fellow at the Bank of England, the first Leo Goldschmidt Visiting Professor of Corporate Governance at the Solvay Business School, Université de Bruxelles, and has had visiting positions at Columbia, MIT and Stanford universities.

Professor Mayer was chairman of Oxera Ltd. between 1986 and 2010 and was instrumental in building the company into what is now one of the largest independent economics consultancies in Europe. He is a director of Aurora Energy Research Ltd. He has consulted for numerous large corporations and for governments, regulators and international agencies around the world.

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15:00-16:30 Panel Discussion

Panelists:

Colin MAYER's photo

Colin MAYER (Peter Moores Professor of Management Studies, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford)

ITO Akihiro's photo

ITO Akihiro (CFO, Member of the Board of Kirin Holdings Company, Limited)

Bio

Akihiro Ito is CFO and Member of the Board of Kirin Holdings Co., Ltd. since 2014.

Mr. Ito joined Kirin Brewery Co., Ltd. in 1983, and has served as General Manager of Planning Dept. at Kirin Pharma Co., Ltd. (2007), GM at Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd., (2008), and GM of Finance & Accounting Dept. of Kirin Group (2010-2014).

Mr. Ito is a Chartered Member of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan and a Certified International Investment Analyst. He received his Master of Science in Management (MSM) from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

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OBA Akiyoshi's photo

OBA Akiyoshi (President & CEO, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co., Ltd. / A member of the Corporate Governance System Study Group at METI)

Bio

Akiyoshi Oba has been President and CEO of Tokio Marine Asset Management Co., Ltd., since June 2009. He is Chairman of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan, a member of the METI's Study Group on the Corporate Governance System and the Ito Review of Competitiveness and Incentives for Sustainable Growth-Building Favorable Relationships between Companies and Investors.

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SHISHIDO Zenichi's photo

SHISHIDO Zenichi (Professor, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University)

Bio

Zenichi Shishido is Professor at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS), Hitotsubashi University since 2009. Professor Shishido taught at Seikei University (1983-2009), and has been a Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School (1998-1999) and Harvard Law School (2005). He continues to be a Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall) on a regular basis. Professor Shishido is a well-known authority on Japanese and comparative corporate governance, having written extensively on the subject in both Japanese and English. He has served on advisory committees to Japan's Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI) and Ministry of Justice (MOJ). He holds LLB and PhD from the University of Tokyo. Selected Publications: "Enterprise Law: Contracts, Markets, and Laws in the US and Japan", Edward Elgar, 2014; "The Turnaround of 1997: Changes in Japanese Corporate Law and Governance", in Masahiko Aoki et al., eds., Corporate Governance in Japan: Institutional Change and Organizational Diversity, Oxford University Press, 2007

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Moderator:

MIYAJIMA Hideaki's photo

MIYAJIMA Hideaki (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University / Director, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study)