Foreign business groups urge gov't to bolster corporate governance rules

Handsome faces from any angle.

failing to improve Japanese corporate governance will hurt Japan’s economy as a whole, he argued.

is there room for further decline in j-economy?

if you want to play in the worlds sandbox you had better get your act together. this olympus crap just doesnt fly.

Foreign business groups urge gov't to bolster corporate governance rules

And the Japanese ones? They seem awfully quiet.

They are absolutely right of course. What remains to be seen is whether this will be taken as a convenient bit of 'gaiatsu' allowing Japan to take the actions it very obviously needs while blaming someone else for forcing it, or as an unwelcome bit of interference by nosy foreigners which will be resented and ignored. Both very strong strands of the Japanese psyche, I would say.

If this article were praise the Japanese companies would eat it up and pat themselves on the back. Since it is criticism they will simply shrug and say they don't need foreign input on the issue and can manage themselves (clearly they cannot). Anyway, the main point is that if they were to bolster their policies bribery and corruption could not be as rampant as it is now, not to mention amakudari and ties to the yaks.

Japan hates being told what to do, they will ignore it and 1 year later annouch it like they thought of it.

The act of bowing one's head in feudal Japan was usually followed by a short swift stroke to the back of the neck. If this was the case nowadays maybe we wouldn't see these corrupt acts coming to the news

Nicky, their quiet because they're all wondering how they can hide all the money they've stolen from the companies!! No one wants to invest in Japan because this crap is well know. Add in the old style attitudes of the boss knows best and you have an economy that is slowly drowning itself. Seems pride and entitlement is more important than business. I feel for the young guys in these companies but the thing is, these young guys see this stuff and when they hit management level, they do exactly the same thing. Just going to get worse for Japan as this is just the tip of the iceberg.

These foreign business groups are right, Japanese companies certainly do need to practice better governance for the good of their employees and society at large — but the same goes for companies in virtually every other advanced economy.

Corporate greed and recklessness in the advanced economies is what got us into the current global economic crisis. Foreign business groups shaming Japanese business here is definitely a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Shame on them all.

If the Olympus execs claim that they have done nothing illegal, why are their heads bowed so low in the AP photo shown above?

Olympus is hoping very badly this will all go away of course. Where did the $660 million in advisory fees ultimately go? Why did Olympus buy a tupperwar company and then write much of it down? There needs to be a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the individual stockholders that have lost money. Where did the $660 million go???

Nothing shady about sending $687 million to a bank in Cayman Islands? Yeah, right.

I notice the Olympus and Japanese business defenders on here have suddenly gone very quiet.

Nicky, THEIR probably hiding THEIR money! ;)

Foreign business groups urge gov't to bolster corporate governance rules

Just look at that photo....

They can start with the 'canned - we're sorry' antics. Do they honestly think people fall for their poorly acted charade:

"Quick let's make someone senior quit their post, and the rest of us will bow really low for about 7 seconds on TV and we'll pretend to look really concerned and sorry". "Oh don't worry about him, nothing will really change other than his title... He'll keep his seniority, pay and benefits". "Like I said don't worry, we'll be back to the good old times very soon"...

Any person with just average or little intelligence can see they show no remorse what so ever. It's all just a show. They role out the media circus to cover their silly games and fake apologies.

The only way to fix the very poor business practices in Japan is mass 'ethnic cleansing' of all supervisors, managers, accountants, lawyers, and advisers. Then appoint people who have morals and ethics in addition to business acumen.

"The company pledged to be more forthcoming with information in the future."

Yeah, we've heard that before, which is part of what the article is all about -- Japanese companies need to clean up their acts and get with the times. Bowing to apologize for troubling shareholders and customers while changing nothing and refusing to actually address the issues accomplishes nothing. Conducting an in-house investigation 'at some point in the future' also does nothing, since of course the in-house findings will come up something like this: "We have concluded no wrong doing. Case closed".

Please please please PLEASE shareholders! DO SOMETHING about this!! Don't be placated by a few bows and the promise of the men who made the deal in the first place!

Any person with just average or little intelligence can see they show no remorse what so ever. It's all just a show. They role out the media circus to cover their silly games and fake apologies

The only way to fix the very poor business practices in Japan is mass 'ethnic cleansing' of all supervisors, managers, accountants, lawyers, and advisers. Then appoint people who have morals and ethics in addition to business acumen.

tokyokawasaki -- spot on. But we are talking about Japan here, so the fake bows/apologies and lack of ethics will continue unabated as they are the lessons taught in Business 101 here at almost every company. They know no other way, and are so insular they really don't grasp the way other countries operate. So while the call by the foreign business groups is admirable, it will fall on completely deaf ears, and, if anything, simply cause the boards to become more tight-knit/circle-the-wagons even more. They will just point to it as proof that foreigners "don't understand" Japan and how it is different. Plus, they are protected by a press here that is just as ignorent, and simply, dutifully shows all the bows on TV, and does no investigative journalism.

@herefornow: I agree with you too. sighs.... The future is indeed bleak for J businesses.