Stakeholder Capitalism and Corporate Governance in Japan : Navigating a New Era of Responsibility

Japan has long been regarded as an exemplar of a stakeholder model of corporate governance, where the interests of employees, customers, suppliers, and the wider community, in addition to shareholders, are taken into account in decision-making. However, Japan's traditional stakeholder-focused corporate governance model is facing new pressures as the economy has undergone changes, including increasing foreign share ownership, calls for more transparency and a shift towards UK and US-style corporate governance. This book provides an in-depth analysis of Japan's changes and challenges in balancing the interests of shareholders and stakeholders in corporate governance.

The first section of the book provides a comprehensive overview of the history of corporate governance in Japan and its evolution. It includes information on the key regulatory and legal frameworks, including the Companies Act and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law. The second section delves into the implementation of the Abenomics corporate governance reforms and their impact on Japan's corporate landscape. It also includes information on the codes of Stewardship (2014) and Corporate Governance (2015). The final part provides an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by Japanese companies in terms of corporate governance and the prospects of further corporate governance reforms in Japan. It discusses the convergence trend of Japan’s traditional bank-based, stakeholder-orientated corporate governance model and a shareholder value-driven corporate governance system in the UK and the US.

This book is aimed at executives, policymakers, business leaders, academics, and anyone interested in the future of business and corporate governance. It will be of particular interest to those interested in learning about the unique approach to stakeholder capitalism and corporate governance that has been developed in Japan and how this approach is shaping the future of business worldwide.

Before joining Surrey Business School as a Lecturer in Corporate Governance and International Business, Dr Saori Sugeno spent twenty years working in academia and the public and private sectors in Japan, including a think tank of the Cabinet Office Government of Japan, major Japanese trading company Sumitomo Corporation and Daiwa Institute of Research - a think tank in Japanese second largest investment banking group – Daiwa Securities. She also has eight years of experience working in the City of London as an executive director and senior economist at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd. Saori has taught Japanese economy courses at Chuo and Oberlin Universities in Tokyo for Japanese and international students. She is the author of two books on Russia published by Nikkei Publishing Inc and has published numerous articles in major Japanese media outlets. At Surrey Business School, Saori teaches International Corporate Governance for MSc students and she is also an Associate at Møller Institute, Churchill College, University of Cambridge. Saori Sugeno is fluent in Russian, Japanese and English and holds her PhD in economics from Chuo University in Japan.

Professor Jill Atkins is Professor of Accounting and Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University and is also a visiting professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and at the University of Pisa. Her research focuses on corporate governance, responsible investment, stakeholder accountability, integrated reporting and extinction accounting. She edits the de Gruyter Corporate Governance Series. Jill chairs the British Accounting & Finance Association’s Special Interest Group on Corporate Governance. She has co-edited The Business of Bees: An Integrated Approach to Bee Decline and Corporate Responsibility, published in 2016, which arises from a long-term project investigating the role of accounting and responsible investment in preserving biodiversity. She also co-edited, Around the World in 80 Species: Exploring the Business Case for Extinction Prevention, which was published by Routledge in 2019. Jill was contributory editor to Chief Value officer: Accountants Can Save the Planet, authored by Mervyn E. King. Her leading textbook, Corporate Governance and Accountability, is soon to be published in its 5th edition. Jill serves as a trustee and is on the board of directors of PAVO, the Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations.