Corporate governance first became the subject of intense discussions
within the Japanese securities market following the annual meeting of
International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) that was held in
Tokyo in 2000. These discussions have been mainly academic in
character, leaving many issuing companies unclear about what specific
measures should be taken to improve their standards of corporate
governance and about how these standards are judged. Moreover,
it seems that the increase in the numbers of proposals by investments
funds and shareholders, as well as of mergers and acquisitions, during
the past year has focused attention on corporate governance.
It must be recognized that traditional styles of management may
prejudice the chances of a company's success in this era of global
competition. The continuing success of any organization depends to
a great extent upon its ability to adapt to changes in the business
environment: corporate governance is one of the most important
elements that enable management to respond to such changes.
Governance Visions will contribute to the development of a highly efficien
securities market, attractive to institutional investors, by ensuring
the transparency of that market through the exercise of corporate
governance and by encouraging a more active bilateral exchange of
information between issuing companies and shareholders in order to
reflect, in the management of these companies, the opinions expressed
by their investors. In order to achieve these objectives, we will provide
information services that will encourage the disclosure and sharing of
information.
Overseas institutional investors who hold Japanese stocks often find it
extremely difficult to access information about corporate governance.
For their convenience, we can offer to them immediate access to
electronic data on corporate governance. It is our earnest wish to
promotethe globalization of Japanese issuing companies and
the Japanese securities market.
Kuny Kobayaschi
Managing Director
