Gerhard Fasol

Corporate governance reforms in Japan – talk given at the Embassy of Sweden in Tokyo on 6 October 2016

Corporate governance reforms in Japan

Changing the way Japanese corporations are managed: Can it make Japanese iconic corporations great again?

A talk by Gerhard Fasol at the Embassy of Sweden organized by the Embassy of Sweden, The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (SCCJ), and the Stockholm School of Economics

Abstract: Changing the way Japanese corporations are managed

The Executive Management Board and the Supervisory Board are normally independent and composed of different people – except in Japan. In Japan traditionally Executive Management Board and the Supervisory Board are one and the same, ie the Executives of traditional Japanese companies supervise themselves – no surprise that the CEO seldom fires himself!

It is obvious that such self-supervision has big disadvantages, and may be one of the major reasons for Japan’s weak economic growth, and several recent corporate scandals. Companies in basically all other countries are managed by an Executive Management Board, which is supervised by a Supervisory Board, which approves or vetoes all major decisions of the company, and evaluates the performance of the Executive Manager, including the Chief Executive/CEO, and if necessary fires executives including the CEO, and selects and approves the new CEO.

To remedy this problem with the governance of Japanese corporations, Japan’s Government, the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and the Financial Services Agency have been changing the rules to improve the supervision of Japanese companies.

Speaker profile

Dr. Gerhard Fasol is one of a microscopic number of foreigners who is an independent Director on the Management and Supervisory Board, and also a Member of the Audit Board of a stock market listed Japanese corporation, and he will talk from several years of first-hand experience of how Japanese companies are supervised, which changes are on the way, and which further improvements are necessary to improve the management and supervision of Japanese corporations.

Date: Thursday October 6th, 2016, 18:30

Place: Alfred Nobel Auditorium, Embassy of Sweden, 10-3-400 Roppongi 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032

Details and registration

Further details here.

To register please contact the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

Gerhard Fasol "Corporate governance reforms in Japan" Embassy of Sweden on 6 October 2016
Gerhard Fasol “Corporate governance reforms in Japan” Embassy of Sweden on 6 October 2016
Gerhard Fasol "Corporate governance reforms in Japan" Embassy of Sweden on 6 October 2016
Gerhard Fasol “Corporate governance reforms in Japan” Embassy of Sweden on 6 October 2016
Gerhard Fasol "Corporate governance reforms in Japan" Embassy of Sweden on 6 October 2016
Gerhard Fasol “Corporate governance reforms in Japan” Embassy of Sweden on 6 October 2016
Gerhard Fasol "Corporate governance reforms in Japan" Embassy of Sweden on 6 October 2016
Gerhard Fasol “Corporate governance reforms in Japan” Embassy of Sweden on 6 October 2016
Gerhard Fasol "Corporate governance reforms in Japan" Embassy of Sweden on 6 October 2016
Gerhard Fasol “Corporate governance reforms in Japan” Embassy of Sweden on 6 October 2016

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