My opinion this week(49):
Global Standards
A Happy New Year! This is the first "My opinion of this week" in
the new year. I have been thinking about what topics should be chosen
to start this column drinking some sake to celebrate New Year days.
At the beginning of last December, Nikkei BP Publishing Company
started an electronic conference called BizTech Forum on Internet.
I was selected as a modulator for two forums namely Business and
Globalization Forum. Two of them had made a good start but
Globalization Forum have been very active since two eager Japanese
participants from Thailand started to write a number of comments
on various topics concerned.
In any of such electronic forums, a central topics is mostly
concerned with PC as a tool for communication and various technical
issues on hardware and software. As a matter of fact, Mobile Forum
which handles topics of mobile PC and their peripherals has become
the most popular forum among 50 other forums of BizTech Forum. This
is what I expected.
But at the same time, I forecasted that such forum as Globalization
Forum would also be accepted to some extent by some member participants
judging from the nature and purpose of such Web conference in Internet.
And I was a kind of right.
When we read some articles on Japanese economy and business in
newspapers and magazines , we often encounter such word as "Globaliza-
tion and/or Global Standards" these days. Those words have often been
referred especially on those scandals happened to Japanese firms
in the last year.
Many critics pointed out that some of those Japanese common sense
today are entirely against common sense of the world and many of
common sense and standard norms or criteria of the world are quite
different from those of Japanese society. A number of scandals happened
to Japanese firms is said to be an evidence of such mismatch.
Many Japanese has started to recognize that that may be true. People
has started to think that it is possible that we Japanese and Japanese
society will be left behind departed from the international society
unless we learn and adapt to standard norms and criteria of international
societies. Regardless it is business enterprise or individual, we
Japanese must now learn to introduce such Global Standards so that we
can continue to live in the international society.
Globalization which is also the title of BizTech Forum is such a theme
to talk with. That is really a big theme as it is and it is not possible
to discuss all phase of the theme in one or two times of this column. I
believe that this is one of the main theme to be discussed throughout
this year relating various other topics to be picked up in this home-page
in this year.
1998/1/10
Tadashi HAYASE
My opinion this week(50):
Reduce the number of foolish politicians
Soon after Mr.Ozawa, the President of New Frontier Party, had
been reelected as the President, the Party was dissolved into six
new parties. Then six parties including four new born parties
formulated a new working group called Minyuren, Democratic
Fraternity Federation in the diet led by the Democratic Party,
the biggest opposition party now in the Japanese political world.
People who voted for the Frontier Party in the last general and
other elections, were just surprised to see what had happened in
such short period of time.
Why were those politicians who are usually very slow in deciding
any important matters so fast in establishing new cooperative party
group in the diet? The reason is obvious. Unless they maintain
some number of diet men in the group, they cannot perform any
important political activities as a party.
Their interest is not to work together to make any good policies
for the sake of people against the policies of ruling Liberal
Democratic Party, but to maintain a good position or status
preparing for the coming elections in each constituencies. Unless
they belong to a political party which keep a certain number of
diet members, they cannot get into election getting public subsidy
fund to be used in the election. No political philosophy and policies
are involved at any rate. Many diet members who left the Liberal
Democratic Party to join the New Frontier Party a few years ago came
back to join the Liberal Democratic Party again without any question.
This is because that it is easier for them to win in the election
and that is nothing to do with their political ethics and policies.
Of course, there are some diet men who really work for the policy
and political belief rather than just for an election. Some diet members
are working for the people and the country by paying their utmost
attention on policies and politics.
Unfortunately, such politicians are rather small in number. Many of
them are just interested in working for the local area which is their
own constituencies and for some interest groups specifically for some
industries and other interest groups. Those interest diet members
are just working for the election and they pay no interest in working
for their own ideals and policies which they believe important.
It is said that administrative reform and financial reform are two
major key issues to the start of new century but it may be said that
the most important issue is now a drastic political reform.
No such politicians who work not for the people but for themselves
is necessary any more. Concretely speaking, there are too many
unnecessary diet members. We must start reducing their numbers
drastically immediately. Isn't it necessary to establish small diet
as well as small government? I wonder why does a certain reform plan
on legislative organs become one of the theme today to reduce number
of diet members including the necessity of two parliaments like the
House of Representative and the House of Councilors.There is not much
argument about that. Why?
Some may say that democracy which is to reflect the voice of the
people by keeping enough number of diet members will not be maintained.
It does not make sense. The best way to start reforming a corrupt
organization of any kinds is to reduce the number of members in the
organization. It is true with any organization.
One other important phase of political reform is , of course , to
save money to fulfill financial reform. But the most important thing
in the political world today is to stop such silly seat counting game
in the diet. The important point is how to reflect the voice of people
correctly to the contemporary politics. In this sense I believe that
there is no correlation between that and number of diet members.
Political reform should be started by reducing number of foolish diet
members.
1998/1/17
Tadashi HAYASE
My opinion this week(51):
End of Entertainment Paradise
The Director of Japan Public Road Institute who used to be a high rank
bureaucrat of the Ministry of Finance was arrested by the authority for
acceptance of bribe from Nomura Securities Company. The director had been
received a number of entertainment from Nomura and there was no
acceptance of money or goods concerning this case. The Director admitted
the fact that he had received so many entertainment but he thought those
entertainment were a kind of social customs and he never intended to accept
them to make some returns or special favors to Nomura.
On the side of Nomura, such entertainment expenses had been processed
so that the company would be able to become a chief dealer for outside
bond issue for the institution. Who can justify such entertainment just
as social courtesy? For such a general public like myself, so many
entertainment totaling 2.6 million yen including golf, expensive dinners
and so forth are never acknowledged as just social courtesy or customs.
We imagine that there must be so many entertainment such as this in the
world of high class bureaucrats and big business.
Such entertainment has been disclosed for that is unlawful one made
between big business and public officials. Entertainment themselves
have become necessary evils in Japanese business society. Japan is
a paradise of entertainment. Upper class managers used to spend a lot of
money for entertainment. Such entertainment practice existed not only
for private firms but also for bureaucratic societies as often criticized
recently.
I described those circumstance in the past form but there still exist many
entertainment as such even today. Fortunately or unfortunately, however,
the chance of such entertainment have been decreased greatly because
such entertainment at the public sectors have become the target of social
criticism and the entertainment expenses had been cut to the great extent
due to bad business condition these days. Many high class managers
are anxious to wait for the day that when they will be able to enjoy some
nice dinners and golf expensed by their firms under the name of
entertainment for some business purpose.
I grinned one of the scene at TV news the other day. The news scene
was that a number of women owners of snacks or bars in Ginza got
together to request the government agencies to take more effective actions
for economic recovery saying that their business were at stake for
number of guests to their shops had reduced significantly due to such a
bad business conditions.
Only people who can spend company expenses used to utilize such
expensive places like Ginza. I hear that a number of snacks and small
restaurants in amusement centers of towns all over Japan closed their
shops for entertainment expenses at firms had been cut for bad business
conditions.
I never deny some needs for entertainment. There are some of such
entertainment which are conducted for social courtesy purpose , just
like treating some visitors from abroad and/or rural districts regardless
that is directly concerned with some business purpose or not.
However, any of such entertainment which may infringe laws and
social common sense should be abolished without fail . Any of such
internal entertainment of personal nature in business which are done
for the name of business purpose should be eliminated definitely
in any business organizations.
In along with any other reconstructive actions, overall review and checks
of such conducts of entertainment in business and , of course, in any public
sectors are another very important reengineering course of Japanese
business and economy in the years to come.
1998/1/24
Tadashi HAYASE
My opinion this week(52):
Is salary level of Japanese banks too high?
The Government is going to introduce 3 trillion yen public fund in
order to stabilize financial system in Japan. The purpose is, of course,
to guarantee the savings at any financial organizations and to help banks
which will replace the works of any banks facing bankruptcy.
I read some interesting articles in newspapers concerning this public
fund system. At the cabinet meeting, a few cabinet members expressed
the following opinion.
"Introduction of public fund to stabilize financial system is necessary.
But people are not in favor of the fact that salary level of Japanese
banks is a kind of high compared with those of any other industries.
They will not agree with the introduction of public fund leaving such
high level of salary of banks as it is. The salary level of banks should
be lowered in order to get support on this bill from the people."
In reply to such opinion, Financial Minister Michizuka said that he
had instructed his people to investigate the level of salary in each
industries. He continued to say, however, that no legal or administrative
actions would be possible to lower the salary level of banks provided
that the level of banks is much higher than those of other industries.
Mr.Michizuka is right, at any rate. What kind of laws and/or rationale
are there to authorize to lower the level of salary of banks even if
that is a statistical fact?
This is not the first time that such argument of salary level of
Japanese banks is too high. I personally observed that kind of statistics
in the past. However, although it is a statistical fact, no body can say
that the level should be lowered to a certain extent. That decision can
only be made by management itself based on the market principle. The
question is whether or not such high salary levels was decided by the
market principle in the past. As every body knows, all Japanese banks
have been protected by Convoy Ship System. Regardless the contents of
their operation, the basic stance of the Government was to help any banks
which faced financial difficulties. That has been believed to be right
to keep the reliable financial system in Japan. In such circumstance,
we insist that high level of salary of banks is not fair.
But such the Convoy Ship system had finally been broken up. In
compliance with increasing concerns against Japanese financial system,
the Government have decided to introduce the public fund amounting 3
trillion yen . The primary purpose of such public fund is to protect the
savings of general publics. The secondary purpose is to provide fund to
those banks which will help banks facing bankruptcy. Any of such fund
should not be invested to those banks which are involved with financial
difficulties due to their bad management by itself.
Regardless the salary level is high or low, it is fine if the
operation itself is healthy and competitive. No body will be able to
blame for it. It is strange to argue whether the salary level is high
or low compared with any other firms or industries. Those politicians
do not understand the fact that that is the matter of management and
none of their business.
Preparing for Financial Big Bang, the Government is now requesting
Japanese banks to improve capital/equity ratio. Facing to such guideline,
all Japanese banks are now starting to take action including the cut
of some loans to the firms which are considered not quite healthy based
on their judgment. Then, the Government started to say such careful
action or attitude in lending is no good.
All of such conducts on to whom the money should be lent, what rate of
interest to put for savings, how much salary will be paid to their
employees, are their own management decisions by themselves. There
should be no intervention from Government officials and politicians on
those management matters and no legal control is also necessary.
In the past, under the Convoy Ship system, the management of many
Japanese banks had been deteriorated. The salary level of such banks
became too high even compared with those of other industries. This might
be statistical fact. But the Big Bang means that management of all banks
will be made in the free market without any protection and restraints
based on market principle.
No administrate or political guidance is necessary to optimize their
management so that only healthy banks in management wise can survive
after the Big Bang. As a matter of fact, we see today that many banks
are starting several reengineering actions including review of number
of employees and salary level to make their management more healthy and
competitive.
1998/1/31
Tadashi HAYASE
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