在日本公司當CEO的外國人

日本有一套做事方式，如果身為一個外國人當上日本公司的CEO，你要入鄉隨俗——除非像日產(Nissan)的卡洛斯•戈恩(Carlos Ghosn)或者奧林巴斯(Olympus)的邁克爾•伍德福德(Michael Woodford)那樣，你是因為不按日本規則行事才受到延攬的。無論是那種方式，當CEO都不容易，而且充滿風險。在法律上，你要對公司負責，你得信任同僚告訴你的事，你還得簽署自己看不懂字的文件。

奧林巴斯的風波再次在日本激起了應改善公司治理的呼聲。對發出呼聲的人來說，更好的治理意味著西方治理，但西方對許多日本人來說并非是更好的東西。幾年前，我陷入了與伍德福德類似的處境。我們買入了一家處境困難的日本公司的控股權。我一上任CEO，就發現公司有一筆過橋貸款被挪用了，于是我提醒當地的合作伙伴注意此事。一夜之間，我不再是一個救星，反而被詆毀為一個不喜歡日本的壞蛋。但我已經讓朋友和家人把錢投進了這家公司，所以我不能一走了之。最終，對于這樣的沖突會如何發展，我獲得了比大多數人更近距離、更長久的觀察機會。過程既不令人愉快，也不令人振奮。

自布恩•皮肯斯(Boone Pickens)1989年購入小糸制作所(Koito Manufacturing)控股權以來，有關擴大股東權利的呼聲雖然屢有響起，但并未產生多大效果。他要求進入董事會，在西方人看來，以他所持的股份數量提出這樣的要求是合理的，但實際上他卻連查閱公司檔案的權限都沒獲得。

過去10年里在日本發生的一些損害股東和公眾利益的丑聞，若發生在別處，可能立法機關早就采取行動了。但發生在日本就不會。2002年，媒體曝光東京電力公司(Tepco)提交虛假安全報告的行為可以追溯到上世紀80年代。但無人為此鋃鐺入獄。2005年，嘉娜寶(Kanebo)因長達9年的會計造假而被摘牌。接著就發生了活力門(Livedoor)丑聞，30來歲的崛江貴文(Takafumi Horie)被捕入獄。2007年，牛頭犬調味品公司(Bull-Dog Sauce)的一項毒丸計劃得到了法院的支持，幫助其擺脫了美國Steel Partners一項溢價29%的收購要約。該公司股價下跌，再未恢復到原來的水平。雖則在公司治理方面可能不到位，但日本在行為金融方面走在了前列。

再來說說奧林巴斯。有些人呼吁，日本應以此為契機改善公司治理。他們要是能成功，我會大感驚訝。歷史并沒有站在他們那一邊——而且和以往相比，如今來自西方的呼聲可能更加無人理睬了。在日本，向來很少有人愿意聽西方的說教，但要說我們的道德水準比起2008年退化了也明顯言過其實。這也太糟糕了，因為日本企業文化損害最大的是日本民眾。企業收益欠佳，日經指數(Nikkei)20年來停滯不前。政府債務為國民產值的兩倍以上，而且渡邊夫婦退休速度之快，已經超過了他們那些不要孩子的子女賺錢供養他們的速度。

到訪日本的美國人只看到了房子的門臉兒，禮貌已極、效率奇高的第一線員工，出自索尼(Sony)、本田(Hondas)、當然還有奧林巴斯之手的設計精美的產品；不過，我們很少有人到屋子后頭去看一看。屋子前后的對比可是非常鮮明的。后頭通常是一團亂，昏暗，無法讓外國人觀瞻。管理層的共識是千萬不能質疑大老板。按資歷晉升的制度，確保董事們在獲得任命前已經被審查過多年。那么大的市場勢必會有一些外籍CEO，但他們想擠進仍占據支配地位的“老男孩俱樂部”幾乎是不可能的。

伍德福德的聰明之處是立刻將自己的故事公諸于世，但他不得不乘坐下一個航班離開，則更能說明問題。

西方人很難在日本企業文化中找到一丁點正常的地方，外來壓力也難以改變日本的企業文化。過去我在回家途中經常路過大阪(Osaka)一家西川(Nishikawa)家居店。店門旁邊的一塊匾牌上寫著：“建于1566年”。日本人把這家店開了那么久，并且他們不需要任何幫助。我大多數擁有國際視野的日本朋友都能容忍日本的企業文化，因為他們就是在這種文化的熏陶下長大的——事情從來都是這樣子的。奧林巴斯的事涉及金額巨大，并且引起了極大關注，所以多少都會以比較透明的方式來解決吧。但若說要推動日本的公司進行變革？我只能祝抱著這種想法的人好運了。

本文作者系咨詢機構Opera Advisors董事、馬來西亞大學(University of Malaysia)訪問研究員

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The old boys run Japanese business: good luck changing it
By Robert Boxwell

There’s a way of doing business in Japan and, if you make it to the rank of chief executive as a foreigner, you follow it – unless, like Carlos Ghosn at Nissan or Michael Woodford at Olympus, you were brought in because you don’t. Either way, it’s not easy. It’s also risky. You’re legally responsible for the business, you have to trust what your colleagues tell you, and you sign things you literally can’t read.

The Olympus story has renewed calls for better corporate governance in Japan. Better means western to those making the calls – but western doesn’t mean better to many Japanese. I found myself in a similar situation to that of Mr Woodford a few years ago. We had bought a controlling stake in a struggling Japanese company. Once in as CEO, I found a bridge loan we made had been diverted and misspent and brought this to the attention of our local partners. Overnight, I went from being a saviour to being vilified as a bad guy who didn’t like Japan. But I had my friends’ and family’s funds invested, so I couldn’t walk away. I ended up having a closer and longer view than most at how a corporate brawl like this unfolds. It wasn’t pleasant or encouraging.

Calls to improve shareholder rights have been heard without much result since Boone Pickens bought

a controlling stake in Koito Manufacturing in 1989. He asked for a seat on the board, which westerners would consider a reasonable request given his stake, but couldn’t even gain access to company records.

In the past 10 years, scandals that have hurt shareholders and the public would have caused lawmakers elsewhere to act. Not in Japan. In 2002, news broke that Tepco had filed false safety reports dating back to the 1980s. No one went to jail. In 2005, Kanebo was delisted after nine years of cooking the books. Then came the Livedoor scandal, in which the 30-something Takafumi Horie was jailed. In 2007, a poison pill upheld by the courts helped shareholders of Bull-Dog Sauce reject a 29 per cent premium tender offer from US-based Steel Partners. Its share price dropped and never recovered. Corporate governance might be lacking but Japan is in the avant-garde of behavioural finance.

Now Olympus. There are calls for it to catalyse better governance in Japan. I will be surprised if they succeed. History is not on their side – and now, more than ever, calls from the west are likely to be ignored. Few people in Japan ever wanted lectures from the west, but it’s overstating the obvious to say that our moral position has worsened since 2008. That’s too bad, because Japan’s public suffers most from its business culture. The Nikkei has stagnated for 20 years as companies accept sub-par returns. Government debt is more than twice national output and Mr and Mrs Watanabe are retiring faster than their childless children can support them.

Americans who visit Japan see the front-of-house, the fabulously polite and efficient frontline staff, the beautifully engineered products that come out of the Sonys, the Hondas, and, yes, the Olympuses. Few of us ever get to see the back-of-house, however, and the contrast can be stark. Japan’s back offices are often a mess, murky and impenetrable to foreigners. Management consensus means not questioning the big boss. Seniority-based advancement ensures that directors have been vetted for years by the time they get a seat at the table. A market that large is bound to have some foreign CEOs, but it’s all but impossible, for them to break into the old boys’ club – which still rules.

Mr Woodford was smart to take his story public right away, but the fact that he felt he had to take the next flight out speaks volumes.

There’s little that westerners find normal about Japan’s business culture, and little that outside pressure can do to change it. I used to pass a Nishikawa Living store in Osaka on my walk home. Beside the door was a plaque: “Established in 1566.” They’ve made it this far and they don’t need any help. Most of my Japanese friends with an international outlook bear it because they’ve grown up in the culture and that’s the way it’s always been. Because the Olympus story involves such big money and has received so much attention, it will be resolved more or less transparently. But setting real corporate change in motion in Japan? Good luck with that.

The writer is director of Opera Advisors, the consultancy, and a visiting research fellow at the University of Malaysia